Mini-lessons on Reading Biography/Autobiography
The purpose of a mini-lesson is to “teach the reader”. Your goal is to help children think like
readers. Everything children learn how to do as readers must be integrated into a smoothly
operating processing system. The goal is to help readers notice, understand, and use the
information, strategy, or skill effectively when they encounter it in other texts, thus expanding
their general ability to read. It is also a good idea to use precise and explicit language to help
students understand your teaching point, or mini-lesson principal. When teaching a mini-lesson
on strategies and skills:

Keep the language grounded in good texts so that students understand that their goal is
to understand and notice more rather than to “do” a strategy

The goal is not naming a strategy, but applying it to the reading of text. Students can
learn to repeat the names of strategies without learning a single thing about how to read
proficiently.
This is a sample anchor chart that would evolve bullet by bullet over the study of biography
texts. The teacher would co-construct this anchor chart with students based on a series of
mini-lessons. This chart becomes an anchor of the strategies readers use to process
biography texts, and students will refer/use it as they: read independently, write responses
to texts, talk about books with peers, work in guided reading groups, and use in book club
discussions.
(NOTE: Consult your grade level TEKS to see which bullets best fit your grade level.)
Biography
When readers read biographies they…

Notice how the writer has organized information around the subject

Draw conclusions or make inferences about the person’s life, decisions, etc.

Notice how the time, place, and circumstances (setting) influenced the subject of the
biography

Make connections among people who have shown courage and made outstanding
contributions

Think about what they can learn from the person (or subject’s) life

Think about how a person’s life contributed to society

Distinguish between reporting facts and historical interpretation in biography

Notice the qualifications of the writer when they are judging the accuracy and
authenticity of the text
(turn over for sample anchor chart on autobiography)
Autobiography
As readers read autobiographies they…

Notice how the author has organized information

Draw conclusions or make inferences about the person’s life, decisions, etc.

Think about why this person would have written an autobiography

Hypothesize why an individual would select particular information to report

Notice the specific details that a person provides about his/her life

Make connections between the subject’s life and that of our own and others
Adapted from:
Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency: Thinking, Talking, and Writing About Reading K-8, Fountas and Pinnell ©2006