Lesson 1: Biographies
Content Overview for Lesson
The students will study the genre of biography. They will read biographies and
begin writing biographies of classmates. This lesson may take multiple days.
Teacher Preparation and Materials Needed
The teacher will need to collect a variety of biographies on various levels for the
students to read during independent reading time. Also, she will need to choose a
biography in picture book format to read at the beginning of the lesson
Biographies, chart paper
See list above
Instructional Considerations (Misconceptions/Common Errors, Additional
Instructional Strategies)
Teachers need to explain to students that biographies can be written about people
who are dead or alive. If a person is dead, they may have to rely on resources such
as video clips, newspaper or magazines or interviews with people who knew the
person for research information.
Key Vocabulary and Concepts
Biography-a history of a person’s life
Teaching the Lesson
The students have the opportunity to study narrative, poetry, Myths, legends and
informational text in the prior three modules. The lessons in this module will focus
on the use of biography as a springboard for readers’ theater and research.
Suggested Resources
These biographies are just a small sample of what is available to students. The
reason these were chosen to be on the list is because they are formatted very
differently and will give students several different models to choose from when they
write their own biography.
Biographies: A collection of grade level and reading level appropriate text
Benjamin Franklin, Victoria Sherrow, History Maker Bios,Lerner Company, 2006.
Heroines of the American Revolution, Idella Bodie, Sandlapper Publishing Company,
2003.
Grandma Moses, Aleandra Wallner, Scholastic, 2004.
My Brother Martin, Christine King Farris,Scholastic
If you Grew up with George Washington, Ruth Belov Gross, Scholastic, 1982.
Tiger Woods, Joanne Mattern, Troll, 1998.
Teaching Lesson Introduction to the lesson
Read Aloud: The teacher will read aloud a biography written in picture book
format. She may choose from the list in Resources or choose one of her own. The
students will share what they know about features of biography. The teacher will
write their information on a piece of chart paper to use as an anchor chart
throughout the study.
The teacher will share with the students:
 Biographies can take on many forms. Some biographies may be written as a
book or story, a play, a poem, a song or even in a movie format.
 Biographies can be written about people that are either living or dead. If the
person is alive the author may use interviews with the person to help write
the book. If the person is no longer living, then, the author will have to rely
on other sources such as; documents, video, other reference books,
interviews with people who knew the subject.
Independent Reading: Students will choose a biography to read during this time.
They will keep a log or page in their journal where they can record important
information that they learn as they read about this person’s life.
The teacher can use this page as a way to interact with the student during reading
conferences. Also, it can be used as a form of assessment.
Writing Workshop:
The teacher will explain to students that one way to get information about a
person’s life is to interview them. The teacher will model writing good interview
questions by asking questions not easily answered with yes or no.
Then, the teacher will explain how you take interview questions and turn them into
a biography. She may want to do this by doing a backward interview; this is done
by looking at a biography or even a page from a biography and figuring out what
kind of questions the interviewer might have asked to get the information. This can
be a lot of fun and a good way to generate strong interviewing questions.
Then, students are partnered with each other. They write strong interviewing
questions for their partner. They ask each other the questions while taking note of
answers. Then, they write a biography on their classmate. This will take several
days.
Sharing the biographies can be in the form of a celebration.
Assessing the Lesson Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment
The teacher can use interviewing questions and written biographies as a way to
assess students’ individual understanding of biographies.
Summative Assessment -The state writing rubric can be used as a way to assess
writing.
Extending the Learning
Students that need help with interviewing questions may use some generated on
the anchor chart. They may need assistance from the teacher to help them read
their biography and/ or write the biography of the classmate. For enrichment,
students may wish to write a biographical poem or song about the classmate
or the person they are reading about during independent reading.
Lesson 2: Research and the Big Six Model
Content Overview for Lesson
This lesson will really cover approximately 2 to 3 weeks. The students
will continue to read their biographies independently. The students have had
experience reading biographies, using interviewing as a means to collect
information and they have begun to write biographies.
