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In an earlier post I shared how students used biography picture books to practice summarizing, recognizing opposing viewpoints, and citing textual evidence. Using the four-step process modeled there, students cut to the chase to tell what was "most needed to know" about their famous man or woman from history. So what's next?

Below I've shared some of the biography extensions and report options which students have completed over the years in my classroom. I'm sure you'll find a new one to try out!

Time Machine

As students read their biography, they take the usual notes, either on a prepared outline or free hand. When writing the report, however, the students pretend that they're able to travel back in time to interview this famous person. The most important details are then summarized in a question-answer format which reads in a more interesting way than a standard report. The paragraph students generated in the four-step summary process (above) serves nicely as the interview's introduction.

I've provided a sample of the interview format, but I highly encourage you to have students brainstorm their own interview questions as well. The brainstorming and sequencing process is an excellent introduction to the research process where students will need to formulate inquiries for themselves. Students will also discover that the unique experiences of any given person will in large part dictate the type of questions which should be asked. When reading Who Says Women Can't be Doctors? by Tanya Lee Stone, for example, one of my students was amazed to discover that Elizabeth Blackwell was turned down by twenty-eight different schools in her pursuit of attending medical school. "I think I would have quit trying after the first ten schools said no," the student remarked, and I wondered what Elizabeth Blackwell herself would have said to her in return.

Some years we presented these in a talk show format, with partners playing the role of interviewer, and other years students chose to dress as the person they were portraying. 

Journal

24 Ready to Go Genre Book Reports is a wonderful teacher resource full of ideas for responding to books, and one project from this resource which students have enjoyed is creating a journal.

When I first began teaching, I assigned students a similar journal format, requiring at least three entries that reflected events from the person's childhood or teen years, university or training years, and years of notable achievement. Additional entries could be written at students' discretion.

With the popularity of scrapbooking, students began asking if they could include artifacts in their journals. Projects soon included replica photos, sketches, tickets, maps, currency, and so on. The journal covers likewise became more creative, with students creating covers that resembled television sets, suitcases, trading cards, shipping crates, cars, space shuttles, hats, jerseys, and wanted posters. 

A wonderful set of biography books which rely upon a similar concepts of "snapshots" from a person's life is the 10 Day series by David Colbert, which so far includes books on Anne Frank, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, and Martin Luther King, Jr. If all students in your classroom read the same biography or autobiography, they could likewise focus on the ten most pivotal days of that person's life, with students possibly pairing up and writing a first-person account of one of these days.

As mentioned above, the paragraph students generate in the four-step summary process can serve as an introduction to the diary, as the entries themselves may not provide ample information for some readers to understand the importance of the subject's achievements.

Made in Quotes Cover

Lessons Learned

One of my students' favorite parts of the Time Machine assignment (above) is when they, in the guise of their famous person, are asked to give advice to future generations. Putting themselves "into the shoes" of this famous person and distilling the experiences of a lifetime into a bit of sage advice is a difficult yet rewarding task.

In Lessons Learned, students generate eight to ten tips that their hero might pass on to future generations. The advice can be published as beautiful quotes, using a quote making site such as Quozio, Quotes Cover, ReciteThis, or ProQuoter.

Here, the four-step biography summary is used as an introduction piece that acquaints the reader with the giver of wise counsel. The quotes themselves can be printed, or embedded into a Google Slides or similar sharing platform.

Timeline

Since most students best understand a biography in strict chronological order, creating a timeline would be a good way for them to explain and illustrate important life events.

For creating an online timeline, I highly recommend Hstry.co, which I discussed at length in a previous post. Check out that post to see how easy it is to get started with Hstry.

Telescoping Story

Telescopic Text allows writers a chance to share a story just one bit at a time, while revealing small and large thoughts alike in a measured manner. You can best understand this site by checking out the site creator's example. To see how a text is entered and edited, and to see a pretty impressive Telescopic Text created by a seven year-old, check out the video below.



Students could use this site to create a slowly expanding narrative of their hero's life. What's great about the site is that it encourages elaboration, a tough topic to teach students who are often trying to write as little as possible.

Caveat: Students should register for their own accounts and learn the difference between saving and publishing (saving allows for future edits; publishing does not).

Newspaper Clipping


A newspaper clipping describing an important event from a person's life is a terrific way to get students to focus upon what really merits attention. The Fodey Newspaper Generator provides a very short format clipping (about 1000 total characters), which is just enough to provide facts without the clutter of details. The clipping to the right, for example, was created in response to A Nation's Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis, written by Matt De La Peña and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. While the picture book chronicles Louis' rise as a fighter, the newspaper clipping captures just a highlight of that life.


