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toc "Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories." Roger C. Schank, cognitive scientist

=STORY- context enriched by emotion (//A Whole New Mind//, 102)=

Why start the year this way?
The story of the U.S. is the story of US, and it begins with you.

You have to find yourself in the story this year and to do that you have to review the 15-16 journey you have been on. I recommend a two-pronged attack. First, start "collecting" the artifacts of your life. The sorting will come later. Second, start talking to people about YOU. It is easiest to ask questions and record their answers. At this point it may be bext to use a Q and A format.

Questions
What kind of questions? Here are some examples:
 * Where was I born?
 * Did you know what my name would be immediately?
 * When did I come home from the hospital? What was I wearing?
 * How was my room decorated?
 * What was my favorite food? (baby and toddler)
 * When did I start walking?
 * When did I start talking?
 * What was my favorite toy?
 * How long did I sleep in a crib?
 * What were my first words?
 * When did I get my 1st tooth?
 * Who were my playmates?
 * Did I go to preschool?
 * Did we move or stay in the same house?
 * What do {parents} remember about my first day of school? What do you remember about it?

Now You
From this point on you take over……….your memories about growing up from 5-15. Think about friends, vacations, interests, changes in your life….all the stuff that makes you who you are. Now comes the hard part. You have to sift and sort and see what story emerges. That’s what historians do; they distill a mass of facts into a coherent narrative that reflects their own personal interpretation. It can be done using images words or even a combination of the two. Our goal this year is to study both forms, what is unique to each medium and then explore them in tandem.

The Process
Sometimes the goal is the process itself and sometimes the goal is the end product. In this case we are more interested in the process, but there is a finished product. What is it?

The Product
A 10 PowerPoint slide show that tells the story you want to tell about you and the first 15-16 years of your life. **That's right, only 10 slides.** To accomplish that you will have to be answering a question, identifying a theme and //telling a story//!

PowerPoint is easy to use and is loaded on all Upper School computers and probably most of our home computers. Pictures that are digital are easy to load, non-digitals have to be scanned (we have scanners at school). You are not expected to add any musical accompaniment.

For those that have not used PowerPoint before I will provide a brief introductory lesson, but the easiest way to learn it is to use it!

For a refresher (or introduction) on how to use PowerPoint try these tutorials at Atomic Learning: []


 * YOU CAN ALSO USE GOOGLE PRESENTATIONS WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO WORK IN EITHER A PC OR MAC PLATFORM. IT ALSO HAS NO "//TRANSPORTATION ISSUES"// MOVING BETWEEN WORKING AT HOME AND AT SCHOOL.**

Specifications:

 * A title
 * Dark backgrounds and light text
 * A minimum of ‘bells and whistles” (don’t overdo the graphics and animation)
 * 10 slides
 * A clear theme that is distinguishable and self-explanatory

The idea for this project was based partly on the StoryCorps Project http://www.storycorps.net/

Due Date**
Check the syllabus to see when the project is due.