1. Autobiographies
Using “Uptown”
By Bryan Collier
Presentation by: Alyssa Frohlinger

2. What is an autobiography? Let’s Split up the word!
Part One: Does Auto mean:
Car
About
Right away
Click the taxi to find out!

3. What is an autobiography? Let’s Split up the word!
Part One: Does Auto- Mean:
Car
About
Self
Click the taxi to find out!
Auto means (3)- Self!

4. What is an autobiography? Let’s Split up the word!
Part Two: Does Biography Mean:
Plants
A story about a person’s life
A story about graphs
Click the taxi to find out!

5. What is an autobiography? Let’s Split up the word!
Part Two: Does Biography Mean:
Plants
A story about a person’s life
A story about graphs
Click the taxi to find out!
Biography Means (2)- A story about a person’s life!

6. An Autobiography is: A story about a person’s life, written by themselves. If you were to write an autobiography, it would Be a story about… ___________ Life!

7. An Autobiography is: A story about a person’s life, written by themselves. If you were to write an autobiography, it would Be a story about… Your Life!

8. In the book “Uptown,” the main character is narrating his own life in Harlem, New York. We are going to read his autobiography. The way he does this is through the use of many metaphors.

9. A metaphor is a type of imagery, where something is described by calling it something else. An example of this would be: “Her eyes were stars.” The girl’s eyes aren’t really stars, but now we know that they were shining like stars.

10. “His teeth were as white as milk.”
Sometimes the author uses similes. A simile is a type of imagery used to compare your subject to something else, using the words “like” or “as.”
An Example of a Simile is:
“His teeth were as white as milk.”

11. In “Uptown,” one of the types of similies used is: “Uptown is a song sung by the Boys Choir of Harlem. Each note floats through the air and lands like a butterfly.”

12. Teacher Dialogue (Would be verbalized, not on a slide):
“When Bryan Collier uses this metaphor, it is to help his readers understand what it feels like when he’s listening to the Harlem Boys Choir, because some of his readers might not know what they sound like.
Have any of you ever heard a song by the Boys Choir?”

13. Click the taxi to hear a song by the Boys Choir!
(Click Here!)

14. How did that make you feel?
To write a good metaphor, a writer needs to use their 5 senses to create a great comparison. Can anyone tell me, using the pictures below, what the 5 senses are?

15. How did that make you feel?

17. Sources Collier, Bryan. Uptown. New York: Henry Holt, 2000. Print.

18. Sources