Autobiography Book Cover: An Anticipation Exercise for Writing a College Application Essay
by Judi Berridge, Randolph High School
A Self Portrait
Pre Writing:
Time Line: Fold a piece of paper in four. In the upper left quarter write “Birth to Pre-school,” upper right “k-6,” lower left “Middle School,” lower right “High School.” Take a few minutes to write down anything you remember about your life in each of those times. Where and when were you born? What do you know about your birth? What do you remember about pre-school. When did births, deaths, illnesses, marriages, divorces, moving, new friends, sports firsts, special activities, religious events, special gifts, special pets occur? List any other things that happened in your life.
Journal: “The Scariest Day of My Life”
Interview: Interview a partner about things you think would be interesting about them. Listen to the journal story. Introduce this partner to the group. Each person in the group should write sentence about the person being introduced.
Journal: The Bend in the Road” Write about a time when life did not go as expected and you had to step up to the challenge and make things work for you.
Book Jacket:
Make it colorful and representative of you and your life.
Think of a title for your autobiography.
On the cover, draw an illustration of a significant event in your life.
Put the title and your name as author on the cover.
On the inside “flap” write a summary of what would be in your book.
On the back inside flap write a brief biography about the author (you). Include your college education and where you live in your adult life.
On the back cover, get three quotes from others about you that would attract an audience for your book.
Share:
Show your book jacket to the whole group.
Explain why you designed it the way you did.
Write:
Discuss what is the college essay.
Discuss Tips for a Good college Essay.
Select a prompt from the Texas Universal Application.
After discussion about format and using ideas from this self portrait activity, begin your first draft of the college application essay.