Assignment/Activity Title

Mentor Monologue Project Year Freshman

Skill
Writing, interviewing, acting
Portfolio Category
Media and Communications
The Mentor Monologue project combined some of my favorite things into one assignment:
spending time with my family, writing, and acting. The assignment required me to interview
someone over the age of 50, write a monologue using the information I gained from the
interview, and perform the monologue while personifying my interviewee.
First, I developed a few baseline questions to ask my grandma (Grammie) in order to get
the interview flowing. These questions, although basic and generic, paved the way for more
discussion and triggered more questioning.
The beginning of an interview process is comparable to warming up before a run. At the
start of the interview, I sensed a slight anxiousness from my Grammie, and I did not know how to
begin the interview. After asking several questions, I felt more comfortable. I sensed my
Grammie gaining confidence as she relayed more information, her answers becoming steadily
more detailed. Similarly, before a run, my muscles are cold, and I must wake-up my body with a
slow warm-up and dynamic drills, allowing me to ease into my usual distance run or workout.
Without a proper warm-up, I am prone to injury, and the benefits of my daily run will be minimal.
Upon learning that my Grammie grew up during the Great Depression, I could ask more indepth questions regarding her quality of life growing up in contrast to her life in the present. The
series of answers that followed amazed me, and I gained admiration for my Grammies
resourcefulness and bravery during the depression.
I decided to answer my own interview questions to see how my answers differed from my
Grammies. We both view family as important and special, but our lives could not be more
different. While my Grammie was raised in a small town in the country of Maine, I am growing up
in a busy suburb of Maryland, close to the nations capital. Diversity surrounds me, and
opportunity is readily available. In contrast, my Grammie did not meet someone of a different
race until the age of 25. As the oldest of 8 children during a serious economic decline, she had to
help care for her younger siblings, so opportunity was scarce.
I interviewed my Grammie on the phone and typed her answers on my laptop in bulleted
form. After, I wrote my monologue in the form of a phone conversation between myself and my
Grammie. When it was time to present my monologue, I wore a Maine sweatshirt and reading
glasses. I struggled to master my Grammies Maine accent although my accent improved from
my first rehearsal to my final performance.
The Mentor Monologue project brought me closer to my Grammie and allowed me to
present information in a creative way through acting. Interviewing is a skill utilized by journalists,
a career choice I may want to pursue in later life. This assignment served as great practice for
future interviews.

Student Signature

Date

Teacher Signature

Date

Advisor Signature

Date

Assignment/Activity Title
Sophomore
SkillWriting, Media, Research.
Reasoning, Ethics.

YearFreshman,
PortfolioCritical

Metacognitive ReflectionThe following questions ARE NOT A

SCRIPT!! Use the ideas within the questions to reflect on the
assignment and its significance to you.
Your reflection MUST use Times New Roman font, size 11, single
spacing

How does this assignment reflect your growth in the category in which you are
placing it?

How have you changed as a result of this assignment?

Why is it important to include this piece in your portfolio?

How and where does this fit in with your prior knowledge?

How do you think that others will react to this product?

What process did you use to complete the product?

What did you learn by doing this assignment?

How does the portfolio product illustrate the connection(s) you've made
between yourself and the course material?

In what ways would you do things differently if you could do it over again?

What did you discover about yourself?

How does it relate to your future?

How does it illustrate your strengths and/or weaknesses?

What obstacles and challenges did you have to deal with, and how did this
struggle change you?

How does the portfolio product show that your perspective on the world has
deepened?

How does it relate to your understanding of the world around you?

Which of your accomplishments makes you feel most proud?

Student Signature

Date

Teacher Signature

Date

Advisor Signature

Date