Overview and Background: Unit: My Life Autobiography

Peggy Jones : Cheney USD 268

Language Arts. : autobiography : Communications

Cheney : Grades 6 - 6 : Aug. - Jun.

Title:	My Life Autobiography
Topics:	composition
Time Frame:	ongoing for two months
Start Date:	Feb. 1 - Mar. 31

Other Designers:

Summary:
Students will read two autobiographical selections as examples of published autobiographical essays. Using these as springboards to beginning their own writing, students will discuss the different types of autobiographical essays they might include in a book about their lives. They will then write a group of essays covering many areas of their lives. Upon completion, they will research the answers to specific biographical questions over a famous person of their choice.

Print Materials Needed:
Writing Your Life by Mary Borg, Cottonwood Press, Ft. Collins, CO. 1989

Textbook: Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes, Copper Level. Houghton Mifflin Co., Write Source 2000, Great Source Education Group.

Various library resources.

Resources:
Writing Your Life: Autobiographical Writing Activities for Young People by Mary Borg. Cottonwood Press. 1989.

Resource Attachments:

Internet Resource Links:

Notes:

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

State:	KS       2:1:1, 2:2:2, 2:4:1, 2:6:1,2,3
Title:	Writing
Standard(s):	Learners use ideas that are developed, clear and interesting. They understand and use strategies to glean information from written sources. Learners use authentic voice in writing in a way that the reader senses the person behind the words. Learners use effective word choice to choose words and phrases appropriate for purpose and audience. Learners use standard American English in complete sentences, appropriate paragraphing, and in a wide range of conventions. Learners write effectively for a variety of audiences, purposes, and contexts.

Understandings:
user	The past influences the present.

Essential Questions:
User	Who are we? Who would we like to be? How do we discover who we are? To what extent do our pasts influence the way we are today?

Knowledge and Skills:

K
who they are and who they would like to be
how to express personal information
relate personal anecdotes
how previous generations influence us

S
Write about their lives.
Develop writing skills: prewriting, brainstorming, revising, and editing.
discuss in small groups
Describe individual experiences
Read and discuss autobiographical selections to use as models for their own writing.

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence

Assessment Summary:
To show understanding of biography, students will be able to write their own. The performance task asks students to compose a series of informational pieces of writing covering several different stages of their lives. Other evidence to be collected includes gathering specific information about a famous person of their choice.

Task/Prompt: Write Your Life

Type:Performance Task

Topics: composition

Summary:
Students will write an autobiography using a variety of types of essays to include covering different areas of their lives.

Print Materials Needed:

Resources:

Resource Attachments: http://www.cheney268.com/MSCom/Jones/WriteYourLifeRubric.htm

Internet Resource Links:
Link 1: http://
Link 2: http://
Link 3: http://
Link 4: http://
Link 5: http://

Notes:

Student Directions:
You are an autobiographical writer who is going to write about several different parts of your life. Your autobiography will cover: before you were born, the day you were born, your family members and life, your individual accomplishments, the house you live in or have lived in and the memories you associate with it, and the world around you and your place in it. You may add other areas of your life to include, if you wish. You may also include pictures from your family and friends. The final essay you do for inclusion in your autobiography will be one of reflection. You will express how you think you have been influenced by one or several of the events or people from your past. You may cite one or several examples to illustrate the influence. For the final presentation of the autobiography, you will cover each page with a plastic sleve. Each page will be put into a three-ring-binder. You will design a collage cover using pictures that represent your life so far and into the future. We will share our final products with other members of the class in an informal presentation and with parents at parent-teacher conferences.

Rubric(s)
Rubric: Writing My Life Rubric
Summary: Students will compose an autobiography over their lives. The autobiography will cover several different areas including the following: before they were born, making an entrance, a floor plan of a favorite home with a written description of the home, themselves and the outside world, their likes and dislikes, friendship, a brag page, and their families.
Trait: Writing My Life Rubric Performance Type: Written.
Level 1: Unacceptable	Level 2: Amateur	Level 3: Acceptable	Level 4: Admirable	Level 5: Awesome
Work is incomplete. Compositions are difficult to follow due to problems with the six-trait model. Little or no sense of honesty is apparent in the essays. Lack of creativity with photographs and artwork hinder the overall quality of the work.	More than two sections are missing. The composition is not acceptable in the six-trait model. Some sense of honesty is present, but it is difficult to get a real sense of the writer. The traits of conventions and sentence have more than five errors. Word choice and voice are at a low level. No artwork or photographs or what is included does not reflect the individual.	No more than two sections are missing. Compositions are written using the six-trait model effectively. Essays are written with some detachment. Some sense of honesty is missing. No more than four major errors in the traits of conventions and sentence fluency are present. The other traits should be relatively free of errors. Any artwork or photographs are an asset to the work in the areas of creativity and neatness.	No more than one section can be missing. Compositions are written using the six-trait model effectively. Essays portray the writer with honesty. No more than two major errors in the traits of conventions and sentence fluency are present. The other traits should be relatively free of errors. Any artwork or photographs are an asset to the work in the areas of creativity and neatness.	All sections are complete. Compositions are written using the six-trait model effectively. Essays portray the writer with complete honesty. Errors are nonexistent or are so few they do not interfere with the flow of reading. Any artwork or photographs are an asset to the work in the areas of creativity and neatness.

Other assessment evidence to be collected:

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction

Learning Activities:

W
Discuss essential questions. Class discussion of autobiography: what it is and isn't. Show examples of My Life books from past classes. Discuss where this project will end. Distribute an agenda of assignments leading up to the final production of the My Life books.

H
Show examples of People magazine and Teen People magazine. Ask what makes these such good selling magazines? Discuss the fact that people want information about other people.


E
1. Bring in a variety of biographies and autobiographies from the library for students to peruse.
2. Students read two selections from their textbooks: one by Mark Twain, the other by his daughter Suzy Clements. Each represents different approaches to autobiography and gives the students two different views of autobiographical writing. Discuss.
3. Quizzes over the above two stories.
4. Begin the actual My Life composing process. Students will write a number of short essays encompasing many facets of their lives, including but not limited to, before they were born, the day of their birth, their families, their accomplishments, their homes, and how they see themselves with relation to the world around them. The final essay to be included will be a self-reflecting piece over the influence their pasts have on them in their world today.

Students will create a factual and well-written autobiographical notebook incorporating these essays.


R
Students present their autobiographical notebooks to the class, explaining the importance of each page. At spring student-led parent-teacher conferences, students will present their books to their parents.

E
Students will select a role model from today's world with whom they identifiy. Doing research on that person, students will chart comparisons and contrasts of themselves and the person they have chosen using their autobiographical writings and the researched information on the person as the foundation for the chart. A final discussion will incorporate all information discovered by students in their research and their own writing.