The Reader's Digest published a series of articles years ago that were titled, "I Am Joe's..." followed by a part of the body. Occasionally, it was appropriate to title the articles, "I Am Jane's..." because there are just some parts that aren't going to show up in a guy named Joe. The articles were typically written following exhaustive research and interviews with doctors who specialized in the particular body part in question. They were written to give information without scaring the reading public.

Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion

These articles were always written from the perspective of Joe or Jane's body part. They would begin something like this:

"I’m certainly no beauty. I weigh 12 ounces, am red-brown in color, and have an unimpressive shape. I am the dedicated slave of —well, let’s call him Joe. Joe is 45, ruggedly good-looking, has a pretty wife, three children and an excellent job. Joe has made it.

Me? I’m Joe’s heart."

The entire article would continue along in that style, written in the first person voice. Joe's pancreas or salivary glands, duodenum or corpus callosum would divulge all manner of secrets about its existence as an integral part of Joe (or Jane's) anatomy. We're updating the series for the 21st century.

As a student of human anatomy, you are to compose an essay written in the first person narrative style of these articles. For the details of what you should probably include in your essay you should check out this page. Click here for a connection to the heart article to get an idea of how to put together your essay.

Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion

You will need to learn what you can about the body part of Joe or Jane that you have chosen to become. Find out everything you possibly can about that body part, (how big it is, what color it might be, how it stays in Joe's body where it is supposed to be, what its function is, etc.) and write your article in the first person narrative style. As if you are that body part and you are telling the reader about your life as a body part. You will need to be nauseatingly thorough in your research so that you can include as much pertinent information concerning how the body part interacts with other body parts in the vicinity as well as within its body system (digestion, excretion, respiration...)

Click here for a copy of the grading sheet.

It's fun to think about what each body part does for your body. It's more fun to put a little imagination into a writing assignment for a class besides your English class and a kick to read some of the really creative things that students write. I hope that when you have completed this assignment you feel that you have learned a little bit about not only the body part you chose to describe, but also something about those body parts that work in close association with it as well.

Introduction | Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion

Click here for the list of body parts.

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