English Language Arts Level 7 #53 Ms. Walker

Today’s Objectives Biographies and Autobiographies

Biography

What is a Biography? A biography is the true story of a notable person’s life written by another person.

Characteristics of a Biography #1 A story about a real person Abraham Lincoln Mahatma Gandhi

Characteristics of a Biography #2 Shows that the author knows a lot about the person The author must do extensive research on the subject by conducting interviews, reading books, scripts, etc.

Characteristics of a Biography #3 Describes the person’s environment such as where, when and how they lived.

Characteristics of a Biography #4 Provides details that show the person in action, such as their accomplishments, goals, behavior, etc.

Characteristics of a Biography #5 Shows how the person affects other people’s lives, such as changes they made which could include new discoveries in science and medicine or changes in laws.

Characteristics of a Biography #6 States or implies how the writer feels about the person. Different authors may have different viewpoints of the person. The author’s point of view could be positive or negative.

Types of Biographies First-hand biography Autobiography Collective Biography Unauthorized Biography

First Hand Biography Reveals another person through the eyes of a writer who has had an ongoing, face-to-face, personal relationship with the person. For example, if you write a biography about your grandmother, then that would be a first hand biography.

Autobiography The main character is the author. For example, if you were to write a biography about yourself, then that would be an autobiography.

Collective Biography It has many different biographies that are contained in one book. For example, Meet the Presidents by Cindy Bardon. This book is about many different United States Presidents.

Unauthorized Biography A Biography about a person that was not approved by the subject of the book. These are usually about celebrities. The purpose is to entertain. Information is not always accurate.

Biography Let’s listen to and read along with this biography about Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK, Jr. Biography http://youtu.be/OF9TpiE7cJ8

Assignment Research information about a famous person from your country. Write a summary of that person’s life using the guidelines on the Biography sheet provided.

Autobiographies

What is an autobiography? My Autobiography What is an autobiography?

What is an Autobiography? An autobiography is information written by a person that tells something about his or her life. When writing your autobiography, use interesting facts to explain as much about yourself as you can.

Writing the Autobiography The first thing to do when writing an autobiography is start off with a lot of important facts about your life. For example: when and where you were born where you live (city or country) where you go to school who you live with

Add Your Memories a) I’ll always remember the time when . . . b) One of my happiest memories is . .. c) I worked very hard at . . . d) I felt the saddest when . . . e) I hope people remember me as . . .

Your Hobbies and Interests The next part of writing an autobiography is writing about the things you like to do. What is your favorite food? What is your favorite thing to do? What types of friends do you have?

The Future You! The third part of writing an autobiography is writing about what you will do in your future. What do you want to do for work? What will you do to make the world a better place?

Assignment 1 Following the steps in the Autobiography Organizer, write a six-paragraph summary of your life.

Assignment 2 Write about yourself using information from the AutoBioPoem worksheet. Use the worksheet information to write a poem about yourself. It does not have to rhyme.

Break

Part 2 - The Idiom Idioms are spoken phrases that cannot be found in the dictionary. An idiom is an expression that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words.

over the top Over the top means outrageously overdone or too extreme. Some parents spend $30,000 for a child’s birthday party. The expense is over the top.

Lesson Review Our lesson today focused on understanding and writing biographies and autobiographies.

Next Lesson Our next lesson will begin our review of the course lessons. We will review the parts of speech in preparation for our End of Course Assessment.