Lesson Plan #1
Biographical Sketches
Duration: 5 days
Objectives: Students will:
Materials:
Sample List of Famous Men and Women
Collection of books
Key Vocabulary:
biography
historical
Procedures:
1. Have students select significant people to research, you can allow them to choose anyone at all or you can have them choose from a listing of historical people. Sample List
2. If your class is studying a topic such as the Civil War, you can have your students choose people who played a part in the Civil War.
3. Using reference materials such as books, magazines, multimedia encyclopedias, and the Internet, students complete research about the persons they have chosen to study.
4. Encourage students to find pictures and sound effects whenever possible.
5. Once their research is done, they use a Storyboard planning sheet or a paper folded into sixths, to plan before going to the computer.
6. You may want to come up with a slide show outline as a class or used the following order:
Slide Show:
Slide One: Title Slide Slide Two: Introduction Slide Three and Four: Early Life Slide Five and Six: Adult Life Slide Seven and Eight: Accomplishments Slide Nine: Slide Show created by ______________. Slide Ten: The End
On the Computer:
Have your students take their planning sheets to a computer.
Using a slide show program, your students will create individual slides for a slide show and then put them into a slide show presentation.
Allow students time to present their project using a projector.
Assessment:
Students will create a bio-poem. A bio-poem is a form of poetry using a structured format.
Give the students the following directions:
On each line of your poem provide only the information requested for that line. For lines 4 through 9, you should begin the line with the underlined words given; you supply the information in the parentheses. You may complete the line with single words or with phrases. Your object is to show the depth of your understanding about the character.
Line 1-- First Name
Line 2-- Title given to the character
Line 3-- Four words that describe the character
Line 4-- Lover of (three items, objects or ideas)
Line 5-- Who believes (one idea or concept)
Line 6-- Who wants (three things)
Line 7-- Who uses (three things)
Line 8-- Who gives (three things)
Line 9-- Who says (a direct quote)
Line 10-- Last name or synonymous descriptor
Following is an example of a bio-poem:
Rosi
Teacher
Strong, caring, dedicated, curious
Lover of her children, learning, and her students
Who believes all children can learn
Who wants a safe world for her children, her students to love to learn, and to have more time to write
Who uses her education, her experience, and the support of her family
Who gives her leadership to her students, her tenderness to her children, and her love of reading to her students
Who says, "A good book opens the door into another world."
Sampedro
Home Learning:
Have students create a me-mobile. Have them use a hanger to hang pictures, words, writing, and other things that tell or show about themselves. They are to punch a hole in each item and suspend it from the hanger with string.
Extension Activity:
Students could write Getting to Know You poems and share them with epals. These are poems about yourself.
Getting to Know You Poem
Line 1: First name
Line 2: 4 Descriptive words
Line 3: Relationship to (sister, brother, mother, uncle, etc.)
Line 4: Lover of (three things)
Line 5: Who feels (three feelings) ... when ...
Line 6: Who fears (three things)
Line 7: Who would like to (three things)
Line 8: Resident of (location)
Line 9: Last name
