Two Assignments for HS Writers - For class 2-9-10

Writing your life: A lesson in autobiography
This is a good activity with which to begin the school year, both because students get to write on something about which they are experts (themselves), and because it helps them to get to know other students.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

1. Students will grow better at the writing/edit process.
   
2. Students will create an autobiography product.
   
3. Students and teacher will get to know each other.

Lesson 1: Prewriting

Students will create a visual representation of key aspects of their lives. Using the questions below, they will draw a life map or create one on the computer.

• Technological option: Use Inspiration software to create a mind map, including pictures
  
• Non-technological option: Use colored pencils and paper to draw images

Step 1: Tell the students that they will be writing an autobiography later in class. Build on prior knowledge and ask if any of them have written an autobiography before and have them share their experience. Remind them that an autobiography contains information about one's own life written by that one person. Briefly introduce some autobiography titles, and encourage students to read one of their choice during their independent reading time. Tell the students that they will first pre-write that autobiography by creating a life map.

Step 2: Hand out your life map questions to the students. Remind them that they do not have to write anything on their Life Map and that their entire life story (past, present, and future) will be told in pictures. Have the students clear everything from their desks. Give the students their blank sheets of paper and colored pencils. Let them begin.

1. Where you were born?
   
2. Where was your first house?
   
3. Where did you go to kindergarten?
   
4. Where did you go to middle school?
   
5. Where are you going to high school?
   
6. Who are the members of your family?
   
7. What did you want to be as a grown up when you were little?
   
8. Did you have any special pets?
   
9. What was your favorite toy?
   
10. Who were/are your best friends?
    
11. What was one thing you were afraid of as a kid?
    
12. Name a favorite piece of clothing you once owned.
    
13. What was your favorite book as a child?
    
14. What chore do you dislike the most?
    
15. What is one place you have traveled or want to travel?

Step 3: After completing the visual life map, students will share with the class or a small group.

Lesson 2: Writing your Autobiography

Warm up: Reviewing the concept taught the previous day, ask students to respond to this journal prompt with one single drawing.

Prompt: Project yourself twenty years into the future. What are you doing?

Then, have them respond to that same prompt using a few sentences.

Students Will:

1. Write a strong introduction for their autobiography.
   
2. Write an autobiographical draft that accurately reflects their life map.
   
3. Use the peer editing process.

Step 1: Remind students that an autobiography contains information about one's own life written by that one person. Remind students of the various autobiography titles you have been reading throughout this unit and discuss how each author told their own story. Share with the students that they will begin their autobiography drafts today, that they are just collecting all their thoughts, and need not worry about doing everything correctly.

Step 2: Remind the students that each picture they drew represents a paragraph in their autobiography. Brainstorm a variety of strong introductory sentences with the students.

Step 3: Have the students work on their autobiography drafts, to just write their ideas on paper. Upon completion, instruct students to do a "re-read" of their draft and make any initial changes before the peer editing process.

Step 4: Have each choose a partner for the next steps of the writing process - revising and editing. Distribute a peer editing checklist to each student to use as a guide while they read each other's draft and make suggestions for revisions.

Step 5: Finally, have each student do a read-through of his or her own and identify some ways to make the draft strong. Then, take those ideas and incorporate revisions from the other student to create a final draft.


Developed from: “Writing an autobiography” by Elizabeth Ramos: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplan.jsp?id=24