Telling Your Story Part II
Presentation: 50 points, beginning Monday, December 5
Write-up, 1-2 pages: 50 points, due Monday, December 12
Presentation
This assignment is similar to a “show and tell” assignment from elementary school. You'll get either five minutes or ten minutes to tell the class about yourself indirectly by talking about something that is important to you. Choose whatever you want to talk about, but make sure that it's something that you care about and that you know well. For instance, you might select a hobby, an object (like a gift) that has special significance for you, or a memorable event or experience. You will have access to the audio/visual equipment in the classroom, so you can project clips, play music, or show photographs.
You have the option of either doing your presentation alone or in a group with up to five members. Because this is a big class, I would prefer that you do your presentation in a group so that everyone will have time to do a presentation. If you do the presentation alone you have five minutes, and if you do the presentation in a group you have ten minutes. If you do the presentation as a group make sure that everyone has a speaking part.
For a group presentation you should find something that you have in common with the other people in your group. Did you go to the same high school? Do you share a language other than English? Are you all fans of the same television show, or do you play the same sport? For your presentation, in addition to talking about your shared object or experience you should also mention how your experiences have been different.
Write-up
In this class I have encouraged you to have a very fluid idea of culture. People move around, adopt new habits, try new things, make new friends, struggle against new obstacles, and in the process culture changes as well.
For your write-up do a little background research about what you share with the class (this background research might also become part of your presentation). Try to trace the history of what you present. How has it travelled? Who else has it appealed to, when, where and why? Then you should think about how you have changed what you are presenting. What does it mean to you? How are you doing things a little differently? To fill out and organize your paper you might tell a story. If you do a group presentation, include some reflections on how your relationship to your object is similar and different from the relationships between your group members and the object.