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Autobiographies
An Investigation Into Ourselves and Our World
Mrs. Haley's Fifth Grade
Dawson Elementary
Austin Independent School District
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Introduction
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You walk in the door from your first day of school. The phone rings as
you are trying to get your key out of the door. You rush to the
phone, completely out of breath, gasping for air. An unfamiliar voice is
on the other end of the line. You can't believe your ears.
It is the publishing giant, Simon and Schuster. You have just been
asked to tell the story of your life! The world is waiting to learn
all about you and the amazing life you have led up to this point...your
public awaits!
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Task
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Your contract arrives the next day by Federal Express. In
the package are instructions on how to write your autobiography.
It seems that they want much more than just a book. They want
photographs, illustrations, and a timeline incorporating world events
that have happened during your lifetime! You discover, by reading
the small print, that you must have this package ready in ten days
in the form of a presentation for the Oprah Show!
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Process
Day One
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The thrill of being chosen for this project starts to wear off when you
realize that you're not exactly sure what an autobiography
is. You search out your wonderful teacher and tell her your
dilemma. You understand what a biography is, but you are not quite
sure what an autobiography is. Your teacher makes her handy dandy
T chart to show you the differences between the two genres.
You listen carefully
as your teacher reads exerpts from Helen Keller's autobiography and a
short exerpt from a biography on Helen Keller. Reviewing your T
chart, you see that you may want to add some more to your chart.
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Process
Day Two
and
Day Three
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OK,
you're feeling a bit more relaxed about the whole project.
At least now you know what you are writitng! A good place
to start is at the beginning. You decide to find out about
the day you were born!
Using the
record data sheet your amazing teacher has supplied for you, you
set about collecting information about the day you were born. You
don't write your paper yet! You're still collecting information.
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Process
Day Four
and
Day Five
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You're
feeling better everyday! You decide what you really need is to get
organized.
A timeline of the important events in your life should do the trick!
After you create your timeline and print it out, you decide to go back to
those important years of your life and see what was happening in the world
around you. You go
back to the websites you used to find out what happened on the day you were
born, and check out these other important dates. It's kind of fun
being part of history!
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Process
Day 6
Through
Day 9
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It is
finally time to start writing your autobiography. You've gathered
all of your information. You've interviewed family and friends.
Your notes are in hand. You are ready to create your masterpiece.
As always, you go through the writing process, creating a rough draft, editing,
revising, and editing before you publish. You may want to use a
graphic organizer to help you out.
You also decide on a presentation. It was a tough choice between
a powerpoint presentation, an oral reading, a reenactment, a dramatic performance,
but you finally decided.
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Process
Day 10
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Oprah's On!
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Process
Ongoing
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Daily
you meet with your fantastic teacher. During your SSR time you select
biographies and autobiographies to supplement your learning.
You explore food fads of the 90's during the Working With Words Block in
Brand Name Spelling.
You may use
fingerspelling to practice your Word Wall Words.
You always check your
work against the Criteria Chart. But, most of all you enjoy the time
you take getting to know yourself.
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Teacher
Page
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Fantabluous
teachers, this page is for you!
Project explanation, daily
activities, resources, rubrics, TEKS--it's all here, waiting for you.
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