Dracula Lives

The pictures posted here are part of a school project about which I recently posted. Students used their historical and folkloric background readings to inform their understanding of Bram Stoker's Dracula. They completed tasks in groups (character portrayals, vocabulary discovery, key passage selections, theme exploration) and individually (chapter artifacts representing themes and characters, as well as creative final projects). I have been very pleased with their commitment to the class and to their own learning success.

Many of the students' artifacts and collaborative contributions are posted on the wall outside of our classroom.



The wall is fairly expansive.



Vlad Tepes background.



Notes from Dracula -- the novel's only authentic, primary documents in the Count's voice. Dracula is ever the honorable and generous host (until Harker violates guest etiquette).


An image of The Demeter (Dracula's transport ship to England). A bottle with the ship's log inserted provides the ship captain's final words. (Hint: heavy duty velcro is a reliable display resource.)



The skeleton keys to Dracula's new properties in London--representative of the new economic order of property, class, and legal guidelines in Stoker's "fin de siecle" world.



Shorthand from Mina....translations, misinterpretations, encoding. Back-in-the-day instant messaging?



The last lost box of native soil.



OK, I have to explain ... this is NOT real blood. That would just be wrong. I think the student used dyed water. (No animals nor students were injured to create this artifact.)



The final journey in hunt of the vampire. Mapping out the journeys in Stoker's novel was not easy for the students--even with maps dated from the 1890s.



Are we well protected? How do we negotiate our contemporary struggles of science and faith and trust?



An interesting interpretive approach. (See earlier posts for more on soundtracks and creative response projects.)

All in all -- another teaching success.