Writing Lesson Plan


Writing Biographies

Background:


This lesson plan is for an intermediate level ESL writing class (ELC level 4). They are studying how to write biographies. In the previous lesson, the class watched a video,"The Prodigal Son", and wrote an outline of events.

Terminal Objective:

Students will write a cohesive biography of a classmate. The biography will include good flow of events and enough supporting details to make the biography interesting to other readers.

Enabling Objectives:


Students will add details to a general biographical outline, and then write a cohesive paragraph using the details.

Materials:

Procedures:

(Evaluation): NOTE: During all of the practice activities, the teacher should circulate, observe, and evaluate students' understanding by the quality of their work. Student input during the presentation stages will let the teacher know if student understanding is sufficient to work on their own.

Warm-up:

(3 min.) Write"prodigal" on the board. Ask students what they think it means after watching the video. You might have to stimulate the discussion by talking about some of the events that happened and reminding them that Tom was the prodigal son. Give the class Webster's definition: 1) wastefully or recklessly extravagant. 2) a person who spends money or uses resources with wasteful extravagance. (usu. followed by of or with, prodigal with money, prodigal with resources, prodigal with food, cars, clothes, ) Apply the word to students' lives by asking questions such as,"Does this word describe anyone you know? a country? a company?"

Practice:


(5 min.) Pair students up and have them share their outlines with each other. They should look at and compare the major headings in their outlines. Using both outlines, have students find the main time periods in Tom's life.

Presentation:

(15 min.) Create a chronological outline of Tom's life on the board. Use student suggestions. Focus only on major time periods and write them down as main headings. Leave space to write in details under the major headings later. Lead into adding details by asking a few questions like the following: How interesting would Tom's biography be if we wrote it from this outline? Is a general outline good enough to write from? What more does it need? Why include details? What do details add for the reader? What details can we add to this outline to make it more interesting? (See below for an example outline of Tom"s life.)

Practice:

(10 min.) Beginning with the first major heading, add details to the first part of outline on the board using student suggestions.

For the next 10 min. group students into pairs. Have them finish detailing their outline. Emphasize the point that the more details they can write down now, the more interesting their biographies can be when they write later.

If time permits: 5 min. have students trade partners, compare the details in each outline, and add more to their own outline.

Presentation


(5 min.) Modeling for students on the board, use major period titles to write a topic sentence. Then use details to add supporting sentences. Write the first paragraph yourself to demonstrate the process. Then write an additional paragraph using student-generated sentences. (See example paragraphs below)

Practice:

(15 min) Have students write a paragraph with a topic sentence and details from a main heading in their outline. Have students share their paragraph with another student, offer suggestions, and see what they would change about their own paragraph. Then have them make the changes.

Extra-class Work


Add details to the outline of your classmate's biography you are writing.

Reference Outline:

TOM'S LIFE
A. School years


B. Separation from familyC. Success & the fast life
D. Addictions & Depression
E. Rehabilitation
F. Coming Home
G. New Life

Example paragraphs:

In high school, Tom was very popular. He was a fast talker and was good at telling stories that were easily believable. The school speech team liked him because he won many contests. Tom's stories were so believable that he often lied to avoid trouble. At these early years, Tom began to use drugs and alcohol. Drugs and alcohol often separate people from their families and Tom soon left his family. When he left, he took a large sum of money from his family. Then he moved far away.