The Color of Water - Family History Project Due February 28
Your family
history project should reflect YOU, your family, and your culture. This is not
a project to wait until the night before the due date to complete since compiling
the information needed will require you contacting relatives, so schedule your
time accordingly. Interviews can be done via facetime, phone if necessary but
sitting down face-to-face will allow you to interact with items and momentos
that may help tell their story.
Ultimately,
you will produce a written piece of no less than 700 words that will tell a portion
of your family’s story (memoir). This means that your piece must contain
characterization and dialogue, be written in paragraph form, and have a
narrative arc.
In the piece you must
include anecdotes gathered from your interview process to illustrate your
points. It should be personal and not read like an encyclopedia entry.
See my example.
The second
piece of writing will be research-based and will pertain to some aspect of your
family story. This could be historical research of a time period or a
particular career, etc.
The third
piece will be a reflection paper that includes: Why I choose this focus to
represent my family? What I knew before I started. The story of my search. What
I learned? Why does it matter to me?
Visual
presentation such as a poster board, shadowbox or other physical presentation-
You will create a display that represents the things you learned about your
heritage. Use photos of old photos, symbols of treasured things,
representations of values and personalities. Impress me with your creativity.
Find
a relative to interview. The older the better. Get them talking. You will be
surprised to see how they all have a story to tell.
