Multi-Genre Ancestry Project
English 3 Honors
Assignment: Create a website to showcase different products that reveal your family ancestry. Pick one
name/side of the family to follow to see how far in history you can trace. You will be creating products based
on this original ancestral country and time period.
Objective: Students will be able to effectively research through various methods and use many modes of
technology to express knowledge of a cultural history.
Assigned: Tuesday, Sept. 8
Rough Draft Deadlines: Sept. 22nd & Oct. 5th (looking for completed work & progress)
Final Product and Presentation Due: Friday, October 16th
Requirements
You must complete assignments 1-8. Detailed instructions are provided for each genre on my website. Doing
additional work is optional for additional points.
1. Travel Brochure or Video highlighting the modern day or historical period of your ancestral homeland
(country)
2. Poetry Corner: Double Voice Poem, The Six-Room Poem, The List, with a blog for comments
3. The News Article(s) Information Page (history from the time of your earliest ancestor)
4. Dear Ancestor Letters (scanned, links, or narrated and viewed through video)
5. Recipes (family recipes passed down and researched recipes that are traditional to your country of
origin)
6. Artifact Presentations (images photographed, scanned, inserted on any of the pages)
Final Product: You will be presenting your multi-genre writing pieces through a website of you own design.
Be sure to include the following requirements. You may wish to complete these items at any time. You will be
presenting to your peers by discussing your project process and selecting your favorite piece to read out loud.
 Be sure to name and label your website with the appropriate titles to indicate your ancestry or heritage
 Create an “About” page where you provide information about yourself, introduces your project, and
describes your process. Be sure to include any information that the reader might need to understand
your ancestry and information provided in the project.
Insert a photo of yourself (alone or with your immediate family)
 Document all of your sources from the entire project in a Works Cited page which can be in the form of
credits or sources
 Present your final product by simply putting up your website for your class members to peruse.
Be sure to proofread and revise each piece. See me or your peers for help as needed. Have fun! Take your
time and really shine with your writing, your creativity, and your voice.
Resources
Free Ancestor Search
http://www.searchforancestors.com/
http://www.searchforancestors.com/google/searcher.html
http://www.squidoo.com/genealogy4kids#module11082722
http://www.genealogytoday.com/
http://www.freedomcenter.org/genealogy/?gclid=CNSY-dXF0qMCFYvr7QodV37yuA
http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#
Find your surname
http://genealogy.about.com/od/surname_meaning/a/surname-meanings.htm
Find the meaning of your first name
http://www.zelo.com/firstnames/find.asp
http://www.paulsadowski.com/numbers.asp
Death records
http://www.deathindexes.com/
Immigration History
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAimmigration.htm
http://www.ellisisland.org/
All Kinds of Information:
PPLD.org  go to the “geneology” section http://ppld.org/regional-history-and-genealogy-home
You have access to more if you have a library card.
Technology Tools
Creating Your Website
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Weebly: http://www.weebly.com/
Google: https://support.google.com/sites/answer/4417369?hl=en&ref_topic=23216&vid=1635759739774243231-1258283821&rd=1
Moonfruit: http://www.moonfruit.com/
Project Makers (these are either free or you can have a free trial)
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https://eduhowto.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/14-student-favorite-project-websites/
http://seekoutlearning.blogspot.com/2014/02/8-free-websites-to-create-cool-student.html
Homework!
Have your parent or guardian sign his/her name by the due dates, take a photo of this, and then email to me
at susan.schandoney@d11.org. If this process doesn’t work, turn in this packet and I can return it to you.