Honors Challenge, December 5, 2012

Due Date: There are four parts to this initial assignment. Complete two for Monday, December 16.  Read the following and speak with me ( Dr. Schmick).

This is a virtual museum project. You will curate objects connected with an individual's coming of age experiences.

to curate---to care for or exhibit objects, especially for a museum

You will locate a person (s), interview them, identify an object(s) that connect with this person's coming of age, and create a narrative about this connection.

This is a work-in-progress so the idea is that you will read all of this and discuss it with me, Mr. Schmick, for further understanding. The parameters of the project may broaden as a result of your experience with the initial learning tasks.


You are to identify four objects that connect with the theme of "coming of age". You are identify objects connected either with the interviewee that was the subject of our current written interview presentation ( embedded assessment) or connected with someone else that you choose to interview.

• You will need to pick objects connected with an individual's personal history. You will interview this someone and  gather information about the specifics of the object and their connection to this particular person's coming of age experiences. Make a recording of the interview so that you can include direct and indirect quotes in your written narrative.

Example: 

      Mr. Schmick shared the story of a blue and white plastic phonograph record player that he received as a present from his grandmother as a Christmas present in 1973. The phonograph came with three new 45rpm records, which are connected with the time that this object was given as a present, the 1970s. They included a Jackson Five, Elton John and Osmonds record....because this was the first time he had the ability to choose music and play it for enjoyment. It is associated with the beginning of a lifelong love of music.... Because America has been the birthplace of much technology, and eventually a consumerism touching all ages, there are many cultural connections with things like phonographs, hi-fis, and radios, among other things especially during the youth of baby-boomers (those born between 1946-1964). There have been equivalents with each succeeding generation; more recently, we have seen iPods, DSs, and Xbox become part of the experience of young people, part of coming of age. It is connected to coming of age because receiving this object marks a point in time when the individual was entrusted by an adult and deemed mature enough to possess it and use it. The expense of these objects alone signifies that a child has been entrusted with something beyond the normal fare of toys.   

• You will need to take photographs of the four objects connected with four narratives. It would be ideal if you could find four separate coming of age stories connected with four objects. Good pixelation is necessitated for your photos of the objects ( stick to photos between 3 and 4 megabytes).
• You will need to research the term material culture; how does this object particularly connect to material culture and the American experience?
• The objects will come to light through interviewing various people. These people may be relatives or close friends, but it might be interesting to find at least one person outside your family circle. Ideally, the person has the object and can let you photograph it, but if it is something from pop culture, something mass-produced or common you might, more simply, find a stock image of it. For example, someone had a 1962 Impala as a first car; it is long gone. A stock image of that model car would be the starting point for a narrative about this individual connection to one like it. It connects with the American phenomenon of owning your own car.
• The information you require to complete this project will make itself known when you begin by asking individuals whether they can identify some objects/ material culture that connects with their own coming of age experiences. You may have to frame the question in several ways in order to get the desired effect.
• You are to use the interview process that we have learned in response to Unit 1 in the Springboard text and strategies shared in class.
• You are to create a narrative from the interview using direct and indirect quotes, paraphrasing and summarization, as you did with our recent written interview presentations.
• Lastly, You will present this information on this blog. There will be resources that will be passed on to you for you to model. These will allow you to present the objects from a "museological" point of view (an example(s) will be provided in this blog). You might surf the web to see how other "virtual exhibitions or museums" work.