With a partner, students will use interview notes to write and illustrate a biography and name poem about their senior friend. They will use appropriate English-language-arts and visual-arts skills. They will publish this book in the computer lab, put it in order and bind it. ( Books and poems may also be hand written.)

The learners will:

• collaborate with his/her partner in writing the “Living History” biography of their senior friends.
  
  
• use appropriate language arts writing skills.
  
  
• use story boards to organize the material and to sketch the illustrations.
  
  
• print a final copy from the computer and illustrate with color (pencils or crayons).
  
  
• write a name poem using the senior’s name.
  
  
• use a world map to show where they (and their senior friend) originally came from (this could be included in the book).

Anticipatory Set:
Tell the class that they are going to be authors with a real audience. They are writing a “Living History” book about their senior friend using their notes and experiences. When the books are done, they will be shared with their senior friends.

• Students work cooperatively with their partners and use interview notes to write the rough copy of the biography. They will write the details they learned about their senior friends in sequential order.
  
  
  • Use appropriate language arts writing skills to compose this book.
    
    
  • Put clear details in chronological order.
    
    
  • Write with quality, knowing that this is for a real purpose…to publish a biography to be presented to that person.
    
    
  • Provide story boards and teach students to organize their material and put sketches of the illustrations on the story board (see Attachment One, Living History Story Board).
    
    
  • One way to organize the responsibilities of this shared writing project is to assign student A to cover pages 1-4 and student B to plan and write pages 5-8 (see Attachment Two, Living History Biography).
    
    
  • After writing, the students have their rough draft edited by a family member and/or the teacher.
    
    
  • Students type the final copy in the computer lab.
    
    
  • Carefully illustrate their pages in color – crayon or colored pencils work best.
    
    
• Each student locates where his or her family ancestors lived on the world map outline. Each student also locates where the senior friend originally came from. Students clearly label and color the maps. They may include them in the Living History book.
  
  
• Each student writes a name poem about his or her senior friend. Each student writes the senior friend’s name vertically on the page (writing it as the senior wished to be addressed). Then, the student writes a word or phrase for each letter of the name. The words or phrases should describe the person or tell something about that person. Students illustrate the name poems. (see Attachment Four, Living History Name Poem)
  
  
• During the publishing process use the Living History Record Sheet to keep track of which students have completed the different assignments (see Attachment Three, Living History Record Sheet).
  
  
• Students put the completed pages in order:
  
  • Cover
    
    
  • Name Poem
    
    
  • Biography
    
    
  • Map of the world
    
    
  • Autobiographies of both students
    
    
• The color copy will be given to the senior friend. Before that, the teacher or adult helper should make black-and-white copies for the students (and the classroom).
  
  
• The color copies can be slipped into the clear, protective report cover, ready for the big day!
  
  
• Students share their published works with the class, reading and showing the pages for which they were responsible.

Ask for volunteers to help out in the computer lab and with copying the final book.