Multi-Genre Autobiography

You will be producing your own almanac patterned after the Autobiography Benjamin Franklin and Poor Richard’s Almanac. Your almanac will be a mixture of personal writing you have done for this class, information from research, and a review of a contemporary biography.



To make the project more interesting, you may want to organize your selections around a particular theme – a sport, a holiday, your hobby or place of employment. Your almanac must include the following:

1. Autobiographic Incident Narrative:
- Based on Life Map assignment
- Opens with trigger incident and closes with epiphany
- Includes at least five sensory details and three figurative devices
- 250 words – typed

2. Life-map - Holt pp. 130-131

3. Credo or Epitaph after the fashion of:
- Robert Fulgham or Ben Franklin

4. Copy-change poem following the pattern of one of the following:
- Where I’m From by George Ella Lyon
- I Live In . . . by Ntozake Shange
- When I Was Young in . . . by Cynthia Rylant

5. General Information – include at least two:
- Weather
- Phases of the moon
- Astrological Information
- Planting/Crop Information
- Holidays
- Proverbs or Aphorisms
- Recipes
For almanac resources see: www.almanac.com or www.farmersalmanac.com

6. Glossary of Slang – include at least 10 words with definition and usage. For Slang Dictionaries:
www.wordspy.com
www.slangsite.com/
www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wrader/slang/a.html
Yahoo Slang Dictionary Directory

7. Strongsville Local Lore – write a short article and include a picture of one of the following:

- Living Strongsville Treasure –a person in Strongsville who embodies the spirit of your community and has a strong sense of place.

- Suburban Sanctuary – A place of peace and contemplation indoors or out where you can go to rest, relax and connect with your self.

- Essential Place in Strongsville – A location that represents the character and essential nature of the town.

8. Book Review of biography or autobiography of living person. Choose a book from
American Library Association Outstanding Biographies
Additional Literary Memoirs

Follow these guidelines for book reviews.

9. Works Cited for all information other than personal writing using proper MLA format – see Writers Inc., NoodleTools or Citation Machine.

10. You will be giving a speech for the class that includes your autobiographic incident, one other item from your almanac and a short book review of the biography/autobiography you’ve read. Submit final draft to Turnitin.com.

- Your almanac must be made up of at least 5 pages. Do not just copy and paste information from other websites. Make it attractive and interesting, as well as factual.