The

Profile Project Writing to Explore and Inform

Project Description: In this assignment you will develop a biographical sketch (or profile) about a particular point of time in persons life; this individual must be a minimum of sixty-years-old. Your profile subject can be a family member or someone in which you are interested in learning more. All projects are required to include a self-reflection that accounts for the writerly decisions made in this project. Due to the nature of this assignment, all projects must employ evidence of both primary and secondary research and make a significant point with cohesive, developed content. In this project, students will explore social, historical, and cultural research to contextualize the telling of a life story. Projects need evidence as support for your ideas in developing a biographical project, rather than allowing the research to drive the project. Project Goals: Throughout this project, you will respond to the following WPA OS clusters: o Rhetorical Knowledge Audience: The writer will select an audience. Note: The teacher is NOT the audience; she is a reader. Purpose: Writing to Inform Genre/Medium: Based on the audience, the writer will select an appropriate genre in a medium that supports the genre. Justify your genre and medium based on the needs of an indicated audience, purpose, and rhetorical situation Effectively employ appropriate voice, tone, and style to capture the human element of an interview subject o Critical, Thinking, Reading and Writing Engage in critical reading of texts that demonstrate not only examples of similar work, but also work that ignites ideas for invention. Apply appropriate technologies throughout the research and composition process Locate, evaluate, and use primary and secondary sources, specifically electronic sources, to produce a text that accurately integrates and represents the researched content o Process Engage in a series of composition tasks and multiple drafts, including peer review and proofreading partners, to develop a refined project. Each student will generate multiple drafts for this project (see syllabus for deadlines) and integrate feedback from peers, teachers, and other readers on the following documents: o Idea List/Timeline o Interview Questions o Rough draft o Revised draft o Editing draft o Final draft with Self-Reflection, found in McGraw Hill Guide to Writing Use technology to address audience o Knowledge of Convention Adhere to format of selected genre

 Project Steps:

Control surface features Document in MLA when necessary

Part I: Selecting an Interview Subject Decide who would be the best subject for this project. If you do not have (or want) to write about living relatives over the age of sixty, reach out into your discourse communities (churches, workplaces, academic environment) and find someone who fascinates you. Write a journal entry on what you already know about this person and design a plan to write from the inside about the life of your subject. You may want to spend time listening to the interviews on NPRs StoryCorps Recording America Project at: [Link] Part II: Holding an Information Session Once you have located an interviewee, you will need to gather initial information so your interview is a collaborative conversation. Contact your interviewee for a pre-interview information session. Questioning: Ask close-ended questions that will allow you to locate the details of this persons life socially and culturally through historical research. (For example, ask the interviewee to provide you with: date or birth, hometown, military service, name of elementary school, etc.) This will help you gather background data in order to formulate your interview questions. Listening: People want to tell you their stories. In your pre-interview information session, listen for any information that will guide you to creating a context for this persons life. Remember this is not the actual interview, but it is important to create an environment where they feel comfortable providing as much information as they want. *At the end of your information session, set up a time and date for your interview. Part III: Conducting Primary and Secondary Research Secondary Research: Before the interview, you will need to conduct secondary research so that you are able to write interview questions. Based on your background information, visit the Library of Congress Chronicling America newspaper project to locate social and historical events that were significant during your subjects life. What was going on locally and globally when your subject was age 16, 18, 21, during their 30s, 40s, 50s & 60s? How has technology changed during your subjects lifetime? What wars has your subject lived through, and what was his or her response to (or participation in) these events? Locate research that helps you conduct an interview that is a collaborative conservation; in researching the times and places of your subjects life events, you can be engaged during the collaborative conversation. Primary Research: Develop open-ended questions based on your research that will guide your collaborative conversation with your subject. Conduct your primary research through interview; this should be a conversation (not a question/answer session) since you have already gathered pre-interview information. Engage your interview subject about the historical and social events of his/her life. As a starting point, it may be helpful to viewing photo albums together with the interviewee. Important Notation: If possible, record your interview; it is important that you gain permission from your subject to record and use the content of your interview for your project. You will find a consent form at the bottom of this assignment sheet, which must be submitted with the works cited and reflection documents. See your text for tips on recording. I strongly encourage you use a digital

