The Book Project

Who Am I?

Thursday, November 9, 2006 @ 6:30pm

Project Overview
In Language Arts, you will write a personal memoir and read Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros to explore this type of personal writing. Your memoirs will be based on one of the following themes of identity:

Family/Culture/Home

Inner Self/Outer Self/Appearance
Community/Friends/Group Membership

Future/Purpose/Actions/ Choices

Additionally, you will produce other types of writing and poetry for your book. In Digital Media or Visual Arts, you will create an actual book that contains project work from digital media or visual arts class as well as polished writing from LA. Your book will also contain various “book” elements including dedication, title, reviewer comments, author’s bio, and acknowledgements. World History will provide content about personal philosophy, which may be included in the Author’s bio section of the book.
Exhibition Night
On Exhibition night, you will present your individual books to an audience of friends, family, and community members. You will write and present an artist statement in a presentation lasting 3-4 minutes. The presentation will include reading an excerpt from your memoir writing. You may also excerpt pieces from your other writing. You will talk reflectively about your process - strengths, challenges – and use your books to show samples as you speak. Your reflection will go in your artist statement.
On Exhibition Night, you will be exhibiting the following materials:
  1. Digital Media or Visual Arts book
  2. Written and creative artifacts from English Language Arts
Your polished, final written materials will need to be collected together and organized in a professional manner. Your final product will include:
  1. Front and back covers -- include images related to the content of the book. The back cover should include reviews and a summary of the book’s contents.
  2. Dedication
  3. Table of contents
  4. Preface – A one page reflection of your book project process
  5. Chapter for each piece
  6. About writing my chapter -- A one page description of each person’s writing process
  7. About the author (you)
  8. Acknowledgements

Book Project Checklist

Requirement / Description / Due date / Completed
(Teacher must sign off each task)
Front Cover
(Created in Digital Media or Visual Arts) /
  • Title
  • Author’s Name
  • Images and artwork

Back Cover
(Created in Digital Media or Visual Arts) /
  • Book Summary: A written summary of the book’s contents to entice the reader
  • Reviews: Quotes from “newspapers” and “magazine” reviews that celebrate and advertise the book

Dedication /
  • A dedication by the author

Table of Contents /
  • Author’s Name
  • Chapter Titles
  • Page Numbers

Preface /
  • Process: A one page description of your process in putting this book together

Chapter for each written piece /
  • Numbered Chapter
  • Chapter Title
  • Author’s Name
  • Image

About Writing My Chapter /
  • A one-two paged description of what it was like for the author to write his or her memoir chapter

About the Authors /
  • A picture of the author
  • A short autobiography of the author

Acknowledgements /
  • Special thanks to people who were helpful to you in creating this book