Who I Am Project
Who I Am Project
You are going to create a memoir portfolio capturing who you are at this exciting point in your life. This portfolio will contain artifacts that will show some of your important memories from your past, some of your present feelings and thoughts, and your dreams for your future. Your finished portfolio should be of keepsake quality; meaning that this will be something that you will want to save for years, so that you can remember and share what your elementary years were like.
A well done portfolio will reflect your unique personality and creativity. Make it your own! Add in pictures, drawings, designs to make it as unique as you are. It should feel like a reflection of YOU!
The Portfolio
You will need to get or make a notebook, sketchbook or scrapbook to keep your portfolio in. As you create your artifacts think about how you are going to present them in your portfolio.
Your portfolio will have three parts: past, present and future.
You must create at least 3 artifacts for each part. This will be a minimum of 9 total artifacts.
Each artifact should reflect your finest quality of work. They should be edited, typed or nicely handwritten and include pictures or design elements to make them visually appealing.
Past (choose at least 3)
Collect pictures/ schoolwork from throughout your time in elementary school. Write captions explaining why they are important to you and what memories you have associated with them.
Create an illustrated timeline of your elementary school experience. Include what teachers you had and your favorite memory from each grade.
Write a letter to a teacher, coach or mentor who made a positive impact on you in the past. Explain what they did to help or change you. Include a copy of the letter in your portfolio, deliver a copy to the person.
Create a piece of art (drawing, painting, song etc.) that represents one of your favorite memories.
Create a book biography. What books have been important to you throughout your life? Create a list of the books that have shaped your life. Include pictures of the covers, what age you were when you read hem, and a description of why they were important to you.
Write a personal narrative about a significant experience or memory in your life.
Write a letter that you would give to yourself on your first day of kindergarten if you had a time machine. What kind of advice and encouragement about elementary school would you give you yourself?
Write a poem about growing up in your family.
Create a friend biography. Who have been some of your most important friends throughout your life? Create a list of the friends that you have had throughout your life. How have they shaped you, are you still friends with them etc?
Write an “I am from” poem. Follow this link for an example.
Create your own idea for an artifact that represents your past! Run your idea past Ms. M.
Present (choose at least 3)
Make a list of your current favorite things. Some examples are books, movies, music, clothes, food, subjects in school… Your list must have at least 10 favorite items with descriptions of why you like them.
Write a letter to someone who is currently in your life who has a positive impact on you. Include a copy of the letter in your portfolio and deliver a copy to the person.
Make a piece of art that represents who are right now. ( drawing, painting, song etc.)
Describe your favorite family tradition. What do you do, why is it important to you?
Identify a theme or value that is important to you right now (ex: loyalty, respect, friendship, hard work…) write a poem about that theme.
Create a wordless that includes character traits that you would use to describe yourself.
Describe your perfect day. What would you do, where would you go, who would you spend the day with?
Describe your 6th grade experience. What were the highlights. Reflect on how you have changed and what you have learned in the 6th grade.
Create your own idea for an artifact that represents your present. Run your idea past Ms.M
Future (choose at least 3)
Where is a place that you dream of visiting or living? Describe or show what you would do there and why you dream of going there.
Write a letter to yourself to open when you graduate from high school. Put it in a sealed envelope in your portfolio to open on your graduation day.
What's your dream job? Explain why you want that job and what you think it would be like.
Describe or draw what you think you will look like when you’re 20.
What’s something about you that you don’t think will ever change o matter how old you get? Write a paragraph explaining what that is and why you think so.
Create a piece of artwork that represents one of your dreams or goals in life. (drawing, painting, music etc.)
Write a poem about on of your biggest dreams.
Write a fictional story about yourself in the future.
Create your own idea for an artifact that represents your dreams for the future. Run your idea past Ms. M.
Daily Reflection Writing
Each day we will have an writing reflection time where you will free-write about a specific question or prompt related to your identity or past. You will get the chance to write about these prompts for ten minutes every day. They will help you generate ideas and deepen your thoughts for your artifacts.
You can edit and create a final draft of these writing pieces to include in your portfolio for extra credit.
Grading: We will work together to create the rubrics for this assignment (like we did for Mock Trials). As you begin, use the guidelines on this sheet and remember to do your highest quality of work. I will give you feedback as you go.
Due Date: Every week you will have portions of this assignment due. Those dates will be on your weekly checklist. The final portfolio will be due May 10th.
