One of the requirements of English 3 is that students read a book, independently, both semesters.
Books have to be at least 300 pages long. While I used to eliminate all books that have been made into movies, I realized that I am eliminating a huge number of quality and classic books. Instead, I have changed the requirements for their presentation if they choose a book that has been made into a movie. They must add a minimum of 5 extra slides to their PowerPoint presentation to examine the changes made by Hollywood in creating a movie from the text.
Students selected their own books, and checked out books from the library early in each semester. Their book must be read by the day that they learn the expectations for their PowerPoint presentations. We head to the computer lab to begin their PowerPoint presentations over their books one week later.
Before beginning their PowerPoint presentations, students must complete their story elements worksheet over their book and plan out their presentation following the criteria set down by me.
PowerPoint expectations (.pdf format -- handout)
After completing the PowerPoint presentations during computer lab time, they will present their book to the class.