recorder, which will allow you to embed audio into digital documents. Once you have completed your interview, you will want to go through your notes, research, and recording to decide what material you want to use and/or omit. Keep in mind all of this information constitutes your data. Part IV: Composing the Profile Writing: Your job is to build a biographical piece about this person that is interesting and compelling. If your subject was nominated to be in a museum as someone who has experienced everyday life, consider this assignment an opportunity to represent your subjects life. Be mindful about how you begin this project; many students choose to start chronologically, Martha-Ann Rostin was born on May 26, 1912 in Montgomery, Alabama. This is not typically the most interesting to readers; your job is to hook them. Explore why this person was interesting and start there. You may want to tell the story of a specific time in this persons life since you cannot cover all sixty years. Think about what they have encountered or participated in that is meaningful and significant. Think about why is person is important to his/her community/family. Final Product: Select the most appropriate medium for your project by considering the audience that you have selected. You may want to spend some time in the Webliography looking at audacity and/or google sites as spaces to showcase your profile. If building a Web site, soundscape, or wiki is best to distribute this information to your audience then you should do that. The final project is up to you as long as it is a text-centered document that gives readers an in-depth view of your subjects life based on both primary and secondary research. (Adding visuals is encouraged but not required.) Use MLA for your citation style. You will write a reflection accounting for your choices along with submitting the works cited page and consent form. You can certainly merge these documents together and add the URL to your project on your project documents. NOTE: The guidelines for the written portion may feel open to youthis is the intention. This project is designed to provide you with freedom to represent your subject with the skills you have. Have FUN with this project! When I completed this project, I enjoyed getting to know my grandparents. While I have known both of them my whole life, this project provided an opportunity to learn how they met, what kinds of childhoods they had, and about the significance of the traditions of our family. If you choose to interview someone in your family, this assignment allows you to learn more about your heritage. Helpful Resources: See the webliography for more project sources Chronicling America-Library of Congress: [Link] This site allows you to search and read newspaper pages from 1900-1910 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Library of Congress Oral History Info: [Link] Using Oral History and Analyzing Oral History are lessons provided by the Library of Congress. Sample oral history recordings focus around three themes: Americans and the Automobile; Working Women in the 1930s; and Dancing as a Form of Recreation, 1890s-1930s. Hearing Voices: [Link] Hearing Voices is a Web site and a radio consortium of independent public radio producers who create public radio projects. The site features ethnographic recordings such as Neighborhood Stories, Crossing Borders, and Bike Diaries along the Lewis and Clark Trail. Timeline: Please see the course calendar for project details.

 Grading Criteria: All projects will be evaluated on the following areas: Rubric for Writing to Explore/Inform Qualities Addresses Intended Audience Highly Effective The writer clearly understands the needs of the intended audience and has adapted the writing to that audience. The writers purpose is clear throughout the entire project. The writer has focused on details that clearly relate to the main point of the paper. The writer clearly wants to find out more about the topic. The writing has a creative approach. Satisfactory The writer seems to understand the needs of the intended audience but could do a little more to adapt the writing to meet those needs. The writers purpose is clear throughout most of the project. The writer has focused on details that mostly relate to the main point of the paper. Needs Further Attention The writer could do much more to demonstrate an understanding of the needs of the intended audience.

Clear Sense of Purpose Focused Subject

The writer need to do more to clarify what the purpose is. The writer needs to do more to focus on details that relate to the main point. Its unclear whether the writer wants to find out more about the topic. The writing fails to meet the basic requirements.

An Inquisitive Spirit

The writer seems to want to find out more about the topic. Evidence of The writing follows the basic guidelines provided Critical Thinking in the assignment overview. Process Project displays Project has been evidence of work developed in a minimum beyond three required of three drafts (peer drafts reviewed; IA feedback; edited) Useful and The writer has The writer has presented presented information information in such a way Relevant in such a way that that readers may be able Information readers can readily to use it. use it. Clear Explanations The explanations are For the most part, the clear, and the explanations are clear, and Accurate information i s and the information is Information accurate. accurate. Efficiency The writing is For the most part, the appropriately concise writing is appropriately when it needs to be. concise.

Project is in first-draft form and has not been reviewed.

The writer needs to do more to clarify how readers can use the information.

Some of the explanations need to be clearer, and some of the information could be more accurate. The writing could be more concise in a number of places.

Ethics

The writer has represented diverse perspectives honestly and respectfully. Conventions The writer has attended to all the 1. Errors 2. Documentation necessary conventions of writing to inform. 3. Format Selects The writer has appropriate genre selected and justified the use of the genre and medium and medium to fit the needs of the audience. Metacognition The writer is reflective about the rhetorical decisions made throughout this project.

The writer may need to do a little more to represent diverse perspectives honestly and respectfully. The writer has attended to most of the necessary conventions of writing to inform. The writer has attempted to make a genre and medium selection, but cannot explain why selected. The writer reflects on some choices but does not fully account for writerly choices.

The writer needs to do much more to represent diverse perspectives honestly and respectfully. The writer needs to attend to more of the necessary conventions of writing to inform. The writer does not understand genre and medium, or has defaulted to essay.

No self-assessment reflection included with the project, which affects writers ability to explain audience and genre/medium.

 I hereby give ________________________ (insert student interviewers name) the right to record this interview, to edit the material that I provide in this interview, and to create a composition (audio, video, alphabetic) that uses this material for educational purposes. I understand that this composition will not be sold. I understand it may be distributed for educational purposes within classes and among teachers who could use this material for their classes. I also give/do not give permission to use my first and last name in connection with the publication of the composition. I give/do not give permission for my interview material to be posted online as part of this composition. Note: Individuals under 18 years of age must have the permission of a parent. Signature: _________________________________________ Print name: _____________________________________________ Date: ________________________________________

INTERVIEW RELEASE/INFORMED CONSENT FORM