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Project Title: Controversial Literature Hits the School: An Investigative Report
Software Used: iMovie (news program) or Word (magazine)
Subject and Grade Level: 12th Grade English
Intergrated Subject Areas Also Covered: History, Music, Art (or any area that can study protests)
Standards: 12.1.1, 12.1.2, 12.1.4, 12.1.8, 12.2.1, 12.2.2, 12.2.3, 12.3.1, 12.3.2
Suggestions: I use this as a culminating assignment in my censorship unit. Students have already researched historical cases of censorship, studied the words in the Bill of Rights, read a child’s censored book, read a censored novel, researched challenged and banned books as well as court cases dealing with censorship, written a persuasive paper with their view of censorship and where the line should be drawn, and interviewed multiple generations of people as to their view of censorship.
Materials needed: costumes and props, digital camcorder or camera, paper for newspaper article
Lesson Plans/Directions: At the conclusion of the censorship unit, I have students create a final project that synthesizes all information learned into one major project. I allow students to either work together on a news program or write a special edition of a magazine on their own. Either way, the final product must include all aspects of the censorship unit and advertising (commercials for 20/20 or ads for magazine). I usually allow 3 to 5 days for the entire project since it is really just putting information that they have learned into a new, more creative format. Students do most of the video work on their own time so it’s nice to assign the project at least a week before you actually give them days to do it. (In fact, I usually introduce the unit with one of my examples from previous years so students know that the information they are learning will be part of a larger project.)
