Students will study the components of autobiography and biography in this lesson. At the end of the lesson, students are able to: 
- Identify the details that autobiographies and biographies include. 
- Determine the textual structure found in autobiographies and biographies, then explain its usage. 
- Compare and contrast how point of view and text organization are used in autobiographies and biographies.

- How can readers decide which information from what they hear, read, and see to believe? 
- How do literary and informational texts become meaningful to strategic readers?

- Author’s Purpose: The author intends to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people, or to persuade or convince the audience to do or not do something. 
- Autobiography: The story of a person’s life written by himself or herself. 
- Biography: The story of a person’s life written by someone other than the subject of the work. 
- Point of View: The perspective from which a story is told or information is presented. 
- First Person: The “first-person” or “personal” point of view relates events as they are perceived by a single character. This character “tells” the story and may offer opinions about the actions and characters that differ from those of the author. 
- Third Person: A perspective in literature, the “third-person” point of view presents the events of the story from outside of any single character’s perception, much like the omniscient point of view, but the reader must understand the action as it takes place and without any special insight into characters’ minds or motivations. 
- Text Structure: The author’s method of organizing a text.

- Biography/Autobiography Graphic Organizer (L-6-4-3_Biography Autobiography Graphic Organizer)
- The following high-interest biographies at various reading levels are appropriate for this lesson and may correlate with other parts of your curriculum. Teachers may substitute other books or materials to provide a range of reading and level of text complexity.
+ Wil Mara. (2004). Henry Ford (Rookie Biographies). Children’s Press, 2004.
+ Amelia Earhart (Graphic Biography). (2008). Saddleback Educational Publishing.
+ David A. Adler. (1993). A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman. Holiday House Inc.
+ David A. Adler and Michael S. Adler. (2010). A Picture Book of Harry Houdini. Holiday House Inc.
- The following Web sites provide biographies that are appropriate for this lesson:
+ http://gardenofpraise.com/leaders.htm
+ http://www.pitara.com/magazine/people.asp
- Jerry Spinelli. (1998). Knots in My Yo-yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid. Alfred A. Knopf. 
Additional examples include the following:
+ R.L. Stine. (1998). It Came From Ohio! My Life as a Writer. Scholastic Paperbacks.
+ Bill Peet. (1994). Bill Peet: An Autobiography. Sandpiper.
+ Sid Fleischman. (1996). The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer’s Life. Greenwillow Books.

- This lesson aims to reinforce the knowledge that students have about the components of autobiography and biography. 
- Observe students as they converse with partners to gauge their understanding of the material. Assess pupils' proficiency in the following areas: 
+ Determine the components of autobiography and biography. 
+ Examine the parallels and discrepancies between autobiography and biography. 
+ Determine the textual organization used by authors in autobiographies and biographies, and then explain your choice.

Explicit instruction, active engagement, and scaffolding
W: Assist students in analyzing autobiographies and biographies and drawing comparisons and contrasts between the genre's components. 
H: Assign students to read biographies to learn the details that are typically included. Assist students in filling out a graphic organizer in groups. 
E: Assist pupils in identifying the parallels and divergences between autobiographies and biographies. 
R: Give students the chance to write autobiographical and biographical texts to show that they understand. 
E: Observe students to assess their comprehension of biographies and autobiographies. 
T: Assign students to flexible groups according to their instructional reading levels, and include extension activities for every level by recommending materials for additional practice and more challenging materials to push thinking to new high levels. 
O: This lesson's learning exercises include large-group instruction and discussion, small-group inquiry, partner work, and individual application of the material. 

What elements are present in biographies and autobiographies? What similarities and differences do they have?

Part I

"Today, we're going to look at biographies," you say. "What is a biography?" (a life narrative penned by a third party)

Give each student, or group of students, a brief biography to read. Have students take notes on the types of details about the subject that are covered in the biography. Encourage pupils to talk with a partner about their notes.

Discuss the components of a biography as a class. So that students can refer to the information later and record the student's responses on the interactive whiteboard, chart paper, or board. The following key details and events should be included:

the place and date of birth
details regarding the family and childhood
accomplishments
pivotal moments in his or her life.
why he or she is significant
Go over the text structures that were covered in Lesson L-6-4-1 again. (cause and effect, contrast and comparison, order, question and answer, problem and solution). Ask, "What kind of text structure is typically employed in biographies?" (Ordered)  Make them look for evidence that the biography is presented in chronological order. Ask, "What is the purpose of the author's use of sequence in a biography?" (to narrate a person's life events chronologically)

Discuss the use of point of view in a biography. Help students understand that third-person narratives are used when writing biographies. Ask students to provide examples of the third-person point of view—such as the usage of the pronouns "he," "she," or "they"—from the biography they read.

Assign pupils to swap biographies with readers of other biographies. Give the students the updated biography to read and have them complete the L-6-4-3_Biography Autobiography Graphic Organizer. Have students compare their responses after that and edit if needed.

Part 2

"What exactly is an autobiography?" ask students. (the life narrative penned by someone else)

Read aloud a brief autobiography or a section from a longer one, like My Yo-yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid. Ask, "What distinguishes a biography from an autobiography?" (First person is used when writing an autobiography.) Ask students to provide reading-related evidence (such as the usage of the pronouns "I" or "we") to back up their responses. Help students understand how an autobiography's first-person perspective allows readers to comprehend the narrator's feelings about the events that have occurred. Ask them to look through the autobiography for proof of this.

Using the Biography/Autobiography Graphic Organizer (L-6-4-3_Biography Autobiography Graphic Organizer), assign students to work in pairs or small groups to read an autobiography.

Talk about the commonalities between autobiographies and biographies. (Both contain the same types of data, including dates, details about early life and family, accomplishments, and significant occasions.) Assist students in realizing that both make use of the same sequential text structure.

Extension:

If students require more practice distinguishing between autobiographies and biographies, offer scaffolding questions like "Is the book written from the first-person or third-person point of view?"

Students can engage in any of the following activities if they require more learning opportunities:

Collaborate in groups of two or three to determine the components of a biography found in a book from the materials list or in another biography located in the classroom library. Mark the book's components with sticky notes or highlighter tape.
Utilize the biography/autobiography graphic organizer to learn more about the life experiences of your classmates. Next, using the information provided, compose a brief biography of your classmate.
If students are willing to go above and beyond the requirements, they can engage in any of the following:

Use the Biography/Autobiography Graphic Organizer to compile and arrange the information for a biography you write about a well-known person.
Utilizing the biography/autobiography graphic organizer to compile and arrange the material, write an autobiography.