ENH/EDU Children’s Literature
Biography/Autobiography Unit Lesson Plan
Genre: Biography and Autobiography – A Two Week Unit Plan
Overview of the Literature Genre: Biography and Autobiography: Biography is the story life
story of someone other than the writer. Types of biography include complete biography, partial
biography, and collective biography. There are also authorized and unauthorized biographies.
Biographers must research their subjects carefully, and then assume an attitude or theme regarding
the subject, which guides them in selecting the events and details to include. Accuracy and
authenticity are the hallmarks of fine biography.
Biography is:
 a written account of a person's life, actions, or character.
 from the Greek words bios meaning life, and graphein meaning write.
 a genre of literature and other forms of media like film, based on the written accounts of
individual lives. While a biography may focus on a subject of fiction or non-fiction, the term
is usually in reference to non-fiction. As opposed to a profile or curriculum vitae, a biography
develops complex insight and highlights different textures of personality including intimate
details of experiences.
A biographer is one who writes such an account; a biographee is one about whom the account is
written.
Autobiography is also a story of someone’s life, but it is written by the subject himself/herself.
It is also non-fiction. "Autobiographies have been written since A.D. 400 when an early Christian
leader, Saint Augustine, wrote his." An autobiography is information about one's own life written by
that one person. In it, it tells what that person's life is all about. When writing your own
autobiography, use interesting facts to explain as much about yourself as you can.
Additional Terms:
 complete biography: complete, or cradle-to-grave, biographies describe a subject’s life
from birth to death such as The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin by Cross Giblin.
 partial biography: focuses on a portion of the subject’s life; focuses on a particular time
or specific event in a subject’s life. Edith Kunhardt’s picture book Honest Abe depicts only
major events in the life of Abraham Lincoln through unforgettable primitive paintings and
simple language.
 collective biography: books that group short chapter-length biographies together around a
theme. For example, Black Stars in Orbit, by Khephra Burns, a collective biography of black
astronauts.
Title of Lesson: “On the Day I Was Born”
Age Group: 9-10 years old; 4th grade
Time Needed: 1-2 hours
Specific Materials Needed:
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Each student needs access to a computer with internet service.
24 “On the Day I Was Born” activity instruction sheet [see attached]
Two examples of autobiographical “front page” poster board
Poster board [24] and color marker pens for each student [24]
Paste – at least six paste sticks – one for each table
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Scissors – six scissors - one for each table [students may want to type their news articles and
headlines, print them, and cut them out to paste on their front page]
One roll of scotch tape [to attach printed autobiographies to the back of the poster board]
Background Information:
Students have been studying biographies/autobiographies for the past two weeks. Up to this point, we
have focused mainly on biographies. Students have researched three people of interest on the internet
and recorded information about each person. They selected one person to research in more detail
which required them to read a full biography and write a summary of the person’s life. Students then
orally presented the information they found to the rest of the class by doing 3-5 minute presentations.
This lesson is one of the final activities students will be doing in the biography and autobiography unit.
Students have already written a first draft of their autobiographies. Today students will gather
information about events that occurred on their birthday and other well-known people who were born
on their birthday. They will fill-in the “On the Day I Was Born” activity sheet and create a front page of
a newspaper using the information they have gathered.
Step-by-step Instructions for Class Activity:
1. Review the difference between biography and autobiography.
2. Using the teacher’s computer, project the following two web sites the children will be using
today. Work through an example at each site. Show students how to enter their birth date;
show and explain the linked pages
a. “Born on This Day.” Biography on A&E.
http://www.biography.com/perl/also_botd.cgi?month=12&day=6
b. “This Day in History.” The History Channel.
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=general&month=10272964&day=
10272971
3. Ask students to turn on their computers and go to the “Born on This Day” web site to get
started.
4. Pass out the “All About Me” assignment and guidelines with the necessary web sites urls (see
attached). Also project the web sites on the screen for students to see at the same time.
Circulate and make sure all students are able to find the right web site.
5. Go over the instructions at the top of the assignment page and have students search for the
necessary information; circulate around the class to be sure no one is having difficulty.
6. Help students stay focused on the task at hand. Make sure students stay on the two research
sites above.
7. Distribute materials for the newspaper project.
8. Students will take the information they have gathered about events and people born on their
birthdays and create the front page of a newspaper.
9. Discuss the layout of a newspaper’s front page. Show the front page of the local newspaper and
the student newspaper to illustrate various formatting of a front page.
10. Show students two examples of a completed newspaper poster board, one that needs
improvement and one that is much better. Point out the taped autobiography on the back of
the poster board..
