The assignment below originated in my second semester freshman composition course. It is the second portfolio in a series of three, and it satisfies the requirement for a research component. Here the students are actually writing an I-Search paper that incorporates personal research, field research, and traditional library research. We also use film, in this case “The Truman Show� starring Jim Carrey, as a resource for ideas for this paper. The topic of the portfolio and the subsequent final research project is Reality vs. Make-Believe…in other words, how do we decide what is real and what is not in today’s fast-paced, mediated society? I tell students that their topics should be something they are interested in that will fulfill a need in their lives rather than my (the teacher’s) notion of what would be good for them to pursue (Macrorie 62). In other words, I ask them to consider what conclusions can be drawn about how they are living their lives? Are their lives “real?� Can they make a difference to someone else, some other place, or to themselves by examining how society defines reality? A large part of this portfolio is our examination of the film “The Truman Show� and the ideas it presents on the topics presented within the framework of this project. This film addresses cultural and personal perceptions of truth and fiction as well as the way society lives vicariously through mediated perceptions of reality. When “reality� is re-interpreted by the media, as we see in “The Truman Show� and on reality television shows today, how skewed do our own interpretations of reality actually become? I ask students to include traditional Internet and library research, field research and photography in this final project for various reasons. By using Seeing & Writing, much of our discussion for the entire semester deals with how we interpret what we SEE, literally, figuratively, and in the media, and how we report on that in writing. I also ask students to visit a place particular to their topic and to take notes, take pictures, and get an idea of how the people involved in this “place� react to the topic at hand. Students are required to take photographs of their subject to help their readers see how they are interpreting this reality. This gets them off of the campus and into the “real world,� one of the aims of deciding what is real and what isn’t. Some of the Reality vs. Make-Believe topics that students have explored are:

• The Evolution of Evolution
• How college is portrayed in the media (fun, girls, free time) vs. the realities of being a college student
• Growing up as a gang member vs. the way gangs are portrayed in the media
• Choosing a major (the realities of the job vs. perceptions of the students)
• Living life as a gay man vs. the public’s perception/media portrayal of gays
• Living in the United States vs. living life in India (which life is more real?)
• Teen realities of parenthood vs. media’s portrayal of parenthood
• Teen attitudes towards sex vs. media’s portrayal of such
• At what point does someone lose touch with reality if his/her life is consumed with electronic games (i.e. PlayStation, on-line gaming)

Some texts that you might be interested in exploring:

• Luukkonen, Josh. “Relevancy in the Classroom: Bringing the Real World into School.â€? Classroom Notes Plus. Oct. 2003. 8 – 10.
• Macrorie, Ken. The I-Search Paper. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook. 1988.