Civics/Guidance
Mr. Lisko
1
All About Me:
A study of your cultural background and personal interests
For this project you will reflect on your own life, that of your ancestors, and look
for your own cultural bias, perspective, or point-of-view.
Create a collage of yourself using pictures or items that represent you, create a
pedigree chart, and conduct an oral history (interview) of at least two family members.
Next week, you will present this poster to the class and be asked a series of questions
from your research about your own cultural identity.
1) My Pedigree Chart: Your poster should contain as much family history as possible.
Please include birth/death dates and where your ancestors were born/died (city/country).
Do not do Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins.
2) My Life Poster: Your poster must contain at least 7 pictures or items and must
reflect/show information about you and your interests. Please include a picture of
yourself somewhere on the poster. Make sure that every item on your poster is school
appropriate.
3) Oral History: Choose at least eight (8) questions from the attached list with which to
interview any two (2) family members of your choosing. You must ask questions 1, 2,
and 3 and any other 5 questions of your choosing. Include a brief write-up of their
answers. Try to concentrate on their values, opinions, and important experiences that
have shaped their life. If asking about controversial issues please be respectful and
reserve judgment of their beliefs for your cultural analysis.
You will be graded as follows:
Poster
2 Oral Histories
Presentation:
Voice
Eye Contact
Content
100 Points
100 Points
10 Points
10 Points
25 Points _________
Total: 245 Points
My Life
My Pedigree Chart
ME
dad
mom’s
sister
Halloween
SAMPLE “ALL ABOUT ME” POSTER
Civics/Guidance
Mr. Lisko
2
All About Me:
A study of your cultural background and personal interests
Step One: Collecting Information
Talk to people!
Collect information from your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles,
and any other family member available. Call or email relatives who live out of town.
Don’t wait until the last minute; they may need several days to collect information and
respond to you.
Construct your family tree using your knowledge. Ask relatives for documents such
as birth/death certificates to verify information. Your family history includes more than
names and dates. Interview the older members of your family for clues and family stories.
Step Two: Creating a Family Pedigree Chart
Make your family pedigree chart.
Use the format given to you, and gone over in class. Add or remove spaces to fit your
family.
Neatly copy the information you have recorded into the appropriate spaces.
Decorate! Use pictures, drawings, documents such as birth certificates, citizenship papers, etc, to
personalize your family tree. (I recommend using photo copies or scanning pictures instead of originals,
because there is no way to guarantee they will not be damaged.)
Record your information on your Family Pedigree sheet, using these tips to make
your information as thorough as possible:
Write down everything, even information you don’t think you’ll need. It may be useful
later.
Make sure to record full names, not just nicknames (for example, Nicholas instead of
Nick), and full middle names, not just middle initials (for example, Dorothy Canfield
Fisher, not Dorothy C. Fisher)
If you only know part of a person’s name or birth date, record what you do know instead
of leaving the space blank (for example, August ?, 1944)
Don’t abbreviate! Write it all out. (for example, Las Vegas, Nevada, not Las Vegas, NV)
For married women who changed their names, record them using their maiden name.
You only need to show spouses and children of the ancestors in your direct family line
(your parents, grand-parents, great-grand-parents, etc., NOT aunts, uncles, cousins,
great-aunts and uncles, etc.)
For marriages that ended in divorce and had no children, you do not need to include the
spouse. However, if the marriage ended in divorce and DID have children, you should
include that spouse and children (see the sheet called “Symbols” for how to show stepparents)
You can include step-parents and step-siblings, but you should always include biological
relatives when possible.
When listing step-siblings, do not include the parent who did not marry into your family
(for example, your father’s new wife has a son who is your step-brother. You do not
need to include your step-brother’s mother on your family tree.)
Everyone in the same generation should be lined up horizontally (for example, you, your
siblings, and you cousins should all be lined up, and so should your mother, her siblings,
and your father and his siblings)
Civics/Guidance
Mr. Lisko
3
All About Me:
A study of your cultural background and personal interests
Symbols
On your family tree, lines are used to show relationships between family members.
For married couples, use a solid line to connect them and put the date of the marriage over the
line:
Married: June 18th, 2005
Name of Husband
Name of Wife
For children, use a solid line that attaches at the top to the line connecting their parents (if parents
are not married, connect the children separately to each parent):
_______________________________
__________
child
child
For divorced couples, use a solid line and write the year of divorce over the line:
Name of Husband
Married;
Divorced: 1997
Name of Wife
For second (or third, fourth....) marriages, use a dotted line to connect the step-parent:
________________
---------------------------
Step Three: My Life Poster
Your poster must contain at least 7 pictures or items and must reflect/show
information about you and your interests. Please include a picture of yourself somewhere
on the poster. Make sure that every item on your poster is school appropriate. This
poster should be clearly labeled and tell all about your personality, interests, and skills.
