In the last couple weeks, we have started an extensive topic investigation on inventors and inventions.  In Writer’s Workshop, we are supporting this learning with a study of biographies and how to write them.

Many children love to read about fantasy and adventure, but they also love to read about real heroes, places and events. True stories can be very inspiring and can offer students  many benefits. Not only do they provide some of the most valuable lessons in life, but nonfiction-based reading also provides students with important background knowledge that can help them with all school subjects.  Who can dispute the value of a good story? Though students may initially view them as dull, biographies are the stuff that great classroom activities are made of — history, honesty, and heroism.  As a teacher, biographies allow me to capitalize on students’ natural interest in other people’s lives.  In fact, in striving to promote good character, I should  put before my second graders, humans who have struggled and endured, humans whose actions demonstrate nobility, integrity, courage, and compassion. By learning about such individuals, students may learn that they are not alone, that others who have gone before them have found ways of coping, of overcoming hardship, of responding to difficult situations in  constructive ways.  This is truly what biographies are all about!

Biographies bring into focus not only positive attitudes and attributes, but also human mistakes and flaws. We study common character traits  important people of history share.  In so doing, students can monitor their own character traits, reflect on their own choices, and consciously better their responses to various situations.

In studying biographies, students are led to ask, “Who influenced and/or inspired this person?  Why did they become the person they are?  What drove them to accomplish what they did?” Encouraging children to ask, and answer for themselves, such questions is the ultimate goal of educating the “whole” child.  Biographies can help us reach this goal. A worthy life makes for the most compelling of stories. It illustrates that we humans are the sum of our choices, that we each have the power to shape our own destiny.

There are several benefits in teaching biographies.  They are about real people.  Because of this, my students can make connections with their own life experiences.  They can use these connections to help them problem solve their own struggles and frustrations.  Biographies allow history to come alive.  When students read through the eyes of a historical person about adventures and challenges that they have endured, they are truly captivated.

As you and your child are searching for that “just right” book, investigate the options of biographies.  They are truly great story telling!

We created graphic organizers to keep our research organized.

We snacked on Biography Stew to keep our brains thinking.  Every activity is better with food:)

To keep our biography supplies together, we each had special bags.

We are excited to share our finished product!