Teacher Preparation and Materials Needed
Sources for class Biography- Access to media center and internet
Chart paper, sticky notes or index cards
Instructional Considerations (Misconceptions/Common Errors,
Additional Instructional Strategies)
Students need to know that research is not copying down someone else’s
words exactly.
Key Vocabulary and Concepts
No new vocabulary
Suggested Resources
Biographies: A collection of grade level and reading level appropriate text
Benjamin Franklin, Victoria Sherrow, History Maker Bios, Lerner Company,
2006.
Heroines of the American Revolution, Idella Bodie, Sandlapper Publishing
Company, 2003.
Grandma Moses, Aleandra Wallner, Scholastic, 2004.
My Brother Martin, Christine King Farris, Scholastic
If you Grew up with George Washington, Ruth Belov Gross, Scholastic, 1982.
Tiger Woods, Joanne Mattern, Troll, 1998.
Reader’s Theater Scripts
Readers Theater for Building Fluency, Jo Worthy, Scholastic
ISBN 0-439-52223-4
American History Reader’s Theater, Creative Teaching Press, ISBN 1-59198039-9
How and Why Stories for Readers Theatre, Judy Wolfman, Teacher Ideas
Press, ISBN 1-59469-006-5
Websites:
www.americanrhetoric.com link 100 Top Speeches
Technology Connections
Video, audio tapes, internet sites and projectors will be needed for students
and
teachers as they look for sources, research and write biographies.
Teaching Lesson Introduction to the lesson
The teacher will share with the students that they will be researching and
writing a class biography on Barack Obama. Use the steps for researching
from The Big Six research model. It will take several days for the
teacher to explain, model and engage the students in the 6 steps. Her
goal is to insure that all students will be able to use the process
independently to complete a research project.
The following steps will be used. Notes in italics are to guide the teacher
throughout the process.
1. Task Definition
1.1 Define the information problem
1.2 Identify information needed
(The students will generate questions that they want answered about
President Obama. The teacher will record the questions on chart paper for
the lesson.)
2. Information Seeking Strategies
2.1 Determine all possible sources
2.2 Select the best sources
(Students, teacher and Media Specialist will generate a list of all sources that
can help them find answers to their questions.)
3. Location and Access
3.1 Locate sources (intellectually and physically)
3.2 Find information within sources
(The students, teacher and Media Specialist will gather sources to be used by
the class for research on President Obama.)
4. Use of Information
4.1 Engage (e.g., read, hear, view, touch)
4.2 Extract relevant information
(Time needs to be given to read and examine sources to find answers to
questions. The students may want to write answers to questions on sticky
notes or index cards and attach them to the chart. This will take a lot of
time.)
5. Synthesis
5.1 Organize from multiple sources
5.2 Present the information
(Students can organize their information by categorizing the info or making it
linear like an outline. The class can decide which format they would like. It
will be important that students determine the most important information to
use in their biography. This is a great time to review main idea and details.)
6. Evaluation
6.1 Judge the product (effectiveness)
6.2 Judge the process (efficiency)
(The class needs to decide on a format for sharing the information. They may
choose a poem, song, book, or other form. They will need to work in groups
to help develop their part of the biography. The teacher may want to assign
small groups a category from step 5 to write.
Afterwards, each student will use the 3-2-1 model for evaluation of
effectiveness and efficiency. They will write 3 things they learned about
conducting research, 2 things they learned about Obama and 1 question they
still have about either Obama or research.)
Writing Workshop:
Students will choose a person of interest that they would like to write a
biography about. They will follow the Big 6 research model.
The teacher needs to guide students to choose a person who will be easy to
research. Material may be limited on some people.
Assessing the Lesson Formative Assessment and Summative
Assessment
Formative Assessment:
Conferencing throughout the writing of the Biography
3-2-1- model for evaluation- (see Teaching the Lesson for details)
Summative Assessment:
The biography can be summative assessed by using the state’s writing rubric.
Extending the Learning
Students may choose how they would like to format their biography. Some
students may choose to write a song or poem rather than a narrative.
Students may extend their biography by adding art or music to the
presentation.
Students that need help will be assisted by the teacher or media specialist