Teaching How to Write a Biography: Lesson PLan
- Trent Lorcher
- Categories : English lesson plans for middle school
- Tags : Teaching middle school grades 6 8
Assignment Ideas
Use biography writing assignments in conjunction with current events, a literature unit, a research paper, or a history project. Use the following ideas to get you started:
- Short Story Unit: Write a magazine article describing a meeting with a character from any story you’ve read this semester. Be sure your article portrays the character consistently with the character in the story. Create a name for the magazine and a title for the article. The audience should be the type of person who would read the magazine you created.
- Novel Unit: Do the above assignment. Choose a character from the novel to write the article on.
- History Class: Write a magazine article chronicling an encounter with any famous historical figure. Identify whether or not the person became famous before or after the meeting. Create a name for the magazine and a title for the article. The audience should be the type of person who would read the magazine you created.
- Research Paper: Write a biography on a famous writer. Research biographical information and his or her works.
- Current Events: Follow the same steps as the short story unit biography. Instead of a literary character, make a person in the news the subject of your article.
How to Procedures
The following procedures involve writing about a fictional character. Simply change a few words to adapt it to any of the above assignments.
- Prewriting - Review short stories. Brainstorm characters who attracted your attention. Choose the one you feel would make the most interesting biography.
- Prewriting - Visualize the character. Much of what you write will come from the author’s description. You can, however, fill in missing information.
- Prewriting - List character traits. Remember traits aren’t always directly shown by the author. You may have to make inferences .
- Prewriting - Set up a believable situation in which you meet the character.
- Drafting - Explain the circumstances of your meeting, how you met the person, and what you talked about.
- Drafting - Keep the character consistent.
- Revising - Add details to make the encounter and the character more realistic. Make sure you focus on your audience as you revise.
- Revising - Use peer evaluation . Exchange papers with a partner and comment on the article’s strengths and weaknesses.
This post is part of the series: Writing Assignments
Find different writing assignments to give your students.
- Writing Lesson Plans: How to Write a Biography
- Teach Your Students How to Write Science Fiction
- Teaching Instructional Articles: How to Write Instructions
- Lesson Plan: How to Write an Essay Introduction
- Sophmores Assess Their High School Role While You Assess Their Writing
3 Creative Ideas for Teaching Biographies Your Students Will Love
There is so much power in teaching our students about history using biographies. We can all learn from the success and failures of others. But biographies often get a bad rap of being dry and boring. It doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, through this genre, our students can practice many different reading skills and strategies. That’s why I use graphic organizers that will allow my students to recall information from the biographies in creative ways. I am excited to share these 3 creative ideas for teaching biographies using fun and exciting graphic organizers I know your students will love!
Teaching Biographies can be Exciting
When teaching biographies in my classroom I like to immerse my students into the lives of the person they are learning about. From decorating the classroom to dressing up like the person we are studying, the possibilities are endless. This really helps to “bring the person to life” and make the learning more engaging and realistic for our students.
No matter what biography you are focusing on, these 3 creative ideas for teaching biographies are going to be so fun your kids will be begging for more!
1. EXTRA! EXTRA!