Great Works 2850

Final Assignment

Spring 2017

Multi Modal Literature

 

It’s here. You’ve officially made it to the end of the semester! (You literary pro you!) You are already so much more knowledgeable and conscious than when you started, I assure you. J This assignment sheet should be your best friend for the next four weeks. You should keep it at your side at all times. You should put it under your pillow at night. (kidding) BUT REALLY you should read it several times. Once in class with me, once before you start your work so that you can plan, once during your work to make sure you’re on the right track, and once after you finish to check and make sure you’ve done everything that was asked of you.

Your final project consists of TWO parts and it gets a little tricky so read carefully!

Purpose

This semester we have essentially been working on ways of reading. We now know there are no RIGHT ways but there are valid INTERPRTATIONS and CONNECTIONS. We have learned that texts are DYNAMIC; historically, socially, culturally, in every way imaginable!  We know that the best way to enter a text is to CLOSE READ, and to find pieces of the text that stand out to us and create conflict. We know that we are looking for the messages of the text not the intention of the author and we have learned how to examine the concepts that support and undermine these messages that we find within the text. We know we are not looking for a moral truth or cliché and we have definitely learned that everything is representational. It is our job to figure out where we are within the myriad of representations that occur in any given text and now we know how to do that.

The primary goal of this assignment is for you to think about the ways in which we have been reading literature all semester and apply it to the contemporary text you have chosen to read. It may sound like a very easy task BUT it is a very BROAD assignment which means that you will have a lot of freedom, but with that freedom comes heightened expectations.

In short, you will try your very best to deconstruct the text you are reading, to analyze a passage or a theme as we have done this semester with other ‘canonized’ texts, and give us your OWN creative interpretation of the text. You MUST show me HOW you are relating your work to the work we have done in class and the methods of reading we have used. You will be asked to explicitly tell me how you have done this.

There are two very important parts to this final. So let’s dive in.

 

 

 

Part I: Group Presentation/ Interpretation: 20%

Part one is very straightforward but will hopefully still allow you to do something more creative. You will be put in a group with other students who have also read the contemporary novel you’ve read for this class. In your group, you will find a way to present a reading of the text to the class.

Here are your options for doing this:

  1. You can create a skit that relates to your interpretation of the text.
  2. You can each write something (a style imitation piece for example) and read it to the class collectively.
  3. You can each create an artistic piece that relates to the text. Each person must make something and each piece must fit into the group project as a whole.
    1. This piece can be digitally artistic (collage; graphic design; publisher etc.)
    2. It can also be a physical art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
  4. You can create a video
  5. You can create an audio recording

The rules are as follows;

  • You have 7-10 min to present. Every group member MUST participate equally. Use your own discretion but remember, in the end, I will decide what equally means.
  • You must SOMEHOW relate what you are presenting to the text and your collective interpretation of the text.
  • Your goal is to make the performance a STAND ALONE art piece. In other words, you shouldn’t have to frame it at all with “our presentation is about” or “this Is about this or that theme” the class should see your work, and get a sense of the message you are trying to convey.
  • You will answer questions from the class after your performance.
  • You will be graded based on how you relate to the text AND your efforts in making that connection in a multi-modal way. If you have questions about this requirement, please discuss them with me in advance. (so BEFORE you begin working on your project)

You will perform the final week of class.

 

Part Two: Written Reflection: 15%

Due May 25th  at 5 p.m.: Electronic Copy

4 Pages Double Spaced Typed

Word Document as Attachment

 

Part two is your justification for your project. You will write me a letter that will serve as a reflection on your group project and presentation. In this letter you will include the following:

  • What role you played in the creation of your group project
  • How you, personally, relate what you and your group have created to the text you’ve read
  • Explicitly tell me how you incorporated methods used this semester into your reading and reworking of the text.
  • A general reflection on the semester and what you feel you have learned. This can be whatever you would like it to be but I would like to see here some engagement with the course and the materials ( What was your finest moment and what is something you feel you need to improve upon, what opened up for you, what worked/what didn’t work for you; what are your feelings about world literature? What themes stuck with you and what themes did not)
  • NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN EVALUATION OF MY COURSE- THIS IS A SELF EVALUATION AND A SPACE IN WHICH YOU CAN REFLECT UPON WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED IN A COHESIVE WAY. IN OTHER WORDS, IT IS ABOUT YOU NOT ME! There is a space for you to evaluate the course and me as a professor. This takes place online through the course evaluations through the Baruch system. I strongly encourage you to do this as well!
  • You will include what final grade do YOU feel you deserve in this class and why.
  • Finally, you will choose a blog post you wrote that you really liked, revise it (with all of your newfound superior literary knowledge), and attach it to your reflection.