Curated OER
Writing Portfolio: An Autobiography Assignment
An extensive portfolio project encourages your kids to reflect on their personalities with multiple writing assignments. From activities on extended metaphors to writing about an important day in their lives, kids explore the way they...
Curated OER
Writing and Autobiography
Are you working on an autobiographical or narrative writing unit? Bring this lesson to your class, as it takes young writers through the process of drafting and sequencing an autobiography. After observing and demonstrating steps of the...
University of North Carolina
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
After reading excerpts from Frederick Douglass' autobiography, pupils will draw on what they've learned about the cruelty of slavery to write and present an anti-slavery speech or editorial.
British Council
Buy. Use. Toss.
Responsible consumption is never a waste of time. Using the engaging resource, scholars learn about the impact of waste on the planet, sorting trash into necessary and luxury piles. They then analyze their consumption habits, writing an...
Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Autobiography
Start kids thinking about point of view and autobiographies by telling them a short story about your morning (first person), and then asking a volunteer to re-tell the story to you (second person). There are tips to help you tie this...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Need a model for character education? Benjamin Franklin presents himself as in a constant state of striving to become the man he hoped to be, making his autobiography is far more accessible to learners than those of people who consider...
Curated OER
Persona in Autobiography
A talkative old man? A naïve believer in Human Perfectibility? A Sage? Who is this guy, anyway? The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin launches a study of the way Franklin uses structure, style, and purpose, as well as different...
Curated OER
Alphabetical Autobiography PowerPoint
Sixth graders produce an autobiography, They complete a PowerPoint including one graphic image on each slide, and a subtle or moderate animation. They include 26 slides for each letter of the alphabet, use note pages to present...
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the focus of three activities designed for readers of the autobiography. First, class members deconstruct the title to understand Douglass's purpose in writing. Next, scholars...
Curated OER
Borrowing Narrative Skills from Mr. Fletcher: Using a "Prompts in Reverse" Technique to Inspire Your Writers
Help your class find their writing voices with this lesson which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher what they...
Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Autobiography
Have your middle schoolers write a short story about themselves with an autobiography unit about Rosa Parks. They learn the difference between biographies and autobiographies, define the different types of autobiographies and determine...
Spark Notes
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X Alex Haley
For this online interactive literature learning exercise, students respond to 7 short answer and essay questions about The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Students may check some of their answers online.
Curated OER
Rosa Parks Autobiography
Students write the story of Rosa Parks from the perspective of someone who was sitting on the bus that day. In this Rosa Parks/biography lesson, students read the story of Rosa Parks and discuss it in small groups. After...
Curated OER
Past, Present, and Future: Career Exploration and Planning
Tenth graders write an autobiography about their future. In this career education lesson plan, 10th graders write about the future based on their career goals. Students troubleshoot possible obstacles to fulfilling a...
Curated OER
A Year in Review: The Memoir
If you are planning a unit on memoir and autobiographical narrative, you should consider this resource. Using Internet research skills, pupils review works by James Frey and Henry David Thoreau. In response to these works, learners...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 3
Using questions they developed, class groups discuss Chapter 2 of Malcolm X's autobiography, focusing on the individuals and events Malcolm X feels contributed to his character development.
Curated OER
Reading Study Guide: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Meant for use with Maya Angelou's first autobiographical volume I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the materials here are designed for a homeschool setting, but they'd suit any classroom or text. Graphic organizers, chapter summary...
Curated OER
Memoir
After reading and analyzing two narrative memoirs, middle schoolers engage in a variety of activities, including writing an essay, developing a story map, and creating character charts. They then compare and contrast story maps, and...
EngageNY
Grade 12 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 14
As a mid-unit assessment, individuals craft an in-class, formal essay response to a prompt that asks them to use textual evidence to identify Haley's purpose, as well as analyze how the structure, style, and content contribute to the...
University of Arizona
Fusing Firecrackers with Narrative
Improve your youngsters' descriptive writing. They study an object and write about what they see as a warm-up, then they read an excerpt from Paul Guest's memoir, One More Theory about Happiness. The next part of the...
Curated OER
Women in History: Research for Expository Writing
After reading an excerpt from Amelia Earhart's autobiography, The Fun of It, learners explore various nonfiction resources about her life and write a short newspaper article on a specific event. They then develop a longer piece of...
National Endowment for the Humanities
From Courage to Freedom: Frederick Douglass's 1845 Autobiography
Students study slavery from the perspctive of an American slave. In this Frederick Douglass lesson, students complete the suggested pre-reading and post-reading activities included for Douglass's autobiography, Narrative of the Life of...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Frederick Douglass’s Narrative: Myth of the Happy Slave
The firsthand accounts of what it was like to be an enslaved person in the mid-1800s riveted a nation and the issue ultimately led to civil war. Using excerpts from Frederick Douglass's autobiography, budding historians examine what it...
PBS
Storybook
Encourage young writers to tell their stories with a fun format. The title page provides space for a picture, author's name, and illustrator's name. Next, a story page includes lines for a short story, and a final page announces the...