Students in social studies teacher Richard Girling’s class brought photos of themselves to class that were then distributed among their peers. Students wrote short, fictional biographies about the pictures’ subjects based on what they observed. In the next step of the assignment, students interviewed another peer and created a biography based on this interview. They then compared the biography based on the photo with the one based on the interview.

In one project, sophomore student Stella Yip wrote a biography of fellow classmate sophomore Edwina Yuan based on her photo of herself sitting on a rock in the woods. After discussing Yuan’s history with her, later, Yip discovered that quite a few of her assumptions were correct.

For example, Yip correctly guessed that Yuan lives in the Sunset district, based on an assumption that Asian people usually live there or in Chinatown. Yip hypothesized that Yuan is the “outdoorsy type, because her picture was taken outside.” Yuan confirmed Yip’s estimation. “I’m not the camping type, but I do enjoy the sun and looking at nice scenery,” Yuan said. Yip also concluded that Yuan was an athlete, either a swimmer or runner. As it turns out, she was a former member of the cross-country team but is “terrible at swimming,” Yuan said.

It was when Yip incorporated her personal experiences into Yuan’s history, that some of her guesses were less accurate. “I guessed that she often hangs out with her cousins because I do a lot,” Yip said. However, Yuan explained that she does not spend much time with her cousins. “But I do admire them,” she added.

Girling felt that the project gave students a glimpse into the thought process of a historian. Reading the fictional history and comparing it to the real story in the interview gave students the opportunity to see different perspectives on a subject.

“To write a history, you need different sources," he said. "Writing history is all about piecing things together." Girling compared the process of writing about the photos to what a historian does: "It's just like how they are trying to find out how people lived by looking at (historical) artifacts," he said.

Sophomore Elaine Wu agreed that the project gave her a new take on history. "We learned that history sometimes isn't very accurate," she said. “Sometimes the histories people guessed were really wrong. They wrote things that you normally wouldn’t say about yourself.” The project was not only educational, but also a way to encourage students to interact with each other.

“It was pretty fun because I got to see what other people thought about me when I read what they wrote.” Wu said.

Yip enjoyed writing history her own way and getting to know her fellow students in the process. “I got to be a historian and determine what I thought was right to tell the public,” she said. The activity started out as an abstract idea that gradually evolved into a week-long project. “I often come up with an idea and just try it out,” said Girling, who added that the assignment was also a good “way to get people to know each other.”