Individual Reading Project Ideas: Movie Posters (1 of 3)

The individual reading project is an important assignment in the English classroom, especially Honors and Advanced Placement classes, where there is often not enough time allotted in the semester to read all required novels together as a class.  Individual reading projects serve as proof to teachers that their students actually read the required text.  This project is also a chance for students to personalize their learning, by getting to do something beyond the standard book report. 

Practices of personalization enable teachers to "meet learners where they are in terms of their capabilities, interests, attitudes, and other intrinsic motivational considerations" (Adelman).  Personalization offers students more choices for what they learn and how they learn it, and with it teachers can create meaningful links between students' interests and what they're learning in school.


In my next three posts, I want to talk about ideas for individual reading projects for English teachers to use in their classes which don't require much technology use.  There are many projects out there, that could be anywhere between a standard book report and original, creative art.  I did something similar to these projects at some time during my high school career, but I got the descriptions and directions for each project from www.brighthubeducation.com.  I will also share my views on the advantages and disadvantages for each project.  The first of three projects I'll talk about are movie posters.

Directions

For this individual reading project, students have to create a movie poster for their book.  Students would have to design a poster that showed something significant about the plot, tone, or theme of their novel.  What actors would portray the characters, and who would direct? If their novel has already been adapted into a film, students would have to pick different actors and actresses for their cast.  Students would have to explain these choices in a three minute oral presentation.

Advantages 

The two main advantages for the movie poster project happen to be more geared towards students.  First, the project allows students to engage with their novel in an artistic way, and second, this project gives students who aren't fond of writing a different avenue to demonstrate their knowledge.

1. This project allows students to engage with their novel artistically.

The opportunity students have to demonstrate what they have learned in a way that is unique from what's typically assigned in the English classroom is a personalized learning practice.  I think it's also important to note that students are likely to produce better quality work if the assignment is interesting for them.

  
2. This project allows students that dislike writing a different method to demonstrate their knowledge.
Teachers are well aware that they have students in their classrooms who don't like writing.  There isn't one universal reason for this.  But, for students who struggle to put their ideas on a page, an apprehensive attitude and nervousness over having to turn in a paper that will be scrutinized by a teacher is understandable.  The movie poster project gives such students a break from their tension and allows them to use a different skill set to demonstrate what they know.

Disadvantages

The two main disadvantages for the movie poster project are rendered from its artistic aspect.  Since the project is not writing heavy, teachers could possibly encounter difficulty gauging what their students know.  This project could also be done easily without reading a novel entirely.

1. This project is not writing heavy, so teachers could encounter issues gauging student understanding.

In a typical English class, students convey their understanding of a text through writing.  Because the movie poster project does not require much writing, teachers may find it difficult to gauge what their students know.  
2.This project could be easily completed without reading a novel in its entirety.
Another disadvantage of the movie poster project that is attributed to the lack of writing is that it can easily be done without reading the whole novel.  Students can explain the choices they made of what to include on their poster, but there isn't much information that will fit into a three minute presentation besides the basic plot of the novel and choices about which actors would portray major characters.

To view the entire Individual Reading Project series, click here.

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Adelman, H. & Taylor, L. (2001). Enhancing classroom approaches for addressing barriers to learning.  Washington, DC: UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools.