Day 1:  (The first day of school) Activity 1

• Students should be introduced to the class and the procedures
• Have students pair off in groups of two or three at the most (2 is ideal and partners of the same sex are preferred)
• Students are to one at a time come up and roll out enough newsprint for their partner to trace their body.  It would be a good idea to use the tape measure to see how tall they are and then use a yard stick to measure that much news print.  The activity will go by faster.  Had about 1-2 feet to their height to give enough "wiggle" room.
• Once everyone has their paper, give the following instructions:
• You will now create an outline of your body to use in class.  Each of you has a sheet of paper that you will lie down on.  You should leave room for your partner to trace around your arms, legs, and fingers.  Once your partner has traced you in pencil, you are to go back over the outline in marker so that it will stand out. On the inside of your body outlines you need to write words and phrases that describe your personal characteristics, emotions, ideas, values, beliefs, and goals--things that may not be readily apparent to other people.  On the outside of your body outline, write words and phrases that reflect how you think other people see you--physical characteristics, external behavior, thoughts, ideas, and beliefs.  Make sure you put your name on your body outline somewhere.  You will have approximately 35 minutes to complete this activity.  In 35 minutes I will stop you and you will not have time to finish.  You may begin.  I will walk around to monitor your progress.
• As students begin to trace each other, you need to walk around and make sure everyone is staying on track
• Once 35 minutes is over, have students arrange the desks back to their original position and have them take out their notebooks.  This is the first day and some students may not have a notebook.  Stress to them the importance of bringing 2 notebooks to class.  One is a journal and the other is for class assignments.  Journal assignments are not graded for right or wrong, but for thought processes.
• 1st journal entry:  Looking at the body outlines answer the following questions:  Do I see any patterns in the words I chose to use?  Does anything surprise me?  If I were to share my descriptions with someone else, with whom would I share them?  What do they say about my descriptions?  What do I think their descriptions might be and why?  What did I learn about myself from doing this activity? 
• Collect the body outlines for a grade.  It is just a participation grade. Take photos with a digital camera of the students body outlines.  Down load them on the computer, clear the images up and then print out a copy for each student to keep and refer back to throughout the semester.
• Homework:  Students are to bring in a picture of themselves by Friday.

Students will continue to explore themselves throughout the semester as they read and view literature that explores the human experience. Eleventh grade focuses on American literature.  The following pieces of literature may be read by students as examples of the human experience. As we read pieces of literature we discuss the human experience as well as authors choices and messages (s)he is trying to convey to us. All autobiographies can be seen as self-portraits because the author is trying to convey through words how they want their readers to view them.  I have students do independent reading in which the book must be at least 100 pages and is an American author.

• Of Mice and Men
• The Great Gatsby
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
• Beloved
• A Gathering of Old Men
• Little Women
• The Bell Jar
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
• The Color Purple
• Ellen Foster
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• A Raisin in the Sun
• Uncle Tom's Cabin
• The Joy Luck Club

• Activity 2
• Picture of students.  Students are to bring in the most recent picture of themselves.  Discuss self-portraits.  Have students look at their photo and in their journal answer the following questions.  How would I create a self portrait?  If I were to capture myself in either photography or fine art, what would I want to communicate to the viewers?  Are these characteristics from the inside or outside of my body outline?
• Have students explore self-portraits on the internet.  The following web site offer self portraits that the students may go directly and look at.
• http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/durer/self/
• http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rembrandt/self/
• http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/main_se.htm
• http://www.oocities.org/SoHo/Easel/8291/portraiture.html
• Students should pick three self-portraits and answer the following questions for each self-portrait:  Who is the artist?  What is (s)he trying to convey to the viewer?  How do I feel about this self-portrait?  What do I like best and what do I like least about the self-portraits I chose? 
• Activity 3
• Students will divide into groups of 4.  They will choose a thematic passage from any piece of literature they have read this far into the semester.  From this passage, students will create a film script.  Students will act out their scripts for the class.  Students must assign parts in the skit as well as parts for the development of the skit
• Students should be assessed both as a group and individually
• Give students about 3 weeks to work on their skits both in class and out of class.
• Skits will be video taped
• After all the skits have been performed ask students to answer the following questions for each skit:  Did the skit portray the human experience accurately according to the text?  Why / Why not?  How is it different reading a passage and watching it be performed on stage?
• Activity 4
• Students will watch two versions of The Great Gatsby--show the same scenes but not the whole video of both.  I usually show the entire video that the students feel is the best representation of the novel.
• Students should analyze the setting, dialogue, camera angles, music, lighting, and other film elements that help create mood and convey the theme.
• Students will compare the two versions and see which one is based more on the text.
• This should be completed only after students have read, analyzed, and discussed the novel.
• Activity 5
• Students will go to the following web site:  http://www.bibliomania.com/
• At this web site, students will choose an American author in which they are interested in from the drop box on the left hand side.  They will then choose a piece of literature by that author and read it from the internet.
• Once students have read their selection, they will email me the following questions:  What human experience was the author trying to convey?  Did (s)he succeed?  Why / Why not?  What did I learn about human nature after reading this selection?  What did I learn about my self?
• Activity 6
• Students will create a Who Am I?  poem.  Students should pre-write before they write their final draft.  The poems will be due 3 days after first assigned.  A self-portrait should accompany the poem.  The self-portrait can be either a drawing or a photograph.
• Activity 7
• Students will create a memory book.  This autobiography will contain all of the important aspects of their lives to this point.