Better Body Biography

I know we've all seen a million body biographies, BUT I still like the basic concept and wanted to be able to use the idea for my honors class. We recently finished MY FAVORITE book that we read all semester: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. It is AMAZING. Seriously, if you've never read it, buy it, read it, then go ahead and buy the class set. I believe in this book so much that I bought my own class set from thriftbooks.com. A set of 30 books was less than $90! It is such a great site, and they even give teacher discounts on orders over 20 books. Just use the code APPLE to get your discount, too! 

 Because I like to differentiate (and partially because I'm slightly crazy when it comes to being original and not copying anyone's idea), I do separate projects for each one of my sections of Honors English II. My first period is super creative, so I wanted them to be able to utilize their artistic abilities whenever they analyzed the end of the book. I revamped the body biography and kicked it up a notch or 3 for their project. All I provided for my students was blank paper, crayons, and directions. They had to illustrate, create, and most importantly THINK for themselves about the overall intended effect of the author. I asked them to look at everything from symbolism in setting, to motifs that help develop the theme. Here's an exact list of what I asked them to do:

Here's a couple of my favorites:

They had to add specific details and textual evidence on the back of their separate parts.  They actually spent two days on this project, meticulously combing through the text, and talking with each other about what they enjoyed reading.  

I had my next period complete a "create your own book" project based on how violence (motivation, reaction, brutality) evolves throughout the memoir.  I'll talk about some of my favorites tomorrow! Here's a sample:

Since we've wrapped up the book, we're starting on my second favorite: Night! My freshmen are also have a great time reading...I let them choose their own books (yes, I must have had a moment of crazy, but I'm hoping they'll be mature enough to handle it).  What's everyone else reading?