Autobiography Project

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Movie Movie Day 1: Day 2: SPARTAN
Learning from Who I Am FAIR
Our Pasts Today

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Day 3: Day 4: Presentation CLEAN CARD Last Day of
Looking The Final of Oceania School!
Toward the Product Project
Future

Name: ___________
This Packet Is Due Wednesday May 24!

 Lesson 1: May 17, 2017

Do Now:
Birthdate: ____________________
Birth Place: ___________________
Places Ive Lived: ______________________________
Members of My Family: ______________________________________________

By The End Of This Unit We Will:

Learn about the process of writing; brainstorm ideas, write draft,revise,edit,
finalize draft, and share work
Be able to writeeffectivelyandwithdetailaboutourpersonalhistory(family,
friends, neighborhood), growth, and goals over time
Read and critique published autobiographies to help understand effective
writing techniques used
Complete final product as a published piece

What Is An Autobiography?
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Sample Outline:
I. Introduction
A. Anecdote to get people interested in your story
II. Early Life
A. Family (Parents, Siblings, etc.)
B. Where you grew up/Places youve lived
C. Early Experiences
1. Choose 1-2 events that shaped your life as a young child
III. Current Experiences
A. Where you live/What your life is like now
B. Interests
IV. Future Plans
V. Conclusion
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 Sample Autobiography
My name is Michael Smith and I was born on the 30th of August, 1967 in Long
Beach, California. My parents were EddieSmithandJoanSmith.Bothofmyparents
are deceased. My mom died at the ageof57in1994fromlungcancerwhichwasthe
result of smoking her whole lifetime. My father died at the age of69in2006froma
massive heart attack, which was also the likely result from a lifetime of smoking.
Fortunately I have been smart enough to avoid that bad habit.

My early childhood was a typicalmiddleclassenvironmentcircathe1960's.Mydad
worked for Simpson Buick as a parts salesman and my mom was a stay at home
mother. I had a happy, normal childhood as an only child, leaving me somewhat
spoiled. My mom and dad divorced when I was eight years old and bothremarried
within a year or so of the divorce. My dad remained married to my stepmom Bev
until his death. My mom would marry two more times. My first stepdad Vince
became a big part of my life andImaintainedclosecontactwithhimuntilhisdeath
in 2006, two days after my real dad died. Yes, that was averybadweek,losingboth
of my dads.

Growing up with split parents was not especially difficult since each of my parents
kept me out of their divorce and they got along fine at events where both of them
were present. I lived with my mom until I was 16 and in high school. By my
sophomoreyearinhighschoolIhadbeguntohangaroundwithfriendsthatgotme
into a lot of trouble with a numberofthings.Iwasrapidlyheadingdownanegative
path, but was fortunate enough to noticeitbeforeIhaddoneanyseriousdamage.I
moved in with my dad and changed high schools and friends.

With the fresh start I was able to finish high school without further incident,
graduating from Downey High School in 1985. Even withmyquestionablebehavior
earlier in my life I had always wanted to become a police officer, which I couldnot
do until I was 21 years of age. So, to kill time and stay out of trouble I joined the
United States Army immediately after turning 18. I joined the army and was sent to
Fort Benning, Georgia for basic training, advanced infantry training, and finally
airborne jump school. After becoming a paratrooper, I was assigned to Bravo
Company, 2/325th Airborne Infantry Regiment.

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What stands out the most about my time in the army are the extremesthatyouare
subjected to. Someofmyhappiestmemoriesandsomeofmyworstmemoriescome
frommytimeinthearmy.OnethingthatIamsureofisthatitshapedmetobecome
the man that I am now. The army really straightened me out from my troubled
teenage years. When I came out of the army I had put on 50 solid pounds and was
old enough to attempt to become a police officer.

Fresh out of the service I waited on tables and did some bartending while in the
long application process for law enforcement. I applied to the Long Beach Police
Department, the LosAngelesPoliceDepartment,andtheCaliforniaHighwayPatrol.
My hope and dream was to be accepted by the Long Beach PoliceDepartmentand
it came true for me. I was accepted into the Long Beach Police Academy on July
10th, 1988. My military experience definitely made the police academy mucheasier
for me. I was already conditioned to withstand the extreme stress of the police
academy. The only difficulty I had in the police academy was a number of injuries
suffered during it, but I was able to continue in spite of them. I attribute this tomy
time in the army as well because I had learned to "Play through the pain."

