1. Let Me Introduce Myself
Let Me
Introduce
Myself

2. Let Me Introduce Myself
Bob Dylan serves as the musical inspiration
for this introductory assignment. What’s the
topic? YOU. Making use of artifacts
(pictures, mementos, memories, stories,
writings, etc) you get to make a short
PowerPoint presentation that gives the
greatest hits of your life.

3. Let Me Introduce Myself
Why you as the first topic? That’s easy to
explain.
The story of the U.S. is the story of US, and
it begins with you. You have to find yourself
in the story this year and to do that you have
to retrace the 15-17 year journey you have been
on.

4. Let Me Introduce Myself
Let’s try a two-pronged attack. First, start
collecting the artifacts of your life. The
sorting will come later.

5. Let Me Introduce Myself
Second, start talking to people about YOU.
It is easiest to ask questions and record their
answers. You can tape record them, write
some of their answers down, or BEST OF
ALL, videotape them.

6. Let Me Introduce Myself
We are eventually going to be making films
this year…so videotaping them would be
ideal!

7. Let Me Introduce Myself
What kind of questions? Here are some examples:
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Where was I born?
Did you know what my name would be immediately?
When did I come home from the hospital? What was I wearing?
How was my room decorated?
What was my favorite food? (baby and toddler)
When did I start walking?
When did I start talking?
What was my favorite toy?
How long did I sleep in a crib?
What were my first words?
When did I get my 1st tooth?
Who were my playmates?
Did I go to preschool?
Did we move or stay in the same house?
What do {parents} remember about my first day of school? What do you remember
about it?

8. Let Me Introduce Myself
From this point on you take over……….your
memories about growing up from five to your
current age.
Think about friends, vacations, interests,
changes in your life….all the stuff that
makes you who you are.

9. Let Me Introduce Myself
Now comes the hard part. You have to sift
and sort and see what story emerges. That’s what
historians do; they distill a mass of facts into a
coherent narrative that reflects their own personal
interpretation. It can be done using images words
or even a combination of the two. Our goal this
year is to study both forms, what is unique to each
medium and then explore them in tandem.

10. Let Me Introduce Myself
And the process starts with this assignment.

11. Let Me Introduce Myself
Sometimes the goal is the process itself and
sometimes the goal is the end product. In
this case we are more interested in the
process, but there is a finished product.
What is that finished product?

12. Let Me Introduce Myself
A roughly 3 minute (3:15) PowerPoint slide
show that tells the story you want to tell
about you and the first 15-17 years of your
life.

13. Let Me Introduce Myself
PowerPoint is easy to use and is loaded on
all Upper School computers and probably
most of our home computers. Pictures that
are digital are easy to load, non-digitals
have to be scanned (we have scanners at
school).

14. Let Me Introduce Myself
Bob Dylan’s, “The Times They Are A
Changin” is the musical backdrop for all of
the presentations and once you have your
slides produced you should set the timing
for a 3:15 minute presentation.

15. Let Me Introduce Myself
For those that have not used PowerPoint
before I will provide a brief introductory
lesson, but the easiest way to learn it is to
use it!

16. Let Me Introduce Myself
Specifications:
• A title
• Dark backgrounds and white text
• A minimum of ‘bells and whistles” (don’t
overdo the graphics and animation)
• About 20-25 slides
• A clear theme that is distinguishable

17. Let Me Introduce Myself
So have at it and good luck!
Questions? Come and see me.
Due date: In class

18. Let Me Introduce Myself
If you are a novice with PowerPoint visit
this site for a tutorial
http://einstein.cs.uri.edu/tutorials/csc101/
powerpoint/ppt.html