11. Pass out the small [12x16”] poster boards and markers to each student.
12. Allow students to start their newspaper front page; have students plan
the layout of their poster boards by creating a sketch of how they want their page to
appear. Sketch a layout of the example front page on the white board.
13. Homework:
Students will have two days to work on their newspaper front pages and complete their
autobiographical essays.
Assessment Method and Tool:
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To generally assess student learning, students will verbally answer questions and participate
in classroom discussions.
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To individually assess student learning, students will create the front page of a newspaper
highlighting historical and current events, people born on that day, etc. using the “On the
Day I Was Born” activity sheet as a guide.
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The final unit assessment will be the students’ autobiography and newspaper front page.
Annotated Bibliography:
The following resources were particularly helpful in developing this lesson:
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Bafile, Cara. Building on Biographies -- Bringing Real-Life Stories Into Your Curriculum!
Education World. 5 Nov. 2001. 25 Feb. 2006
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson185.shtml
Who can dispute the value of a good story? Though students may initially view them as dull,
biographies are the stuff that great classroom activities are made of -- history, honesty, and
heroism. With the help of the Internet, every teacher can bring biographies into their
classrooms! Included: Ten activities that begin with biographies!
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“Born on This Day.” Biography on A&E. 25 Feb. 2006. 25 Feb. 2006
http://www.biography.com/perl/also_botd.cgi?month=12&day=6
This internet site is well worth a visit. It is maintained daily by the A&E Television Networks and
provides a search engine for biographies of 25,000 of the greatest lives. One may input one’s
birthday and receive a list of well-known people who were also born on that day. Searching for
specific people is also provided.
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“How to Write an Autobiography.” Forms of Writing. SarasotaCountySchools.net. n.d. 25 Feb.
2006 www.sarasota.k12.fl.us/bhs/bryan/bryan_auto.html
This site provides short, easy to follow instructions on how to write an autobiography. When
writing an autobiography, you focus on three major things: who you are in life, what life means
to you and what your outlook on the future is. An example of an autobiography is provided as a
link.
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“How to Write an Autobiography.” Essortment. 2002. 25 Feb. 2006
http://va.essortment.com/howtowritea_rves.htm
A list of bad reasons to write an autobiography starts this page which is followed by a list of
good reasons to write an autobiography. Bad reasons include to make a million dollars, to exact
revenge, or to revise history. To preserve family history and to pass on your heritage are
among the good reasons to write an autobiography. A few suggestions on how to start writing
are provided. This site does not go into great detail.
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McKenzie, Jamie. The Biography Maker. Bellingham Public Schools. 2005. 26 Feb. 2006
http://www.bham.wednet.edu/bio/biomaker.htm
Step by step instructions on how to write a biography are given. The Biography Maker is like
those homework machines we have been hearing about for many years. It is designed to help
students convert facts into insights, dull and boring information into fascination and magic. It
will help students do a good job, but they must provide some of the "steam" to make it work
well.
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Redford, Christine. “Writing an Autobiography.” Utah Education Network. 5 June 1997. 25 Feb.
2006 http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=1115
This is a lesson plan for 5th grade students identifying intended learning outcomes, instructional
procedures, suggested questions, assessment plan, and bibliography. The suggested questions
for brainstorming are excellent providing numerous questions in several categories: family,
activities, travel, school, summertime, and world history.
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“This Day in History.” Inside History Newsletter. The History Channel. 25 Feb. 2006. 25 Feb.
2006
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=general&month=10272964&day=10272
971
This is an excellent resource as would be expected from The History Channel. Students may
input their date of birth and find out what happened historically on that day. You may select a
specific time period (Civil War) or a specific topic (Old West) to narrow the search. It highlights
current events and provides a history IQ test.
All About Me Worksheet follows.
All About Me Worksheet
Go to the following websites to gather information about things that have occurred on your
birth date. You will then create the front page of a newspaper with the information you have
gathered. Things you will want to include:
Newspaper name
Headlines about various categories of information
Photos
Some categories of information to consider:
GENERAL INTEREST
EDUCATION
WEATHER
WALL STREET and the ECONOMY
OTHER PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY
OLD WEST
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
PRESIDENTIAL
DISASTER
AUTOMOTIVE
ENTERTAINMENT
CIVIL WAR
CRIME
WORLD WAR I
LITERARY
WORLD WAR II
This Day in History (video) (has all categories of what went on)
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do
biography.com (put in your birthday)
http://www.biography.com/search/botd.do?month+12&day=6
On the Day I Was Born
http://born-on-this-day.com/
On This Day in History
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/onthisday.aspx
This Day in History—infoplease
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
On This Day—New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/index.html
Example