Set the stage for high-interest reading with a purpose through a biography project. Students work together to generate questions they would like to answer about several well-known people, then each student chooses one of these and finds information by reading a biography from the library and doing Internet research. Students create a graphic organizer (a web) to organize the facts they have found and share what they have learned about their subjects through oral presentations. Students evaluate themselves and their classmates by using a rubric during the research and graphic organizer-creation process and by giving written feedback on one another's presentations.
Bio-Cube: This planning tool can help students organize their research; use it as an extension to the lesson and have them outline the lives they' researched before writing their own biographies.
This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.
This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.
Students can also use the list of suggested websites to add to their webs.
Have students use their webs and the online Bio-Cube tool to plan and write biographies of the person they have researched. When they are finished, ask students to share the books with a younger class.
Possible student assessments include:
Students do a journal entry about barriers that have been broken,such as age, race, and gender, that might impede them in the future, and how they can break through those barriers.
Calendar Activity Historical Figure & EventAfter learning about the story of Pedro Albizu Campos and his commitment to Puerto Rican independence, students research and share their learning about another nationalist figure from around the world.
Calendar Activity Historical Figure & EventThrough the study of Paul Revere, students learn about primary source documents while researching their family histories, with which they create and compare their family trees.
Calendar Activity Historical Figure & EventStudents consider what is meant by the phrase "Human Hero," think of people who fit into the category, and read a biography of a selected hero.
Assessment ToolThis rubric is designed to be used for any oral presentation. Students are scored in three categories—delivery, content, and audience awareness.
Lesson Plan Standard LessonAfter researching famous people of the American Revolution, students create Facebook-like PowerPoint presentations to share their knowledge with classmates.
Strategy GuideThrough Voki, a Web 2.0 tool, students create customizable avatars for class presentations for various purposes, such as presenting biographical information, expressing an opinion, or reading a poem.
Brenda Hayes K-12 TeacherThank you for this lesson series! We are a homeschooling family and this provides a framework to support and focus our biographical assignments.
Brenda Hayes K-12 TeacherThank you for this lesson series! We are a homeschooling family and this provides a framework to support and focus our biographical assignments.
K-12 TeacherThank you so much for sharing your wonderful ideas, I will certainly try them out.
I wanted to add a couple more ideas. The first one is to add a further section to the list of items that students must include, which is: A summary of the things that one can learn from this person, their life and experiences. It helps students really apply the insights into their own lives. They could be asked how they would implement some positive ideas into their own lives.
Also, it might be fun for students to write a small two minute speech as if they were the person they researched and present it to the class. It helps students find a voice in their own reading as well as writing. They may also try to dress and really act the part. This could be incorporated with drama as well.
Once again, thank you for sharing! :)
Thank you for this lesson series! We are a homeschooling family and this provides a framework to support and focus our biographical assignments.
K-12 TeacherThank you so much for sharing your wonderful ideas, I will certainly try them out.
I wanted to add a couple more ideas. The first one is to add a further section to the list of items that students must include, which is: A summary of the things that one can learn from this person, their life and experiences. It helps students really apply the insights into their own lives. They could be asked how they would implement some positive ideas into their own lives.
Also, it might be fun for students to write a small two minute speech as if they were the person they researched and present it to the class. It helps students find a voice in their own reading as well as writing. They may also try to dress and really act the part. This could be incorporated with drama as well.
Once again, thank you for sharing! :)
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful ideas, I will certainly try them out.
I wanted to add a couple more ideas. The first one is to add a further section to the list of items that students must include, which is: A summary of the things that one can learn from this person, their life and experiences. It helps students really apply the insights into their own lives. They could be asked how they would implement some positive ideas into their own lives.
Also, it might be fun for students to write a small two minute speech as if they were the person they researched and present it to the class. It helps students find a voice in their own reading as well as writing. They may also try to dress and really act the part. This could be incorporated with drama as well.
Once again, thank you for sharing! :)
