Real Lives
and Sort
The Biography Channel has produced a significant bank of biographies, and they air a sixty-minute eipisode nightly, hightlighting the life of an person. The team at the Biography Channel is currently seeking a younger audience, so they're in the market for some new and innovative material...from you. You are being asked to research someone who made a significant mark on society and create a digital presentation promoting a biography video. Remember, your subject doesn't have to be a celebrity. For instance, Lori Gottlieb writes about her eating disorder in Stick Figure pictured above. Andrea Warren describes a boy's experiences at a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Readers benefit from learning about the lives of others. The Biography Channel will only take on 10 new subjects. It's up to you to promote your subject's interesting life, so that it is selected.
What life lessons can we learn from reading about |
First, you will need to build some background knowledge about this topic.
- Take a moment to watch the Brain Pop video on biographies.
- Read the article "Notes on Biography" to hear what author Milton Meltzer has to say on the topic of writing a biography for a young audience.
- Then, take the quiz to assess your comprehension of the article.
The lives of famous people interest the general public, and that interest is often captured and sustained through the reading of biographies and autobiographies, as well as through magazines, newspapers, etc. Television and the Internet have also provided a wealth of information about famous people. In fact, the Internet has provided a proliferation of fan sites. However, all of the information available on these sites is not necessarily factual or reliable.
Your task is to read a biography or autobiography about a person of your choice. You may select your book from your school library or your public library. Your teacher will provide the requirements for that book choice. As you read, you are expected to keep a dialectical journal. Be sure to read over the instructions for your dialectical journal to better understand the content and deadlines for your entries. After completing the reading of your book, you will gather additional information about your subject by examining a variety of print and nonprint media, being careful to select and use reliable sources.
You will develop a digital presentation about your subject and share it with your group (class) in preparation for a presentation to the Biography Channel. Your presentation may take the form of any of the following products:
- an interview in video form
- virtual box
- multimedia slideshow
- glog
An important part of designing your digital presentation is considering how viewers will benefit by learning about your subject's life.
Assessments
Research Process Assessments:
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Final Product Assessments: |
How do we benefit from reading and learning about someone else's contributions to society? |
"Jump-start" Your Thinking: What questions do you have about this topic?
- In what ways was the life of the person remarkable/admirable?
- Using three adjectives, describe the person. Why did you select these adjectives?
- What in the subject's life was most influential in shaping him/her?
- Did the subject make any major mistakes or bad decisions? Explain.What specific contributions has this person made?
- List any lessons you or anyone else might learn from this person.
- Did your subject think outside the box?
- Would you consider your subject a hero? Explain.
It is important to evaluate the reliability of your sources. This Source Evaluation Criteria will assist you in your evaluation of research sources. Compare the reliability of three websites about Elvis Presley. Remember that a site is not distinctly reliable or not. Think of reliability on a scale from low to high based on the criteria it meets/lacks.
| 1. | The official site of Elvis Presley | About the site |
| 2. | Elvis's Angels Fan Club | About the creators of the site |
| 3. | Proof! Elvis Is Alive |
Examine the magazine rack or newstand at a bookstore or supermarket. Most likely, you will find both sensational tabloids and well-respected journals, often displayed side by side. Keep in mind that the Internet is like that, too. Highly reliable sites exist as well as complete hoaxes. Consequently, sometimes those hoaxes are not marked as such. Click the link below to see an example of an Internet site that is a complete hoax.
The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
It is important to remember that anyone can publish on the Internet. That makes it especially important to be careful with the information that you obtain from websites. Often it is a good idea to examine print sources as well as nonprint sources. Print sources tend to be higher on the reliability continuum because they are usually checked by editors before they are published, and a publishing company's business often relies on its reputation for reliability; however, this does not guarantee that print sources will be free of bias.
Use a variety of sources from the Student Resources page to gather information about your topic.
BCPS Fee-Based Databases
Destiny
Remember, students, often there are official websites for a particular public figure. In addition, in some cases, there are collective biography sites. For instance, you can got to a collective NBA site and find information on any NBA player. Also, consider visiting the biography reference section of your school library for bound collective biographies.
Sort your research findings. Analyze and categorize your research. Use this Bio Cube, Inspiration, MindMeister, or a hard copy of a Scholastic organizer to classify the information about your subject.
Synthesize your research findings in order to make your digital product. Use one of the following Web 2.0 tools to create a visual presentation about your subject.
Museum Box, MovieMaker, Animoto, Voice Thread, Glogster or create your own original video.
Evaluate your finished product. Prior to presenting your digital creation, look over the Digital Biography Rubric to be sure it meets all of the required criteria.
Be sure to avoid plagiarism and remember to cite your sources.
Presentation: Your teacher will divide your class into groups. Each member of your group will present his/her product to the rest of the students.
Reflection: As other students share their digital presentations, complete the reflection assignment Digital Presentation Review.
Extension Activity:
Your teacher may decide to use one of the following extension activities.
- Participate in a Biography Bash! Each class member will dress up as the famous person they researched and "become" that person for a biography bash event. At the biography bash, each class member will interview at least three other "famous people" class members and record answers to their questions. Need ideas in brainstorming interview questions? Create your own questions in order to conduct the actual interview. Record the answers.
- Participate in a Talk Show. Have one class member act as the talk show host introducing either a panel of famous people or a few selected ones as guests. The rest of the class will act as the audience to provide the questions for the famous person. Here are some ideas in brainstorming interview questions. Create your own questions, too. Then, participate in the talk show by asking one or more of your questions to the guest. Record the answers to your questions.
- Contribute to a blog with a well-developed biography of your subject. Your teacher can begin a free blog on any of the following sites: