Choose Your Own Adventure Through U.S. History
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Remember those books you read as a kid where you got to make decisions that each led to different endings? Well, we wrote one for our project, but instead of journeying under the sea or into space, we took our readers into the history of 20th century America. Check out the links below to purchase a copy of one of our books.
Through the Eyes of America
Journey Through America's Past
For this project, students researched, wrote, and self-published a collection of choose your own adventure stories based on U.S. History. To create their story, each student researched a historical time period and created a story map of possible choices for their character based on the significant events in their era. In writing their stories, students incorporated dialogue, sensory details, and narrative techniques to create gripping second person narratives. Each narrative was then edited by a student editorial team while other students created original art and designed a layout to format our book for publication. At our final exhibition, students presented their work to teachers, students, and community members at the Grossmont Literary Arts Festival.
TEACHER REFELCTION
This project far exceeded my expectations for the depth and complexity of the students’ narratives. What I had envisioned as a 200-300 page book sprawled to nearly 600 pages as the students dug deeper and deeper into their historical periods and created pathways for their character to explore different events. I also saw students invest in the creation and publication of our book. Every narrative was reviewed and edited by a team of students for content and historical accuracy and then formatted for publication by our design team. It inspired me to see students work hard to prepare our book for our exhibition and take pride in completing such a large task as a team.
STUDENT REFLECTION
“The Choose Your Own Adventure project was one the most memorable projects I've participated in at HTHCV. What made it so memorable was the process that came along with writing, editing, and publishing a book. During the project, I was a member of various groups (i.e editing, leadership, exhibition) which helped me develop new skills. As a member of the editing group, I improved my understand of grammar and writing by reviewing the work of other students. I also learned how to use Adobe Acrobat to publish our writing in a professional format. Being a part of the leadership and exhibition crew definitely made me step out my comfort zone and practice my communicative and leadership skills. Overall, the project helped me not only to become a more creative writer, but it also let me improve how I work with other students.” ~ Rafely P.
Remember those books you read as a kid where you got to make decisions that each led to different endings? Well, we wrote one for our project, but instead of journeying under the sea or into space, we took our readers into the history of 20th century America. Check out the links below to purchase a copy of one of our books.
Through the Eyes of America
Journey Through America's Past
For this project, students researched, wrote, and self-published a collection of choose your own adventure stories based on U.S. History. To create their story, each student researched a historical time period and created a story map of possible choices for their character based on the significant events in their era. In writing their stories, students incorporated dialogue, sensory details, and narrative techniques to create gripping second person narratives. Each narrative was then edited by a student editorial team while other students created original art and designed a layout to format our book for publication. At our final exhibition, students presented their work to teachers, students, and community members at the Grossmont Literary Arts Festival.
TEACHER REFELCTION
This project far exceeded my expectations for the depth and complexity of the students’ narratives. What I had envisioned as a 200-300 page book sprawled to nearly 600 pages as the students dug deeper and deeper into their historical periods and created pathways for their character to explore different events. I also saw students invest in the creation and publication of our book. Every narrative was reviewed and edited by a team of students for content and historical accuracy and then formatted for publication by our design team. It inspired me to see students work hard to prepare our book for our exhibition and take pride in completing such a large task as a team.
STUDENT REFLECTION
“The Choose Your Own Adventure project was one the most memorable projects I've participated in at HTHCV. What made it so memorable was the process that came along with writing, editing, and publishing a book. During the project, I was a member of various groups (i.e editing, leadership, exhibition) which helped me develop new skills. As a member of the editing group, I improved my understand of grammar and writing by reviewing the work of other students. I also learned how to use Adobe Acrobat to publish our writing in a professional format. Being a part of the leadership and exhibition crew definitely made me step out my comfort zone and practice my communicative and leadership skills. Overall, the project helped me not only to become a more creative writer, but it also let me improve how I work with other students.” ~ Rafely P.
PROJECT RESOURCES
Project Handout
Project Roles and Assessment
Choose Your Own Adventure Writing Rubric
Example Characters and Narrative Journeys
Pdf Version of Book
Project Handout
Project Roles and Assessment
Choose Your Own Adventure Writing Rubric
Example Characters and Narrative Journeys
Pdf Version of Book