After five months I graduatedfromthepoliceacademyandwasassignedasapolice
rookie in trainingforthePatrolDivision.MyfieldtrainingperiodwentquicklyandI
was able to complete field training without any problems. It became immediately
clear to me that I had made the right career choice. The excitement of being a
police officer lived up to all my expectations. I literally enjoyed the police work so
much that I looked forward to going to work and I could not believe that I was
getting paid for it. The job onlygotbetterasIbecamemoreexperienced,leadingto
more confidence that I could handle the job regardless of what came along.

During my career in law enforcement I workedinpatrolasanofficer,laterasafield
training officer, and finally as a patrol sergeant. Over the course of my career Ialso
worked indetectives,intheGangEnforcementSection,andasadetectivesergeant.
One of the best things about being a police officer is that once what you are doing
becomes routine or boring, you can change what you are doing. By the time I had
been a patrol officer and field training officer for five years and beginning to burn
out on it I wasabletogotodetectives.Thisgavemeanewdimensionofexperience
and I learned a lot during my years as a detective, particularly while I was assigned
to the Gang EnforcementSection.Ididthisforseveralyearsandeventuallybecame
an acting detective sergeant in gangs.

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After my time in detectives and the Gang Enforcement Section I decided to return
to the patrol division as a patrol sergeant. Of all oftheassignmentsIhadasapolice
officer being a patrol sergeant was easily my favorite.Inlawenforcementsergeants
are the middlemen in between the patrol officers (aka "The Troops") and the
lieutenants and above (aka "The Brass"). Unlike many careers where being the
middleman is a bad thing ("Being stuck in the middle"), inlawenforcementIfound
the opposite to be true. As a patrol sergeant you don't get stuck with the routine
paper calls that the patrol officers do, but you can still handle calls that are
interesting, require a supervisor, or are more complicated. While being a sergeant
does bring around a lot of paperwork, it is still less than the ranks above you often
have to handle.

My retirement from law enforcement camesoonerthanIwouldhavelikedbecause
of a number of injuries sustained in the line of duty. The primary of these injuries
required having my spine fused. This injury alone was enough to end my law
enforcement career. I miss my time in law enforcement nearly every day. But, I try
to look at it as getting to do a whole career of doing something that I loved. My
father worked atthesameplacefor30yearsandhatedeverydayofit.Igottospend
a slightly shortened career doing something I loved.

Since my retirement I have run a private investigations company that I built from
the ground up. I'm now going to school for a bachelor's degree in psychology and
will move on to a master's degree afterwards. I am planning to go into counseling
for police officers and military veterans. Both police and military are fields that are
likely tocausetheneedforcounseling,buteachofthosecareersareoftenclosedto
outsiders. As a veteran of both the military and law enforcement I believe that I
have the insight to be helpful to both groups, and share a common ground with
them that may make it easier for them to open up to me.

I will close out this autobiography with the most important thing in my life, my
family. I am married to my best friend, Amanda. We knew each otherandwerejust
close friends for the first five or six years but we became a couple nine years ago
and have been married foreightyears.Neitherofuscanhavechildren,butwehave
a large family of dogs and cats that are our "kids." All of our animals are rescues,
some of which we have bottle fedfrombirthwhentheanimal'smotherdiedduring
birth. It makes us a happy, close knit pack of two people, three dogs, and two cats.

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 A Family
A family is composed of people living together and functioning as a unit. Many
people consider the ideal family to consist of a father,whoworksawayfromhome;
a mother at home; and two children, a boy and a girl. Well, that does not describe
my family. Does it describeyours?Thereareasmanyinterestingfamilysituationsas
there are classmates in your classroom. In the space below writeaboutyourfamily.
Do not forget to include grandparents and, aunts and uncles, parents and
step-parents, and siblings-whole, half, and step.

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 Lesson 2: May 18, 2017
Do Now: Follow the directions to complete an I am poem

Follow this pattern and youwilldiscoverthatyouhavewrittenaninterestingpoem

about yourself. A sample of the kind of person you will create is shown.

