Arthurian Legends Project Options
 
To wrap up our unit on Arthurian Legends, you may complete one of the three project options below.  Make sure that you read each of the following options completely before making your final choice.  Also, be sure you check to see what you will be graded on and what will be required of you so that you can make sure you'll be able to meet the criteria expected of you BEFORE YOU BEGIN!  Also, any project requiring outside research MUST have a bibliography.  No bibliography means a zero on the ENTIRE PROJECT!!  NO EXCEPTIONS!!
 
Project Option #1--Modern Day Heroes and Heroines
 
This project consists of researching the heroes and heroines of today and reporting on these people and what makes him/her a hero or a heroine.
 
Your final project may be in the form of a paper or a Power Point presentation.  Before deciding which format you would like your project to take, please take some time to look at the requirements of each format below.  Also be sure that you are familiar and comfortable with the format that you select.
 
The first thing that you must do is define what makes a person a hero.  then using these characteristics, find an example of a modern day hero AND a modern day heroine.  The minimum information that you will need to find about these people includes:
  • Biographical information about their lives
  • A picture of the person
  • The reason YOU consider each of these people to be heroic
  • The reason you chose these people for your project
  • How they line up with what you consider a hero to be

This needs to be IN YOUR OWN WORDS, and it should not read like an encyclopedic entry.  Here are some links that might be of assistance to you as you do your research:

  • Heroism in action: Heroes and Heroines of the 20th Century  This site is a think quest which helps you to pick a hero, as well as providing insight into what a hero is.  Additionally, this site provides a chart of heroes and heroines and links to information about them.
  • Heroes of the 20th Century  A picture chart of heroes of the 20th century which links to information about the heroes.
  • The Time 100  This site, produced by Time magazine, deals with the topic of modern day heroes and heroines.
  • Women of the Century  This site, produced by Discovery Channel, identifies the most important women of the 20th century by decade.
  • You can also do a Yahoo or Google search to find your own sources of information if you wish.

REQUIREMENTS:

You must submit either a paper that is a minimum of 3 text pages long (typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font, with a separate title and bibliography page, and separate picture pages) OR a PowerPoint presentation that is a minimum of 22 slides long (not including a title slide, picture slides, or a bibliography slide).

Project Option #2--Creative Writing

This project consists of writing a legend of your own.  This legend can be set in any time period, and it must contain ORIGINAL characters.  Once of your characters must be a hero or a heroine, and he/she must demonstrate an act of heroism in the story.  One of your characters must also be an antihero or villian, and must serve as the antagonist in your story.

Before you begin, you need to make a list of qualities that you believe heroes/heroines should and should not possess.  Then, using that list, create a story that fulfills the following requirements:

  • A hero/heroine who fits the characteristics you've defined.
  • An antihero/villian who fits the characteristics that heroes/heroines should not possess
  • The story must have a clearly defined setting (time and location)
  • 3 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font
  • The story must have a clearly developed plot

Project Option #3--Quest

According to Webster's Dictionary, a quest is the following:  a pursuit, search; a chivalrous enterprise in medieval romance usually involving an adventurous journey.

When a character personally undertakes a task and goes on a journey with a set purpose, that character is embarking on a quest.  A quest is not something that should be taken lightly; for example, a quest is not as simple as "I don't have any plans for the weekend, so I'll make some plans with my friends.  There, I accomplished that, so I have fulfilled my quest."  This is inaccurate.  A quest is much more serious and usually involves some sort of personal struggle and triumph with a resulting change.

Your job is to do the following:

  1. Spend some time on the Web locating two examples of modern people who have undergone a quest of some sort.  Make sure that you print out hte information that you find.  then write a three paragraph paper that summarizes both articles.  This paper should also indicate why you chose to report on these quests.
  2. Now that you have examples of Arthurian quests and modern quests, you're going to write a quest of your own.  This is a personal quest concerning you and your life.  This should be something that you've actually experienced, and it can be a quest that you are currently in the process of completing.  Make sure you explain your quest and explain how going through this experience has changed or is changing you.  your paper is to be three pages long (double-spaced, typed, Times New Roman 12-point font).

Project Option #4--This is what SHOULD have happened...

In class we discussed that there were many endings to the Arthurian Legends, and that the ending which occurred depended on the author of the legend.  Several of you expressed dismay over the plight of some of the characters in these legends.  Some of you felt they were punished too harshly while others of you felt they were not punished nearly enough.  If you fall into this category, then this is the project for you!

Your task will be to write the unwritten legend that describes what you believe should have happened.  Your legend must meet the following criteria:

  • It must be 5 pages long, typed, one-sided, double spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font.
  • It must set up the character(s) so that it is clear what has happened and why their lives must play out the way you see fit.
  • Your ending must make sense.  This is the Middle Ages, so you can't tell me that Arthur was blasted into outer space in a rocket to circle the earth until he is needed again.  They didn't have that technology back then!  You must contain yourself to ONLY what they had at that point in time!  No cars, no planes, no computers, no nukes!
  • clearly define your setting (time and location)
  • clearly define your plot

Grading rubrics will be posted later in the week.  Please ask questions if you have them and come to class prepared to work each day this week!

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