Skill Growth

 

2007 & Beyond

 

Credits

 

 

Best of English

 

Standard: This assignment met standard 2.4
Assignment name: Historical Photograph Poem
Objective of assignment: To write a combined fictional and historical report in the form of a poem based on a photograph
Question prompt: How is the Historical Photograph Poem an example of writing historical investigation reports?

The Historical Photograph Poem was one of the most exiting assignments during the last semester of my senior year. This assignment met the standard 2.4 because this project involved many hours of research online. In order to accommodate the needs of this project, I had to select a picture from circa 1900s that I could use to write a long fictional poem that would include historical evidence based on the research and investigations I did. Once I found the photo and enough true facts, I proceeded in writing the Historical Photograph Poem. The purpose of writing this project was to inform students on how to take on different points of views in writing based on historical research. I chose the photo above which is an image of newsies working in Washington, DC circa 1912. I took on the voice of the kid in the center of the photo in order to write my poem.

This project emphasizes how I took on creativeness to construct an excellent piece of work. By doing research to write a poem with real facts related to the photo I discovered how I was able to work with events that have occurred in real life to create fiction. I became immensely aware of how I could connect reality and fiction. For example,by reading about President Taft I learned that his office is built of "white painted Aqua Sandstone in the late Georgian style.” I actually used this fact in my creative piece of writing. For this reason, the Historical Photograph Poem is an example that represents how I have grown as a fictional writer.

The Historical Photograph Poem was a great assignment that also helped me to achieve a very important part of my education. It helped me to win a significant award. This is the 826 Valencia Scholarship! In order to win this 10,000 dollar scholarship, I had to write five pieces of work. One of them required me to do a free write of at least three pages. I then decided to choose the Historical Photograph Poem to include in the scholarship application. I had to revise this project three times for English class, already. But then, I obviously had to work on it further, including new revisions, and making it longer to meet the scholarship expectations. The creative writing I did in English class has helped me to achieve my educational goals.

Click here to check the revision of the Historical Photograph Poem which also helped me win the 826 Valencia Scholarship!

To see the orginal version of the Historical Photograph Poem click here!

Another version of this assignment in a Power Point Presentation is here!