Burke/Fall/2002
Overview What makes one person stand out in our memory over another? We might have twenty-seven uncles and aunts, but thereÕs one who somehow remains in our mind long after the others go to bed. We sit in the classrooms of dozens of teachers in a lifetime, but one or two we never forget. This assignment asks you to think about one person who remains most memorable to you. They may still be alive, or they may have died years ago. You might know them, or they might be someone whose life fascinated you so much you learned everything you could about them to better understand them.
Due
Date TBA
Performance
Standards To
achieve the standards on this assignment you must:
q
Generate
the criteria and attributes of a ÒmemorableÓ person
q
List
at least ten
people you could write about, all of whom qualify as ÒmemorableÓ according to
your criteria. (You do not have to know them personally, but must be able to
know enough about them to write.)
q
Write
about someone we would all agree is ÒmemorableÓ; whom we come to know and will
remember through your writing. If it is not someone you know, it should be
someone of recognized importance (see examples at websites listed below)
q
Use
concrete sensory details (sights, sounds, smells) and precise words to describe
the gestures, acts, and characteristics of your memorable person.
q
Discuss
the person from at least three perspectives, only one of which can be your own.
q
Show
this person doing what it is that makes them so memorable.
q
Generate
useful questions for writing and interviewing others about memorable people
they have known.
q
Interview
(and takes notes) three people, only one of whom can be under 18 about their
most memorable person.
q
Conduct
an Internet search Time magazineÕs Person of the Year (URL listed below) or one of their
other remarkable people (URL below).
q
Explain
what makes this person (on TimeÕs website) so memorable. (Use Summary Notes)
q
Identify
and defend your argument for the most memorable person in each of the three
books you read for summer reading.
q
Type
and format this two-page paper according to the MLA guidelines outlined on page
277 in WriterÕs Inc.
q
Use
a writing process throughout the paper to improve the ideas and edit for
correctness.
q
Deliver
a one-minute talk about your person in which you explain what makes this person
so memorable.
Resources The
following websites offer useful examples and information:
q
http://www.time.com/time/poy2001/archive/1988.html
q
http://www.time.com/time/time100/