Students will build empathy for authentic audiences by exploring major American events from their lifetime, analyzing portraiture and memoir as records of social experience, and conducting user research with community members to understand how historical moments shape identity and viewer interpretation.

Students will synthesize empathy research from interviews, memoir book clubs, and historical investigations into a clear, audience-centered problem statement that defines how their self-portrait and autobiography should impact viewers. They will analyze patterns across data, draft and revise point-of-view statements, and complete a milestone gate to move into ideation.

Students will generate and refine diverse concepts for their autobiographical essays and photographed self-portraits, using divergent and convergent thinking to design meaningful visual and narrative representations of how major American events have shaped their identities.

Students will build and refine draft versions of their autobiographical essays and photographed self-portraits, engaging in structured critique, user testing with peers and external viewers, and multiple documented revisions before moving to final production.

Students will test and refine their autobiographies, self-portraits, and curated gallery designs with authentic users, then present their final Living History Gallery to families and community partners. They will document critique cycles, implement final revisions, and demonstrate how their artistic and narrative choices communicate the impact of American historical events on their identities.