Family Tree Project

Family Tree Project

Informal Writing, One page typed, double-spaced

To be turned in the day you give your Family Tree presentation (9/8/2011)

Everyone has a family of some kind. It may be a traditional family with a typical structure, or it may be an extended family, or it may be a “chosen” family.

For the purposes of this assignment, think of the two to four people who have served a “grandparent” role in your life. Again, these people can be your parents’ parents, or they can be old family friends, or the teacher who lived down the block who spent extra time with you, talking to you, listening to you. The intent of this assignment is not to put the meaning of family into a box.

Thinking of those people who helped to shape you, who mentored you, were kind to you, and influenced your values, you are asked to produce a brief piece of writing describing those folks and how they affected your life. What qualities do you have today that you can attribute to their influence?

After having written this piece, you will bring it to class (to turn in), and you will also speak to your classmates about those people you’ve written about. You may choose to speak about all of them, or you may choose to eliminate speaking about one or two of them (perhaps a beloved grandma has passed, and it’s too difficult to speak about her).

The purpose of this assignment is to begin the grounding of identity that is so significant in Native cultures, and among people your age. This is not a trivial, but a respectful, reflective activity.

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