Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

One of my favorite projects I have come up with for my 7th grade reading class is making a quilt. After reading, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I give my students some squares of fabric I had previously cut out and have them draw a picture that illustrates a scene from the book. I enjoy seeing what sorts of things students are able to come up with that represent the story.

If any of you are familiar with the original story, it is rather violent as Robert Louis Stevenson was inspired to write this story because he was living in London during the time of the well-known serial killer, "Jack the Ripper". I think it's kinda funny that I have asked a bunch of middle school students to illustrate these violent scenes from the story, and then to put it into a nice and pretty quilt.

The nice thing is that we finish reading the book right before Christmas break, so that leaves me two whole weeks to get it done. I don't need all that time, but is sure is nice to have the time if I need it. Once the quilt is completed, I donate it to the school where we auction it off to raise money for these students when they go on their class trip in 8th grade. Thankfully for me, no one stepped forward and bought the quilt last year. Now I have that memento from my first year of teaching. I am pretty proud of the one we have made this year, so hopefully we should be able to make some money off of it. Here's what it looks like:I really like the pictures that have "Bugs Bunny" in them because I was able to find the "Bugs Bunny" version which I showed to the class. Here's an up-close look at a couple of them:

In the midst of all these cute pictures that represent the "Bugs Bunny" version, there is one of the most violent ones like this:Apparently, this is supposed to be Mr. Hyde lying in a pool of his own blood with some nasty blue stuff seeping out of his mouth. When I get pictures like this, it makes me wonder what sorts of things these kids are being exposed to at home. I guess it's not my place to judge, but I can't help it sometimes.

As you can see, all three of these students chose to draw Mr. Hyde with a green face. I find that interesting. Maybe they see him as an early form of the Hulk or something, or maybe the "Bugs Bunny" version had some sort of influence on it as Mr. Hyde is depicted with long arms that drag on the floor with green skin.

What a fun project this has turned out to be. I hope to find a reason to do something like this with my classes each year. I have discovered that students enjoy doing these sorts of things, and they seem to remember the story and the experience better when it is creative and enjoyable.