This project asks 7th grade English students to explore their personal identity. Over several weeks, students will read literature, engage in writing exercises, and create a digital and written product. They will analyze characters, themes, and their own experiences to write a memoir. Along the way, students will develop vocabulary, analyze texts, draft and revise writing, and reflect on their learning. Their work will be presented to classmates, teachers, and family.

1. PROJECT OVERVIEW
Name of Project: Who are You? Duration:
Subject/Course: English Teacher(s): Fritz Grade Level: 7
Other subject areas to Honors
be included, if any:
Project Idea Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You. (Dr. Seuss) Students will
Summary of the issue, explore their personal identity through reading, writing, and technology.
challenge, investigation,
scenario, or problem:
Driving Question Who Are You?
Content and Skills 1.1 Vocabulary and Concept Development: identify idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes in prose and poetry
Standards to be 3.0 LITERARY RESPONSE AND ANALYSIS: Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant
addressed: works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. They clarify the
ideas and connect them to other literary works.
3.1 Structural Features of Literature: articulate the expressed purposes and characteristics of different forms of
prose (e.g., short story, novel, novella, essay)
3.2 Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text: identify events that advance the plot, and determine how
each event explains past or present action(s) or foreshadows future action(s)
3.3 Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text: analyze characterization as delineated through a
character’s thoughts, words, speech patterns, and actions; the narrator’s description; and the thoughts, words, and
actions of other characters
3.4 Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text: identify and analyze recurring themes across works (e.g.,
the value of bravery, loyalty, and friendship; the effects of loneliness)
3.5 Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text: contrast points of view (e.g., first and third person, limited
and omniscient, subjective and objective) in narrative text and explain how they affect the overall theme of the work
3.6 Literary Criticism: analyze a range of responses to a literary work and determine the extent to which the literary
elements in the work shaped those responses
1.0 WRITING STRATEGIES: Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays. The writing exhibits students’
awareness of the audience and purpose. Essays contain formal introductions, supporting evidence, and
conclusions. Students progress through the stages of the writing process as needed.
1.1 Sentence Structure: place modifiers properly, and use the active voice
1.2 Grammar: identify and use infinitives and participles and make clear references between pronouns and
antecedents
1.3 Grammar: identify all parts of speech and types and structure of sentences
1.4 Grammar: demonstrate the mechanics of writing (e.g., quotation marks, commas at end of dependent clauses)
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2. and appropriate English usage (e.g., pronoun reference)
1.5 Punctuation: identify hyphens, dashes, brackets, and semi-colons and use them correctly
1.6 Capitalization: use correct capitalization
1.7 Spelling: spell derivatives correctly by applying the spellings of bases and affixes
1.0 WRITING STRATEGIES: Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays. The writing exhibits students’
awareness of the audience and purpose. Essays contain formal introductions, supporting evidence, and
conclusions. Students progress through the stages of the writing process as needed.
1.1 Organization and Focus: create an organizational structure that balances all aspects of the composition and
uses effective transitions between sentences to unify important ideas
1.2 Sentence Structure: place modifiers properly, and use the active voice
1.3 Organization and Focus: use strategies of note-taking, outlining, and summarizing to impose structure on
composition drafts
1.6 Research and Technology: create documents by using word-processing skills and publishing programs
1.7 Evaluation and Revision: revise writing to improve organization and word choice after checking the logic of the
ideas and the precision of the vocabulary
T+A E T+A E
21st Century Skills Collaboration
to be explicitly taught and √ Other:
assessed (T+A) or that
will be encouraged (E) by Presentation √
project work, but not
taught or assessed: Critical Thinking: √
Presentation Audience:
Group: Students will critique each others work at various points in the project in order to improve √
Culminating their projects. Class:
Products and
√
Performances
School:
Community:
Students are working on their descriptive, creative, and sensory writing in Experts:
Individual: combination with their own self exploration. Through a series of prewriting activities
the students compose drafts of different kinds of spontaneous writing (see memoir Web:
prewriting) that they can draw from when writing their polished memoir. After learning
Other: parents
techniques for adding sensory details and "exploding the moment" students write an
individual memoir as the main piece of their book.
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3. PROJECT OVERVIEW
Entry event to
launch inquiry,
engage students:
Assessments Quizzes/Tests √ Practice Presentations
Formative
Assessments Journal/Learning Log √ Notes √
(During
Project) Preliminary Plans/Outlines/Prototypes √ Checklists √
Rough Drafts √ Concept Maps
Online Tests/Exams Other:
Written Product(s), with rubric: √ Other Product(s) or Performance(s), with rubric: √
Summative Poem, memoir, Self -portrait
Assessments
(End of Project) Oral Presentation, with rubric √ Peer Evaluation √
Multiple Choice/Short Answer Test Self-Evaluation √
Essay Test Other:
.
Resources On-site people, facilities: Tech. dept.
Needed
Equipment: LCD projector, document reader, Computers with Internet access
Presentation software
Materials: Woman Hollering Creek, House on Mango street, other personal narratives by professionals
Community resources:
Reflection Journal/Learning Log √ Focus Group
Methods (Individual,
Group, and/or Whole-Class Discussion √ Fishbowl Discussion
Whole Class)
Survey √ Other:
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4. PROJECT TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE
Project: Who are You? Course/Semester: September 2011
Knowledge and Skills Needed by Students Scaffolding / Materials / Lessons to be Provided
to successfully complete culminating products and by the project teacher, other teachers, experts,
performances, and do well on summative assessments mentors, community members
Students will be able to use prewriting exercises to generate ideas Writing prompts, journals, sample entries,
and then synthesize their ideas into a polished memoir.

Students will be able to write multiple drafts and revise based on Sample finished essay, student model
feedback, ultimately creating a polished memoir.

Using multimedia tools, students will be able to create a digital Sample digital representation, student model,
representation (photobooth, Iphoto, etc.) and present their writing to
an audience, exhibiting oral communication skills.

Students will be able to reflect on their learning process and articulate Sample reflection, student model,
what/how they would improve the next time.
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

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5. Project Calendar
Project: Start date:
Week 1
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Begin intro. to all -I am Poem
Intro. Narrative Unit pieces & project -Self Portrait
Student samples -Narrative elements
-Begin background
knowledge for novel
-practice writing
Week 2
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
-Begin novel
-Character description
-Figurative language
-practice writing
Week 3
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
-Novel
-5 senses
-theme
-practice writing
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6. Week 4
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
-Novel
-Point of view
-transitions
-practice writing
Week 5
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
-Create multimedia
project
-Novel
-Write memoir
Week 6
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
-Create multimedia
project
-Write memoir
Week 7
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
-Finish memoir -Create multimedia -Create multimedia
project project
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7. Week 8
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Presentations Presentations
Presentations
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