All About Me Biographical and Autobiographical Writing

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Students will practice biographical and autobiographical forms of writing: autobiography, biopoem, character traits, classmate biography.

Objectives:

• Write an autobiographical essay that utilizes all components in the writing process. (Prewriting, drafting editing, revision, publishing)
• Write a biopoem (biographical) that describes key character traits of one’s self.
• Conduct and write a biographical essay of a classmate using all components in the writing process.
• Design/decorate a brown bag that exhibits character traits about yourself.

Materials:

• Loose-leaf notebook paper
• Pen
• Pencil
• Brown lunch bag
• Glue
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Crayons
• Markers
• Paint
• Transparencies

Lesson Plan:

1. Teacher will review and model the writing process.
2. Students will write and complete a Autobiographical essay about one’s life using all components of the writing process.
3. Teacher will model an example of the Bio-poem using Little Red Riding Hood or some other familiar character to students. Distribute formula for poem.
4. Students will write and complete Bio-poem and place on brown bag. Students were given the option of writing it on the bag or placing it own paper and pasting it on the bag.
5. Students will design and decorate one’s bag to their liking. Students were also asked to place a minimum of five items that represented them in the bag. Students were instructed not to place valuable or sentimental items in the bags.
6. Students presented items orally in class and bags were placed on display.

Extension:

Students could also conduct peer interviews of classmates and write biographical essays of each other. Students created 10 sample questions to ask classmates, then transferred notes into a narrative essay. Students used the components in the writing process.

Comments:

This was an excellent activity that I used at the beginning of this school year. It assisted with having a completed finished project ready for display for Open house. Parents want to see what their children have completed for the first week of school. This also provided an opportunity for me to get to know the students and for them to get to know each other. Students enjoyed it!

By: Ms. P. Williams, Language Arts/Reading Teacher