Entry #11 * A Genre I Underestimated - Biography

 Last week I had the opportunity to participate in the biography genre presentation. First, a huge KUDOS to this group. Holly, Maddie, and Marissa, your presentation was engaging, well put together, and extremely insightful. Right from the start of your presentation I was hooked into learning more about this genre. THANK YOU! 

I have to admit when I read through Tompkins (2012) chapter of biography I was confused because there was just so much to know about this genre. I appreciated the graphic organizer of the different types of biographies in the puzzle form in the class handout. 

This helped my brain to organize the types into their own. Having us bring in a "ME" quilt with one of our mentor texts was such a great way to engage us before even entering the presentation because it allowed us to dive deeper into our mentor texts rather than just skimming through the pages before we bring them to class.  I can't explain how grateful I am for this handout and the many checklists and graphic organizers that my colleagues put together.

I really like the "Authors Craft" Checklist towards the back of the handout. After the genre presentations, I always like to jot down what part was my favorite and what aspects of the genre I want to carry with me into my future classroom. I know for sure that I will bring this checklist with me because it incorporates the ways I can use the different types of a biography when learning.

In my CA work, I work directly with 5 fifth grade students who struggle with comprehension in a group setting. I think a great way to use autobiographies in this group would be to engage them in one of the activities that Tompkins (2012) provides on pages 234 & 235. I imagine a great lesson of me teaching what an autobiography is and how it differers from a biography, personal narrative, or memoir. After this lesson, we head down to the library and everyone chooses one autobiography to use for making a "ME" quilt. The reason I think of a "ME" quilt for this particular group and activity is because I am familiar with them as I recently just made one. It also wasn't super easy to make this "ME" quilt. It took a lot of referring back to the text and re-reading and finding little parts of the persons life that was enough to talk about in a box. This would be a great comprehension activity because after they read the book, they are asked to dig deeper and find 8 significant events that stuck out. This can encourage my students to think deeper about the genre and about the book. My last day with my students is May 6th, I am going to plan this before then, I am so excited to share this new strategy with them!