Activity 1a
C&I 335
Summer, 1998
Michelle Tjelmeland
Franklin Middle School
Springfield, Illinois
I instruct a core exploratory class which consists of teaching
areas of language arts that cannot be taught in the normal curriculum due to time
restraints. Each nine weeks, I have a new set of students for the class. I am constantly
searching for ways to improve my curriculum for this class. Each students in my core class
is required to hand write an autobiography. Although the students enjoy this project, it
becomes extremely time consuming because the students are constantly editing and revising
their work. Additionally, I am constantly pulling my hair out trying to read their sloppy
hand writing. So I have decided to have the students create an electronic
autobiography/web page similar to the ePortfolio page that the students in C&I 335 are
creating. I believe that this project will motivate students as well as myself.
Students would use the computer lab or classroom computers to create the autobiography.
There would be a sign up sheet to ensure that all students were given equal amounts of
time on the computer. The students in my class would create an autobiography using
Microsoft FrontPage Editor. In addition to learning the various skills needed to run
FrontPage, students would also learn how to use tables, scanners, and flex and/ or digital
cameras.
Each autobiography/web page would include the following:
1. Front page with the students name and picture (flex or dig. camera)
2. Table of Contents (listing all pages including in the autobiography). Students would
create a table to represent information on this page.
3. Me? A five year old article about kindergarten. Students would scan a picture from
Kindergarten. This page would also include a poem entitled"Kindergarten Senses"
about the students memories of Kindergarten.
4. Now that I am grown up. This article would include a current picture of the student
(flex or dig. camera) and an essay about teenage years.
5. My favorite place article include an essay about the student's favorite place and a
picture or clipart image.
6. My family essay would include information about a student's family and pictures or
relevant clip art images.
7. My Favorite Holiday essay would describe a student's favorite holiday. Pictures or
images would be included in this article also.
8. My hero article containing a picture of the student's hero and an essay about the
person.
9. Something needs to be done five paragraph essay. Students would identify a topic that
they feel strongly about--drug abuse, abortion, open campus, etc. They would review at
least three articles on the Internet and then include their opinions and concerns about
the topic as well as the information found in the articles from the web.
10. If I Were in Charge of the World Poem. This poem would include relevant pictures or
images.
11. Students could earn extra credit by writing an additional article(s) on the following:
My favorite Colt
My Greatest Success Story
The Hardest Lesson I've ever Learned
My Most Frightening Experience
My First Day in Middle School
After the project was completed, students would first evaluate themselves and then
evaluate other classmates. A finally grade would be given to the students after I had
reviewed their personal evaluation, peer evaluations, and my evaluation.
Please note that parents would be notified about the project. If parents objected to their
child using pictures, clip art could be used or pictures from books or magazines.
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