*Note: This is a two-week project. It will involve both work at school and at home. Parents should read through the project description before beginning the project. Presentation date will be Friday, March 11th from 1:30-2:15pm and yes - parents are invited!

X ______Parent signature acknowledging you have read and understand the project. X ______Student signature acknowledging you have read and understand the project.

Living Wax Museum Biography Project and Presentation

Due Dates to Remember: 1. Friday, Feb. 24th - research notecards due 2. Tuesday, Feb. 28th - props brought into class for review 3. Friday, March 9th - wax museum presentations in gym

• Assignment Description:

We will be developing a living wax museum that students and parents can come and visit. Read carefully the components of the presentation.

1. Speech: You will choose a famous historical person to develop a 1-2 minute memorized speech summarizing your biography in first person (i.e. “I was born in ...). If you use notecards, you will receive one letter grade lower, and if you “read from your paper,” you will receive two letter grades lower.

2. Costume and Display: Then the fun part begins. You will create a costume and display for your space in the wax museum. This can include various objects, posters, handouts and background that is appropriate for your person of in- terest. You must at least have the following included in your display: name of your person, timeline, artifacts

3. Important Reminders: You will become a living wax person that cannot show emotion, move or talk unless your “on” button is pushed. When turned on you will provide your audience with your speech about your special person. • What is a wax museum? A wax museum consists of a collection of wax figures representing famous people from history exhibited in lifelike poses.

How to Plan for a Biography Wax Museum Presentation RESEARCH PHASE: 1. Find out the basic facts of the person's life. Start with what you learned in your biography book. List that information and combine it with what else you will learn. Some ideas you may want to list might include: • Childhood - When was he or she born? Where did he or she grow up? Who did he or she look up to? • Talents and Accomplishments - What goals has this person achieved? Has this person ever faced a problem and overcome it? 2. Think about what else you would like to know about the person, and what parts of the life you want to write most about. Here are some questions you might want to think about including (not limited to these questions): • What makes this person special or interesting? • What kind of effect did he or she have on the world? other people? • What are the adjectives you would most use to describe the person? • What examples from their life show those qualities? • What events shaped or changed this person's life? • Did he or she overcome obstacles? Take risks? Get lucky? • Would the world be better or worse if this person hadn't lived? How and why? 3. Do additional research at your library or on the Internet to find information that helps you answer these questions and tell an interesting story. You must use at least one encyclopedia and/or one in- ternet source in your speech. 4. Take notes as you research. Use notecards to help you take notes. Your notes should be in bullet form. Your notecards will be turned in on Wednesday, March 9th for a grade. Look below to view what should be included in all your notecards: One card for your introduction which introduces your person and grabs the audience’s attention creatively. Multiple notecards from the “Research Phase” above (Steps #1-2). One card for your conclusion. This should include your opinion about why it is important to learn about this person. What can we learn from this person’s accomplishments? How can the example of this person’s accomplishments help us to achieve our own dreams? One card for your references. 5. Keep track of the sources you use on the source page of this packet. Citing sources is important because it can help you avoid something called plagiarism. Plagiarism is using someone else's ideas or words without giving that person proper credit for creating them. The most common ways stu- dents plagiarize are copying, quoting, or summarizing from a source without properly citing where the information came from. Plagiarism is a form of cheating — just like looking over someone's shoulder to copy answers during a test. But many people who plagiarize don't realize they're doing it. That's why it's so important to keep track of sources. After weeks of research, the average student will have a hard time remembering what points he or she came up with and what points came from sources. Teachers usually are tough on plagiarism — even if the student didn't mean to plagiarize. So keep good notes on your sources! Your last notecard will include your references. 6. Write your reference notecard using this format:

2 Books: Author last name, first initial. (year published). Title…only capitalize the first word in the title. Publishers. Example: Beck, C. (2001). Family mediation: facts, myths and future prospects. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. ______Encyclopedia: Main editor last name, first initial. (year published). Title of article. In Title of encyclope- dia ( Vol number, pp. numbers). Publishers. Example: Bergman, P. (1993). Relativity. In The new encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 26, pp 502-508). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. ______Internet Article: author and title of information if possible. URL. Date retrieved. Example: Bellis, M. Elijah McCoy (1884-1929). http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventors/a/Elijah_McCoy.htm. Retrieved December 15, 2007. ______

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Total Earned Points: ______/40 *Comments: