Biographical Interviews

Objective: SWBAT collect viable accurate data from three different sources, book, Internet, and encyclopedia, to support a 6 to 12 paragraph biographical essay.

1. Students will select a biographical subject from a predetermined list or from their own research on Biography.com.
2. Using a teacher created gathering grid the student will collect data for four stages of a subject's life: birth and childhood; young adulthood; the event that made them famous; their daeth or what they are doing today. Citations wil also be collected to form a Bibliography.
3. With the data collected, the student will begin to build their essay via word processor, using the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing as a guide. SmartBoard or ELMO lesson can accompany the pre-write as a live model of the writing - a changing, edited in concert, piece that will evolve with the students work.
4. Vivid verbs and adjectives, enriched vocabulary, and varied sentence structure, as well as at least one quote that sums up the life of the subject must be included.
5. A rubric will be used for scoring, detailing all the attrbutes of each grade, so that the student has a benchmark against wich to measure their work - striving for excellence.
6. Peer reviews are an essential piece of the project, as is revision and editing.
7. The bibliography will be clearly completed in APA style - with a teacher created guide as a model.
8. Completed essays, reseach grid, and rough drafts will be turned in for assessment on each level.
9. While the assessment is being completed, the student will choose a partner to play the interviewer, and write a set of open ended questions that will allow them an informative and exciting interview of no more than 2 minutes.
10. The student will rehearse with the interviewer and a timer to polish their performance.
11. Interviews will be recorded via the FLIP camera with the interviewee in costume - as elaborate or as demure as chosen by the student. Creativity is key here - gender leaps do not matter if the essence of the subject is contained within the performance and data.
12. Recorded interviews will be viewed by the class, e-mailed to their parents and the VIP's of the school community - creating a widly published biographical piece.