Senior Memory Book

SENIOR MEMORY BOOK

     During this year you will write a book, a Senior Memory Book. It will consist of your memories and thoughts from your whole life. It will be due in the 4th marking period, but you must begin now and work on it throughout in order to complete it on time without rushing.  

     The final product will be presented to me in a loose-leaf, snap-ring binder or in a scrapbook. Whether you need a simple plastic holder or a 2 inch binder will depend upon how much you put into this book. Your binder may have drawings or pictures pasted on the outside cover, inside cover, and the spine if you wish to. You may buy one of those notebooks that has a clear plastic sheet cover behind which you may place sheets of paper.  

     Your Senior Memory Book must include the following 17 chapters: Each chapter should be at least one page TIMES NEW ROMAN 12 POINT FONT single spaced!!!!

CHAPTERS SHOULD NOT HAVE HEADINGS, JUST THE TITLES

Before I was Me:

Chapter  1:    “Before I was…” Who was involved with your family before you were born?  Siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, family friends, etc.  You could include how your parents got together, alternate names before you were born and things of that sort.

Chapter  2:    "Where I came from”  Where were you born?  Where did you grow up?  Did you move a lot?  Provide description of these places – how do you feel about them?

Chapter  3:    "When I was little…" Talk to family members and family friends and retell some of the stories about when you were a kid

School Days:

Chapter  4:    "School Bells" Your earliest years in school – K through 5 -- learning to read, special school programs, special teachers and special friends

Chapter  5:    "Middle School" Getting accustomed to "big kids'" school: teachers, friends, activities, successes, heartbreaks

Chapter  6:    "High School: The Early Years" Your freshman, sophomore, and junior years in high school:  highlights, troubles, successes, heartbreaks, friends, teachers, coaches, etc.

Chapter  7:    "At Last, I'm a Senior" Your senior year:  highlights, troubles, etc. (see above for more ideas)

Chapter  8:    “Where Will I Go From Here…”  Are you headed to school, the military, work?  What do you want to do with your life?  What do you want to contribute to society?

Fun and Games:  (in this section you may choose to replace either shows or music for books if that applies better to you)

Chapter 9.    “Play it again” What music has shaped you through childhood to your adulthood?  Any songs you played a thousand times?  Any songs tied to people?

Chapter 10:    “Take me to a show” What television/movies have been significant for you throughout your life?

Chapter 11:    "Players”  Talk about the games you’ve played throughout your life.  Have you played sports?  Video Games?

Chapter 12:    "My BFF”  Dedicate this chapter to your best friend of all time.  What makes them such a good friend?  How do you reciprocate?

I Believe:

Chapter 13:    "Sometimes it Gets Scary”  What scares you about the future?  This may be personal, political, or global in its focus.

Chapter 14:    "My Inspiration" Consider the person or people who have inspired you throughout your life, taught you major life lessons and given you direction – dedicate this chapter to them.

Chapter 15:    “This is Love”  This chapter may be either a dedication to your “significant other” or a personal piece about what romantic love should be.

Chapter 16:      “The Time of My Life” Tell about the best time of your life – this could concern something that you do consistently or a single moment that you will never forget.

Epilogue       "The Bucket List”  Create a list of ten things you would like to do in your life (skydiving, learning a language, etc) with a few sentences explaining what draws you to it to make the page.

SUGGESTIONS – Include extra pages for you to fill in later including Prom and Graduation.

If your Senior Memory Book is complete and shows some creativity and thought, your grade will be no less than an 86.  The more thorough and the more creative you are in decorating your book and pages and sections with drawings, pictures, photographs, items cut out of magazines or newspapers or brochures, the higher the grade will be. Any book that does not contain all 17 chapters will receive a lower grade, regardless of how fancy it is. Any book that is a bunch of "junk" will not receive a grade. 

NO MATTER HOW NICE IT IS, IT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED LATE SINCE YOU HAD 3 Marking Periods!!

Schedule: Your chapters must be written on the following schedule (meaning each chapter should be completed by the provided date):

Chapters 1-4 Due BY Monday November 3rd  (1st MP)

Chapters 5-8 January 20th

Chapters 9-12 March 27th

Chapters to the end April 20th 

Entire Book Due BY May 21st  

    * The check will be through turn it in, so I expect that you will upload every FOUR chapters to the site BY the due date.  The “checks” will be based on completion and length along with glaring errors.  It is better to upload the documents as a word.doc if you can.

TURNITIN WILL ONLY LET YOU UPLOAD ONE FILE PER ASSIGNMENT, SO PUT ALL OF THE CHAPTERS INTO A SINGLE WORD DOCUMENT.