Last year, I posted a project I came up with called “Silhouettes.” It was designed for The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, but can be adapted for most other literary units. Here is the Silhouettes worksheet. It has since been updated so please use this link not the old one. Follow this link for the updated version of the lesson: #9 silhouettes proj which sets up the project. You will need two 45 minutes periods for this.
My students this year did a spectacular job analyzing the novel’s characterization and applying it to ideas of color, form, and symbol. Here are some pictures of the work I displayed in my classroom. The first one was interesting because in their write up about Jack Salmon they had to explain the ironic choice of a magazine copy of the 1940′s Rosie the Riveter on their poster. The group analyzed how Jack’s role changed in the household when his wife left, and how he was capable of displaying both heated anger and genuine compassion towards multiple characters. This gave him a very flexible gender role, and their image adjustment to Rosie (Can “he” do it?) was a nice fit to suggest these ideas! Very proud!
