Interest CenterGrade 6Maria Rouco and Joel Nalley

I need my students to understand that:1. Biographies are stories about a

person’s life.2. Biographies teach us about our

own lives and history.3. Biographies can be biased as

can autobiographies4. Bio means life and graphy

means writing or field of study.

Task Card #1 Write a biography about one

of your family members.  Use the guide located: http://www.greatlifestories.com/pressroom/article3.html

Make sure you have answered all 50 questions satisfactorily from the page.  

Do not just write the answers, write the biography like it is a book.  Include the answers in your paragraphs.  Make sure you have an introduction and closing.

Task Card #2Research a famous person from

the last 20 years. Create a portrait/caricature of

this person.Make sure the portrait

demonstrates their personality traits and why they are important.

Write a short paragraph on the back of the portrait explaining what this person’s life taught you.

Bring in a real picture of this person

You can find resources to get started in the interest center.

Task Card #3 Listen to the CD ONE by the

Beatles. Think about how their songs

are a form of biography and tell a story of their lives.

Think about how music helps other people understand their own life.

Choose a few of the songs from the CD and analyze their lyrics. What do the songs say about the writer? (Usually McCartney or Lennon).

Create your own CD of songs that tell your story and explain why each song is part of your biography. Keep in mind how the music we make and listen to says who we are.

Task Card #4 One of the best ways to

learn about a person’s life is to see how they act in certain situations.

Choose a famous person and write and perform a play that tells us about their life.

Use the books, dvds, or internet resources available to research your person.

Keep in mind the elements of a good play, costumes, dialogue, script, stage directions, music, set, props, etc.

Laptop with internet access.

CD playerTv with DVD playerPhotographs of

various peoplePast student projects

that model effective/creative work

Bust of Julius CeasarGustav Eiffel’s towerMarkers and pencilsPoster sized paper

Artifacts:

Audio Visual Itouch Ipod IpadEar phonesSpeakersCD’s (Beatle’s ONE,

the collected works of Vivaldi, Beethoven, Mozart, etc.)

Laptop with internet access (youtube clips, 8trax.com, grooveshark, etc.)

Print Materials:- My Life – Bill Clinton (Autobiography)- Lincoln – Gore Vidal (Historical Fictional Biography)- The Diary of Anne Frank (Diary/Memoir)- Several Issues of Biography Magazine- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin- The Autobiograpy of Malcolm X (ghost written

autobiography)- Steve Jobs – Walter Isaacson- Question List for creating your own biography (taken

from greatlifestories.com)- The Story of Walt Disney – Bernice Seldon- The Life of Theadore Roosevelt – William Thayer- Diary of a Kidnapped Colombian Governor: A Journey

Toward Nonviolent Transformation by Guillermo Gaviria Correa

- Even Silence Has An End-Ingrid Betancourt- Gabriel García Márquez: A Life (Vintage) by Gerald

Martin

Videos and DVD’sSchindler’s ListCatch Me If You CanAmadeusRaging BullWalk The LineTemple GrandinA Beautiful MindGhandiPattonMalcolm XBonnie and Clyde

Biography Brainstorm

Further List of Possible TasksConnect the people with the ages

in which they lived and then discuss how they might have fit in with modern society.

Interview someone famous from your city.

Create a list of unique and interesting interview questions.