© Copyright 2001 Jack C. Straton
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Assignment #2: Autobiography and Cultural AwarenessGoals: To practice
elements of the writing process
To work in small groups
To use poetry as a springboard for critical thinking
To discover and appreciate our own cultural heritage and our connections
with the world community
To use various research methods
To use the digital camera
Readings: Aurora Morales, Child of the Amer Chapter 11
WE p. 41-53
This assignment requires that you complete many steps to form a finished
document. The different requirements provide you with the opportunity
to represent yourself on a variety of levels and a variety of mediums.
These parts are listed below:
1. Digital picture of yourself
process to be explained by instructor and peer mentor
2. Personal version of Morales poem, Child of the Americas
to be explained by instructor
3. Autobiography / cultural heritage / history
You will need to write an essay of 3-4 typed, double-spaced pages
in which you explore your life and your relationship to an ethnic
or cultural heritage with which you identify. For example, you may
have knowledge of German ancestry and in your paper you may present
both oral histories gathered from your parents, grandparents, aunts
or uncles, and more formal library research on German culture or on
German immigrants to the United States. If you feel you have no such
ties, or do not have access to your family history, you may select
another ethnic or cultural heritage, based on your own interest, knowledge
or experiences.
This assignment will require some form of research. Formal library
research and oral research are both valid types of research for this
project. All sources should be properly documented in your paper.
Please refer to Writing Essentials for examples of how
to properly document sources.Deadlines:
Mentor session following Thursday October 9: Take digital pictures
Mentor session following Thursday, Ocotober 16: Third draft due
Mentor session following Tuesday, October 21: Paper presented orally
Thursday, October 28: Final draft due
References:
Aurora Levins Morales, Child of the Americas, in Re-reading
America, G. Colombo, R. Cullen, and B. Lisle, eds. (Bedford Books,
Boston, 1995) p. 444-5.
Links: