English 621 Independent Novel Study

The Last Song:  A WebQuest

Now that you’re at the end of Chapter 18 of your novel, we’re going to explore some of the references made by your author, Nicholas Sparks.  The following web quest has been designed so that you – the reader – will discover some context for your novel.

Some questions ask for information only while others ask you to apply your reading.  Since you have been asked to accomplish this quest using presentation format, it should make use of representative photos and other cool stuff.  Good luck.

Before You Begin

• Open a document in Microsoft PowerPoint (highly-recommended) or Corel Presentations and save it as ‘webquest’.  Your responses will be completed in the form of a presentation, each question on a new slide.  Please create a cover slide for this web quest.

Question One:  Interviewing the Author

• Nicholas Sparks is a writer who can see into the hearts, minds, and motivations of his characters, whether they are old or young, as in this novel. He is also, apparently, an interesting guy to interview.  Since he probably doesn’t grant too many interviews to high school English classes, we’re going to do it for him.
  • Task:  Take a look around online at some sites (including www.nicholassparks.com) and ‘get to know’ the author somewhat.  Imagine that you write a column for a national literature magazine and you’ve been told to interview Nicholas Sparks about this book and other things he’s done.  Then, pose five interview questions and responses that you feel he might provide in relation to the novel.  Avoid plot summary-type questions and instead aim to get to know him as a writer (motivations, inspirations, etc.).  Don’t forget to include some photos in the interview.

Question Two:  The Last Song Sparknotes

• As we know, sites like sparknotes, cliffsnotes, and pinkmonkey offer valuable assistance to students in English classes with reviews, quizzes, and analysis.  The Last Song doesn’t appear on any of these sites.  You’ve been hired to create a Study Guide/Homework Help section for The Last Song in sparknotes.  Take a look at some of the study guide sites.  What will your homework help section look like?
  • Your task:  Create a quick multiple-choice quiz (10 questions) and a couple of essay questions that you think should be asked to students.

Question Three:  Ronnie & Miley on the Cutting-Room Floor

• A screenplay is a type of book written especially for film purposes.  Nicholas Sparks wrote The Last Song as a screenplay first and a novel second.  Also, he allowed Miley Cyrus (Ronnie in the film) to choose her character’s name for the novel.  Now that you know Ronnie, how does her character relate to Miley in this combined romance/coming-of-age story?
  • Your task:  Take a brief but significant part of the story (that doesn’t appear in the film) and imagine that Nicholas Sparks and Miley Cyrus worked together on the script for it.  After visiting this site (http://www.screenwriting.info), create a portion of the screenplay for that significant part of the story.

Question Four:  Dear Diary

• As you read the book, you reflected daily on what you have read.  Now, imagine that one of the main characters did the same and kept a daily diary, commenting on the many plots.
  • Your task: Think of five pivotal moments in the novel so far.  For each moment, jot down what the character may have been feeling and how he/she wanted to deal with it.  Choose plot occurrences from the novel, not the movie, and ensure that the plot events are significant to the story (or at least to the character).
  • An interesting approach would be to take a significant plot event and imagine what five different characters might write in their own diaries.  This is also an option.

Question Five:  Social Networks

• If you were one of the teenage characters in this novel, what kind of a facebook or myspace page would you have?
  • Your task: Assuming students are familiar with the facebook environment – and assuming it isn’t too difficult to create a page, create a page for one of the main teenage characters.  Make sure to include the following:
    • A few quotations from your character that you thought were insightful, frightening, or inspiring.
    • Some friends (from New York, Wrightsville Beach, and from Morell High) that you feel your character would have.
    • Some sites/bands/games/etc. your character might be interested in.
    • Anything else that provides us with knowledge and insight revealed about character.
  • If you are able to create a facebook page, please do so and simply post the link to your slideshow.  If not, please try to recreate the facebook page as a slide (complete with pictures, quotes, friends, etc).