Line 1: Begin with the words I Am.

Line 2: Write three nouns about which you have strong feelings.

Line 3: Write a complete sentence about two things that you like.

Line 4: Begin with three nouns that describe qualities you like to see in other
people: end the sentence with the words are important to me.

Line 5 &6:Writeasentenceinwhichyoushowsomethingnegativeinyourselforin
others; however, the sentence must finish by showing that out of something bad
can come good. Use the word but to link bad and good.

Lines 7, 8, 9: Each line is a short sentencerelatingsomethingaboutwhichyouhave
strong feelingslikes or dislikes. These do not have to relate to each other or to
the previous lines you have written.

Line 10: End your poem with the words: This is me. I am!


Here is the kind of poem you will write. These lines are numbered to make the
pattern easier to follow, but you will not number the lines of your finished poem.

(1) I am
(2) Rain, Forests, and Sunsets
( 3) I like long walks and quiet times.
(4) Honesty, Humor and Peace are important to me.
(5) I can be ferocious when my ideas are challenged.
(6) But I thrive on intelligent conversation.
(7) I love this earth and its animals.
(8) I can be counted on to help.
(9) I have strong feelings when life is threatened.
(10) This is me. I am!

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Your Poem:

(1) I am

(2) _________________, _________________, and ___________________

(3) I like _____________________ and _________________________

(4) ___________________, __________________, __________________ are important

to me.

(5) _____________________________________________________________________

(6) But __________________________________________________________________

(7) _____________________________________________________________________

(8) _____________________________________________________________________

(9) _____________________________________________________________________

(10) This is me. I am!

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 My Friends

What is your definition of a friend? who are your friends? why are they your
friends? Think of people older than you and younger than you who are your
friends. Do you have friends who are relatives? In the space below write about a
friend and the relationship you have with that friend.
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 My Neighborhood

A neighborhood is composed of the people living near each other; often the
neighborhood has distinguishing characteristics, or a "personality" that has
developed over a period of time. Describe your neighborhood. How does it look?
Include descriptions of streets, landscapes, buildings, views. How does it sound?
Howdoesitsmell?Dosoundsandsmellschangeduringatwenty-four-hourperiod?
If so, how? How does it change from season to season?
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 My School

You spend over half your day, five days a week at school, and many of you have
gone to schools all over the country. Describe your school in as muchdetailasyou
can. What are your classes and teachers like? What does it look like, smell like,
sound like? How does it compare to other schools you have been to?
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 Lesson 3: May 22, 2017
Do Now: Complete the personal timeline. Onthetophalf,fillinpositiveevents
fromyourearlylife,now,andanticipatepositiveeventsthatwilloccurinthefuture.
On the bottom half fill in negative events from your early life, now, and anticipate
negative events that may occur in the future.

POSITIVEEVENTS














Beginning Now Future


















NEGATIVEEVENTS
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Future Plans
A scenario is an account or synopsis of a projected course of action or events. At
each of the following stages in your life, make a prediction aboutwhatyouwantto
be doing with your life. Set goals for the future!

FIVE YEARS FROM NOW______________________________________________

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TEN YEARS FROM NOW ______________________________________________

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TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW__________________________________________

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THIRTY YEARS FROM NOW ___________________________________________

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FORTY YEARS FROM NOW ___________________________________________

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FIFTY YEARS FROM NOW ____________________________________________

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 Things I Like to Do
In the space below list 10-15 things you enjoy doing now. Next check the ten-year,
andthirtyyearcolumnsifyouthinkyouwillstillenjoythosethingstenandthirty.If
you dont think you will like doing those same things, write in several things you
may want to do. What conclusions can you draw from the completed chart about
your life?
Things I Like To Do Things I Will Like To Do Things I Will Like To Do
In Ten Years In Thirty Years

Conclusions: What conclusions can you draw from your interests now and in
the future? How do you think this plays into you future plans?
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 Outlining Your Autobiography
Now that you have spent some time thinking about important people, places, and
events in your life, its time to start outlining your autobiography. Your
autobiography should be a minimum of five paragraphs with a short introduction
and conclusion, and three body paragraphs about your early life, current life, and
future plans.

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 Lesson 4: May 23, 2017
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