Grade 2 — English Language Arts: Autobiography

Overview

Students explore the concept of autobiography. After learning about the key components and format common to autobiographies, students write and present their autobiographies to the class.

Activate

Students browse a display of autobiographies. They respond in journals listing the titles of autobiographies they are interested in learning about and write one question describing what interests them with each particular title [Plan and Question].

Teacher Tip:
Pre-select several autobiographies suitable for grade 2.

Suggestions for Assessment:
Self-Assessment: Note student’s area of interest by browsing their literature journals.

Using a word processor or concept map students work with a partner  in a teacher-directed learning task.[Collaborate] Students find, collect, and arrange clip art images, from given electronic sources, (representing different phases in a person’s life) to create a life cycle that tells a story about a life. [Gather and Make Sense]

Teacher Tip:
Select suitable clipart websites that offer copyright-free resources. Talk to students about acceptable use of copyright resources.

Support Files:
Sample Life Cycle (Word)

Suggestions for Assessment:
Work Sample: Review students' life cycle maps for chronological/logical sequence.

Acquire

Students find information from teacher-selected web sites, record bibliographic references and share both prior and new information about autobiographies. Students discuss the questions: "What is an autobiography?", "What types of information belong in an autobiography?" and "How is an autobiography presented?" Use a concept map to record and sort student responses.

Teacher Tip:
Students should discover that an autobiography is the story of the writer's life told in the first person, generally in a chronological order.

Support File:
Constructing Student-Generated Criteria for Quality Work

Suggestions for Assessment:
Observation:Assess students' participation in and contribution to discussion.
Begin to build criteria for "what makes a quality autobiography."   

Apply

Using multimedia presentation software and images created with a painting or drawing tool, or scanned photos or sketches, each student makes  and chronologically orders, several slides that represent important stages/milestones in his/her life and shares the presentation with peers. [Produce to Show Understanding, Communicate] Students write, revise and edit a complete sentence to accompany each slide. [Produce to Show Understanding]

Suggestions for Assessment:
Use student-generated criteria to assess students' products.

Students reflect on their learning.