LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

The year I was born: An autobiographical research project

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=419

A lesson plan for grades 9–12 English Language Arts

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Students write autobiographies in this lesson that challenges them to research the events that occured in the world the year they were born. After discussing the research strategies that will be used, the teacher engages students in a brainstorming activity to develop sample interview questions and ways that students can use library and online resources. Students interview others about the first year of their life and gather pictures and documents about the early part of their childhood. If there are students who do not have access to this information, they have the option to write from a fictitious point-of-view if desired. Students conduct research on their project using library resources, online information, and periodicals for the month and year they were born. After students organize and document the sources for their information using a research form, they create a rough draft outline and work in small groups to provide feedback for peers. Once they have finished writing their papers, students create a document, paste a photograph in their document, and print the piece to be placed in a book of class autobiographies. Readwritethink provides links to guidelines for the project, a handout with links to web resources, a sample autobiography, a research form, self-reflection questions, a writing rubric, and links to online interactive tools for publishing.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 9

  • Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text and personal experiences.
    • Objective 1.01: Narrate personal experiences that offer an audience:
      • scenes and incidents located effectively in time and place.
      • vivid impressions of being in a setting and a sense of engagement in the events occurring.
      • appreciation for the significance of the account.
      • a sense of the narrator's personal voice.
  • Goal 2: The learner will explain meaning, describe processes, and answer research questions to inform an audience.
    • Objective 2.01: Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print informational texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:
      • selecting, monitoring, and modifying as necessary reading strategies appropriate to readers' purpose.
      • identifying and analyzing text components (such as organizational structures, story elements, organizational features) and evaluating their impact on the text.
      • providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader's response to text.
      • demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
      • summarizing key events and/or points from text.
      • making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
      • identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
      • making connections between works, self and related topics.
      • analyzing and evaluating the effects of author's craft and style.
      • analyzing and evaluating the connections or relationships between and among ideas, concepts, characters and/or experiences.
      • identifying and analyzing elements of informational environment found in text in light of purpose, audience, and context.

Grade 10

  • Goal 1: The learner will react to and reflect upon print and non-print text and personal experiences by examining situations from both subjective and objective perspectives.
    • Objective 1.01: Produce reminiscences (about a person, event, object, place, animal) that engage the audience by:
      • using specific and sensory details with purpose.
      • explaining the significance of the reminiscence from an objective perspective.
      • moving effectively between past and present.
      • recreating the mood felt by the author during the reminiscence.
  • Goal 2: The learner will evaluate problems, examine cause/effect relationships, and answer research questions to inform an audience.
    • Objective 2.01: Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print informational texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:
      • selecting, monitoring, and modifying as necessary reading strategies appropriate to readers' purpose.
      • identifying and analyzing text components (such as organizational structures, story elements, organizational features) and evaluating their impact on the text.
      • providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader's response to text.
      • demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
      • summarizing key events and/or points from text.
      • making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
      • identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
      • making connections between works, self and related topics.
      • analyzing and evaluating the effects of author's craft and style.
      • analyzing and evaluating the connections or relationships between and among ideas, concepts, characters and/or experiences.
      • identifying and analyzing elements of informational environment found in text in light of purpose, audience, and context.

Grade 11

  • Goal 2: The learner will inform an audience by using a variety of media to research and explain insights into language and culture.
    • Objective 2.03: Respond to informational texts by:
      - using a variety of strategies for preparation, engagement, and reflection.
      - paraphrasing main ideas and supporting details present in texts.
      -explaining significant connections among the speaker's/author's purpose, tone, biases, and the message for the intended audience.