Up close and personal - autobiography/biography
Teacher Janet Boyd
| YEAR
|
LEVEL
|
DURATION
|
| 9-10
|
3-5
|
3-4 weeks
|
| Achievement Objective Being Assessed
|
Learning Outcomes
|
| Interpersonal Speaking
|
Talk coherently to the class about the person they read about in their autobiography/ biography, organizing their material effectively and using their book and a wall poster as a visual aid.
|
| Presenting
|
Design an informative classroom wall poster that combines verbal and visual features and will also be used as a visual aid in an oral presentation to their classmates.
|
| Processes
|
| Processing Information
|
Select, interpret and record key facts, experiences and quotes from their book, to use in their oral presentation and classroom wall poster.
|
| Supporting Achievement Objective
|
Learning Outcomes
|
| Personal Reading
|
Encouraged and guided to read an autobiography or biography of their own choice and at a suitable reading level.
|
Transactional Writing
(optional)
|
Write a one to two page word-processed article about their person for publication in a book aimed at teenagers about people with interesting lives.
|
| NCEA Link
|
| Assessment:
|
Formative
|
| Achievement Standard:
|
AS90058 (English 1.7): Deliver a speech in a formal situation.
|
Introduction
This is a great unit to do near the beginning of the year. Students can be introduced or reintroduced to the library and launched into a personal reading programme. Their wall posters can go up on the wall to brighten your room and to enthuse others to read the books.
For a more extensive unit, which focuses on biography/autobiography, see The power of the real world
.
Teacher background reading
Teaching and learning activities
Select and adapt these learning activities to best meet the needs of your students, and to fit the time available:
Learning task 1
Learning task 2
Assessment
Students plan their poster in draft form and peer review each others' work before they make their final copy and present it to the class.
assessment (RTF 9KB)
Pupils self assess or peer assess and the teacher assesses using the assessment checklists.
oral_checklist (RTF 3KB)
wall_checklist (RTF 2KB)
For an alternative, see also this ARB resource
English Exemplars Levels 1-5 for Presenting: Static Images
Resources
Electronic
Print
- Cox, Alan & Burgess, Linda & Mohekey, Sandra. (1996) Writing and Presenting for Senior Students. Longman. New Zealand.
- Houston, Mary E. (1998) . English, Form 3 Study Guide. ESA Publications (NZ) Ltd, 1998. Part 4, Visual language.
- Callum, Alison. (1997) English, Form 4 Study Guide. ESA Publications (NZ)
-
hill, Janne. (1998) On Target : Creating a Textbook for a Purpose. Heinemann. Melbourne.
Two chapters give you the structure and stylistic features for writing or reading an autobiography or biography. This is followed by a close reading exercise.
Follow up
Try the unit again next year and buy in books the students enjoyed. Use the posters from the year before as stimulus material and the wallcharts to entice others students to read the books. Ask the librarian to buy in some of the successful books. Update your supply every year.
When the pupils are working through a debating unit or a speech unit, review ideas about what makes an effective oral presentation. Emphasise that when they know what they are talking about they don't need to read their speech (as many students try to do). Oral presentations can be more effective by just using a cue card with a few selected key points (hopefully this was demonstrated by the way they constructed and used their timelines).