Step Four: Oral History
Oral history is the systematic collection of living people's testimony about their own
experiences. Before you start: compile a list of topics or questions, practice interviewing,
interview in a quiet place (record the interview if necessary), make sure the interviewee
understands the purpose of the interview and how you intend to use it, listen actively and
intently, ask one question at a time, follow up your current question thoroughly before
moving to the next, ask questions open enough to get “essay” answers.
Civics/Guidance
Mr. Lisko
4
All About Me:
A study of your cultural background and personal interests
Remember to have fun and enjoy talking with your family members. This should be
a fun and interesting way to get to know your family and their history better.
Internet Resources:
There are many free genealogy websites, including:
-FamilySearch.org (no username or password needed)
-EllisIsland.org (username: JarmelHistory, Password: Jarmel
Family coat of arms: http://www.freecoatsofarms.com/catalog.html
African-American DNA Project: http://www.uml.edu/dept/biology/rootsproject/
Immigration Resources: http://www.immigrationstation.com/
Angel Island Immigration (California): http://www.aiisf.org/
Story Corps—examples of oral histories: http://www.storycorps.net/
Story Corps Question Generator for oral histories:
http://www.storycorps.net/participate/question_generator/
Genealogy Tutorial: http://www.learnwebskills.com/family/intro.html
Pay site: http://www.familysearch.org/
Town Records site: http://resources.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/townco.cgi
Oral History Questions:
1. What is your full name? Why did your parents select this name for you? Did you have a nickname?
2. When and where were you born?
3. How did your family come to live there?
4. Were there other family members in the area? Who?
5. What was the house (apartment, farm, etc.) like when you were growing up? How many rooms?
Bathrooms? Did it have electricity? Indoor plumbing? Telephones?
6. Were there any special items in the house that you remember?
7. What is your earliest childhood memory?
8. Describe the personalities of your family members.
What kind of games did you play growing up?
What was your favorite toy and why?
What was your favorite thing to do for fun?
Did you have family chores? What were they? Which was your least favorite?
Did you receive an allowance? How much? Did you save your money or spend it?
What was school like for you as a child? What were your best and worst subjects? Where did you
attend grade school? High school? College?
What school activities and sports did you participate in?
Do you remember any fads from your youth? Popular hairstyles? Clothes?
Who were your childhood heroes?
What were your favorite songs and music?
Did you have any pets? If so, what kind and what were their names?
Civics/Guidance
Mr. Lisko
5
All About Me:
A study of your cultural background and personal interests
What was your religion growing up? What church, if any, did you attend?
Were you ever mentioned in a newspaper?
Who were your friends when you were growing up?
What world events had the most impact on you while you were growing up? Did any of them personally
affect your family?
Describe a typical family dinner. Did you all eat together as a family? Who did the cooking? What were
your favorite foods?
How were holidays (birthdays, Christmas, etc.) celebrated in your family? Did your family have special
traditions?
How is the world today different from what it was like when you were a child?
Who was the oldest relative you remember as a child? What do you remember about them?
What do you know about your family surname?
Is there a naming tradition in your family, such as always giving the firstborn son the name of his paternal
grandfather?
What stories have come down to you about your parents? Grandparents? More distant ancestors?
Are there any stories about famous or infamous relatives in your family?
Have any recipes been passed down to you from family members?
Are there any physical characteristics that run in your family?
Are there any special heirlooms, photos, bibles or other memorabilia that have been passed down in your
family?
What was the full name of your spouse? Siblings? Parents?
When and how did you meet your spouse? What did you do on dates?
What was it like when you proposed (or were proposed to)? Where and when did it happen? How did you
feel?
Where and when did you get married?
What memory stands out the most from your wedding day?
How would you describe your spouse? What do (did) you admire most about them?
What do you believe is the key to a successful marriage?
How did you find out your were going to be a parent for the first time?
Why did you choose your children's names?
What was your proudest moment as a parent?
What did your family enjoy doing together?
What was your profession and how did you choose it?
If you could have had any other profession what would it have been? Why wasn't it your first choice?
Of all the things you learned from your parents, which do you feel was the most valuable?
What accomplishments were you the most proud of?
What is the one thing you most want people to remember about you?
Civics/Guidance
Mr. Lisko
All About Me:
A study of your cultural background and personal interests
Sociology Questions: (WARNING: Theses may be “dangerous” questions.
Please be
respectful and do not judge the person you are interviewing—they are being interviewed at your
request. Be careful of your body language while asking questions. It may convey judgment.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
What values were different when you were younger than they are now?
Are you different from society? How? Or do you fit in with the "norm"?
What do you hate most about modern society?
What was the relationship like between the poor and rich? What was the relationship like
between the Republicans and Democrats?
5. What was the relationship like between different races? What was the relationship like between
different religions?
6. How did people feel about homosexuality?
7. Has the way we fight wars in this country changed over time?
8. If you could eliminate only one social problem in the world, which would it be and
why?
9. Do you feel positive about America’s present role in the world?
10. What do you fear the most about the youngest generation of Americans?
6