English with Mrs. Lamp

Teachers: These projects work GREAT for 11th-grade students / American Literature (high school course)!

Choose ONE of the following options.

• Make a poster-sized map of Huck and Jim’s journey. Include 5-10 important locations on the map. Label each location and then list the important event(s) that occurred there. Include a “legend” to help readers decipher the symbols, images, and colors you used on your map. You can write the events (use a bulleted list format) near the location on the map OR inside the “legend” box. A great map will also include a border and a compass rose that are unique and relevant to the story!

• Write a 2-3 page alternative ending for the novel. Starting right at the end of chapter 31, what should happen next? Act like chapters 32-43 never happened. Now, you need to re-write the falling action and the resolution to the story. Which characters should be included? What major events will occur in the falling action? How will everything end up in the resolution? Try to use similar language and to match your writing style to the way Mark Twain wrote Huck’s voice in the actual novel, and make sure you are being true to the characters’ personalities, the Mississippi River setting, and the key themes and ideas of the book! Include an illustrated cover. (This can be hand-drawn, a collage of leaves or magazine clippings, or even something you created/designed on the computer.)

• Make an illustrated timeline. The timeline must include 5-10 of the most important events in the novel. For each bullet on the timeline, you must include an illustration (which you can draw/paint, cut out from a magazine, or print out from the computer), a “title” for the event (ex: Hester on the Scaffold), and a short paragraph to go with the event. The paragraph should answer 4 W’s: Who was involved, What happened, Where did it happen, Why did it happen? Be sure to place all your illustrations & paragraphs in the correct order on the timeline (That’s “When did it happen?”). You can use a poster, a big piece of cardboard, a paper chain, or anything else you can imagine!

• Create a diary for either Huck or Jim. Create a realistic-looking journal—don’t just print this out on computer paper. Decorate the cover how you imagine your character would decorate the cover of his or her very own journal! You can even try to make the pages and handwriting look as real as possible if you want. Then, choose 5-10 major events in the novel, and write a diary entry from that person’s point of view, as though they were writing in their journal before they went to bed. Writing as the character, include how you were involved in what happened, how you felt about the event(s), what your emotions were, and what your thoughts are about the events and how other characters behaved. You can also write about your character’s hopes, dreams, secrets, and problems. Each journal entry should be about ½ a page.

Creative Final Project Rubric

Total Score:                   /     25