Brief Description

Prior to this project students will have spent three class hours understanding the difference between a biography and an autobiography. Students will have completed a worksheet on writing an autobiography and presented their autobiographies in a Word document. Students will use the Internet and will have read several autobiographies and biographies and discuss the major differences For this lesson students will learn how to write a biography and post their biographical sketches on the web.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• 1T-E2. Demonstrate increasingly sophisticated standards of technology components.
• 3T-E-1. Use formatting capabilities of technology tools for communicating and illustrating.
• 3T-E-3. Publish and present information using technology tools.
• 4T-E-2. Use technology for individual writing and publishing activities to create curricular related products for audiences and outside classroom.
• 5T E-1. Locate information from electronic resources.

• Re-2. Use reading strategies such as making inferences and predictions, summarizing and paraphrasing, differentiating fact and opinion, drawing conclusions and determining author’s purpose and perspective to comprehend written selections.
• W-E1. Use correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage, along with varied sentence structure and paragraph organization, to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks.
• W-F1. Use the writing process, including generating topics, drafting, revising ideas and editing, to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks

Academic

• During independent reading time students will read at least three biographies and participate in an oral quiz to understand the unique characteristics of the biography genre and score at least 85%.
• Using the Biography Skills sheet students gather information and answer all the guided questions.
• Following the Directions Sheet students produce a written work to show evidence of the knowledge of biography genre.
• Using a Word document students will write, revise, and edit their biographical sketches with minimal errors in spelling and grammar.

• Using the Internet students will read at least three biographies published on the web and complete the Skills Worksheet.
• Using Microsoft Word, students will write the final draft of their biography, with minimal errors in formatting, spelling, and sentence formation.
• Using a scanner, students will scan their drawings/pictures of their subjects into the Microsoft word document so that the image is saved as a JPEG file for importing into a Word document.
• Using PowerPoint students will present their chosen biographical sketches showing at least three characteristics/tips suggested on the brainstorming sheet.

• Students must have general knowledge of being able to access the Internet, and move from page to page.
• Students must have general knowledge of maximizing/minimizing documents.
• Students must have basic knowledge of Microsoft Word – changing font, spell check, editing and revision.
• Students must know how to save their Word document to a floppy disk or the server, and be able to access it at a later time.
• Students must know how to print their documents.

• Project description
• Oral Quiz
• Review Checklist

Gifted students: If these students finish early they can work on extension projects:

• They can compile a class book of biographical sketches and put it on display.
• They can also present their work in the form of a play for the rest of the class.

Special Education students– Break down the task.  Work with a buddy and read each other’s biography.  When writing the biography, have the student list what happened first, second, third, or have them record it in a tape recorder and have one of the "computer-literate" students "transcribe" the story for them.  Monitor the rate at which the material is presented. Allow students to have extra time to complete the task.

Procedures

Day-1 Review the definition of Biography. Have students name some aspects of biography such as physical description, personality traits, influences, important dates   or events and valuable contributions.

Day-2 Have students go on line and read several biographies of famous Hispanic people. Celebrate Hispanic Heritage! Latinos in History. As they read, they answer the questions on the Biography skill sheet.

Day-3 Students read a biographical sketch of Frederick Douglass. Have them read and compare the first draft and final draft to have a better understanding of the writing process. Then, have them choose someone they really want to write about. Have them check out brainstorming tips for more hints on how to choose a topic. Have students look for examples of each tip in the final draft version of the biography of Frederick Douglass. Introduce them to the American biography website if they need help with choosing a subject.

Day-4 Students find information from different sources to answer the questions on the worksheet. They may use Internet, books, encyclopedia, Newspaper/magazine articles etc.

Day-5 Students write their biography following the writing process.  Have them revise their work, following the review checklist.

Day-6 Students scan the pictures of their subject and download in their Microsoft Word document.

Day- 7 Students use their fact sheets to organize information and type in the Microsoft PowerPoint.

Day- 8 Students will share biographical sketches with the rest of the class either by reading it orally or putting it on the Aver Key or T.V. converter.

Day-9 Students follow the directions to publish their biography on line. Students who have permission will submit their tales to the biography website http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/biograph/index.htm and/or the school website.
(NOTE:  The teacher must have filled out a class form before students may submit work.  Students will need a class password in order to submit work.  This is one of the websites safety issues)

Assessment
Students are assessed based on each of their individual ability and the improvements in their skills.

Technology:

• Teacher observation on how well students utilize the computer to access URL addresses, Word, PowerPoint, Aver Key, and print documents.

RUBRIC:
0 – Student needs help with all technology access
1 – Student needs some help with technology
2 – Student needs a little help with technology
3 – Student needs no help with technology

• Students will be graded on their Microsoft Document. The document must include the following components:
• Key facts and events in the persons’ life
• Provides insights into the person’s character-feelings, opinions, motivations and personality traits.
• Provides one interesting story or fact on the subject
• Includes clear organizational structure
• Includes the picture of the person

• Students’ stories will be graded on the six traits of writing rubric:
• Six Traits Rubric
The six traits rubric is a six-point scale, with six being the highest score and one being the lowest score.  Each of the six traits has descriptors for the individual score (6-5-4-3-2-1). A great site to visit that has the criteria written out for each score is: http://www.geocities.com/ginnyks/sixtraitupdate.html Once you are in this site, scroll down and click on scoring six traits.  From there you can click on any trait, read about it, then click on 6+1 Traits Writing Scoring Guide which will give you the six scoring levels of that trait.


Teachers may create a slip of paper that looks like the one below (or create a stamp):

Six-Trait Scoring Rubric

Ideas    _______           Word Choice _______
Organization  _______   Fluency          _______
Voice   _______             Conventions _______

Teacher Name: Katya Suryadevara
Site: Amphi High School
Date Submitted: January 14, 2003