Edgar Allen Poe: Father of Horror
A Webquest for 8th Grade Language Arts
Introduction
Everyone loves a horror story. Stephen King, the master of 20th century horror has over forty novels and numerous box office hits. From his first novel and movie hit Carrie in 1974 to his latest movie hit The Green Mile, Stephen King is often compared to the 18th century weaver of horror tales, Edgar Allan Poe. Poe's troubling life shaped his stories of hauntings and death.
The Task
The class has decided to hold a Poe Festival. They have narrowed the number of selections to six. You are part of a team that will research Poe's life and works to help the class decide which of the six they will include in the Festival.
You will create a program that includes:
graphics to illustrate the theme of the work
a timeline of major events in Poe's life biography
a short biography of events that affected his life and works
a cast/character list
a breakdown of your literary work's plot in acts and scenes
You will present your literary selection to the class using your choice of video, Hyperstudio, Powerpoint, or live dramatization.
To accomplish the task, you will first be assigned to a team based on the literary work you will present to the consortium. Your team must become an expert on Poe's life and the events that later affected your literary work. Visit the Poe Museum to divide up the research and coordinate your teams efforts to find out more about Poe's life. Once you have finished your research, come back together as a team and create a timeline of important events from Poe's life that affected his works.
Second, your team needs to read and reseach the literary work. Visit your wing in the Poe Library to read your literary work and find links to help you research the work itself.
Third, once you have completed the museum task, your team needs to decide how you want to present your literary selection to the class.
Last, you need to bring together all your information by creating your program and playbill. A playbill is simply a poster that includes the title of your literary work, a visual illustrate the work, and a list of characters. The program should be a regular size sheet of paper folded once to create four (4) sides. On the cover put the title and an illustration. On the inside of the cover, put Poe's biography making sure to include all the details required. On the inside left place the literary work outline that is divided by acts and scenes so that the audience can follow your performance. Along the bottom of the inside pages, copy your timeline of events you found affected your literary selection. Finally place the character/cast on the back cover. Make sure to give your team credits on the bottom back cover.
Evaluation and Rubric
It's time to take a look a how your team has done. Click on RUBRIC to begin your evaluation. You will be evaluated on how well you completed each task. Your team will be evaluated plus as a group you will have the opportunity to give feedback on how each member participated during the WebQuest.
Conclusion
Congratulations! You are now an expert on the life of Edgar Allan Poe. Having read at least one of his literary selections, you are now ready to move on. Here are a few web sites you can visit to read more of Poe's work and life.
Credits & References
Websites:
www.answers.com/topic/edgar-allan-poe
www.poestories.com
www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/130
www.nps.gov/edal