This newspaper generator (which I found at the Learning Never Stops blog) allows for more space and also an image, but fills in the rest of the front page with two nonsense articles. Students would need to screen shot and crop out the other articles if they didn't want them to show.

In addition to a stand-alone activity, the newspaper clipping could also be used as an artifact in the Journal assignment above (some students have also used the movie clapboard generator at the Fodey site for their journal project). 

He Said, She Said 

I previously discussed Google Story Builder in another blog, and I'm still a fan. It's a very neat way to show differing points of view. Take a second to check out my review.  

Here's a short Google Docs Story I created after reading Mary Walker Wears the Pants: The True Story of the Doctor, Reformer, and Civil War Hero, written by Cheryl Harness and illustrated by Carlo Molinari. Note that activist Mary Walker disagrees with what a fabricated nemesis named "Nathan Properbody" has to say.  


Students can create both sides of such a fictional dialogue, or two students can take on opposing roles and write from each viewpoint. The process will need some trial and error, and the resulting pieces can't be long, but it's a very different type of writing requiring some critical and creative thinking.

Looking for more tech tools to assess student learning? Be sure to check out this collection of over thirty of the best free sites I've found to assess students at all stages of learning process.

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In my case, however, I didn't want a timeline. My sixth graders had just read nonfiction books of choice, with topics as varied as fashion, venomous animals, and accidental inventions. I needed a venue that would permit them to show off their topic's most interesting facts. So in my case, my students used the site to create linear collages rather than timelines. The video below (which I created and hosted for free at Screencast-O-Matic) walks you through one of those projects.

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Kindergartner, Madeline, was told to choose her favorite book for her book report. As you can see, she chose KITTY KERPLUNKING.

And what a great job she did illustrating Preppy's lunch with a friend. :-)
Thanks, Madeline, for sharing your book report, and here's a wish for lots of great reading this summer!

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The Brochure Book Report

Do you get groans from students when you announce it's time to write?  Are you running out of ideas for teaching writing?

Now more than ever it is important for teachers to find authentic engaging ways for their students to write.  Otherwise writing becomes a "forced" activity with little perceived value to the student.  And when that happens, little learning is likely to occur and those standards we are so intent on teaching will not likely be internalized.

This past fall in my 10-week writing classes for 3-6th graders and 7-9th graders, one particular assignment became the most popular writing project.  It's a twist on the standard book report and one that your students are bound to find engaging and maybe even fun.

Before Any Assignment, Review Your State Standards

Take a few moments to review the writing standards for your state.  I have chosen to highlight writing standards from the state of GA, likely similar to the writing standards in your state:

ELA5W2:  "The student produces informational writing . . . "  and

chooses a speaker's voice,
develops a controlling idea that offers a perspective,
creates an organizing structure appropriate for the purpose and audience,
includes appropriate facts and details,
excludes extraneous details,
provides a sense of closure, includes appropriate word choice.

ELA4W4 focuses on the writing process and includes elements such as being able to appropriately plan and draft, revise, edit, and publish.


Guidance for the Teacher


One of the most important keys to writing instruction is to be a writer yourself.  Do you write articles for your state IRA affiliate's journal, do action research and document it, write for personal pleasure (a diary or journal, blogging, etc.)?  When you do, you can bring an authenticity to the writing experience. 

For example, I always say to my students early on that "I've been writing for 47 years and I'm not the best writer I will ever be."   Then I add that everyone in the class is likely to be at a different place as a writer but my goal for them is that each will move further down the reading road.  That first statement always surprises my students but it emphasizes the importance of making effort and growing.  The second encourages them and lets them know my focus and commitment to them.  With that approach and a true "writer's workshop" environment, I find that even reluctant writers leave my classes excited about writing and having the skills to be a more competent composer.


To Begin . . .

Ask each student to choose a book to read (choice is very important for

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On the first of every month we will present some of the best posts of the previous month. One of our criteria will be comments so feel free to add your voice, there is a comment link at the top of each post.

The first one is a great post from George of Fairs Fair Books on the business of book selling, locations and Universal Truths.

My own favorite is a video by Philosopher Dan Dennett on memes. 

The posting that received the most comments and email is another of my favorites. Don’t get attached to your mistakes by Tom Nealon.

Finally our biggest development this month has been the addition of our terrific writers. Tom of Pazzo Books, George of Fairs Fair, William of Hang Fire  and Dana of Windy Hill have all helped bring you some insightful information and shared experiences. I hope you’ll visit their sites.

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