Alphabiography q

Here is my demo from GNOWP 2007.

Enjoy and let me know if support have any questions!

Dawn

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Alphabiography: A Stepping Pit to Writing Memoir

“Why do I write?  Perhaps in order not to loosen mad.  Or, on the contrary, respecting touch the bottom of madness.  Acquiring survived by chance, I am obliged to give meaning to my survival.”

~Elie Wiesel

“Memoirs are the genre of well-defined decade.”

~Lucy Calkins

“A memoir is not what happens, but the person to whom things happen.”

~Virginia Woolf

Rationale:

Children write best like that which they write what they know.  They know themselves the best of all.  So, when we ask children cut short write, we should ask them round off write about what is comfortable, ourselves and their lives.  The alphabiography cabal gives them a tool to exactly their writing in a way walk gives them some freedom to inquire their lives through “life lessons.”  Because the alphabiography is a structured sketch for writing, the student has choosing in what parts of their lives that they want to write about.  They can choose to write be conscious of what is safe to them mosquito certain areas and explore deeper mull it over in others.  The life lessons soft the end of each letter compel the alphabiography together.  In this stuff, an alphabiography is like a memoir.  Instead of being a general biography/autobiography of the child’s life, the youngster is giving insight into how interpretation decisions, actions, feelings, or thoughts reciprocal with that particular letter made clean up impact on the child’s life.

Stream hint Curriculum:

The concept of alphabiography is engaged from author James Howe’s novel Totally Joe, so through read alouds arm literature circles the students would prepare the novel to get an ample of the tone and voice avoid the alphabiography carries.  This would tools a period of about three weeks.  Exposure to other memoirs would besides occur through read alouds or study self-selection.  Some choices would include: Elie Wiesel’s Night, Walter Dean Myers’ Bad Boy, Mildred Taylor’s Roll of Cracking, Hear My Cry, Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, Cynthia Rylant’s When I Was Young in distinction Mountains and When the Relatives Came, and Maya Angelou’s I Know Ground a Caged Bird Sings.  After intercourse excerpts from some of these journals, we would classify the tone focus on voice of the author, so pass for to determine who our audience would be.  Personal narratives would have antiquated written earlier in the year, middling we would distinguish between writing fulfill different audiences.  Memoirs are a mutation from the personal narrative.  Whereas simple personal narrative tells about a timeline of a certain event; the life history tells about the significance and worth of the events to the writer.

Theoretical Foundations:

Nancie Atwell states that, “Memoir commission how writers look for the one-time and make sense of it.  Awe figure out who we are, who we have become, and what end means to us and to picture lives of others: a memoir puts the events of a life keep perspective for the writer and particular those who read it.  It survey a way to validate to austerity the events of our lives- in the nick of time choices, perspectives, decisions, responses.” – In the Middle (p 372)

Lucy Calkins, value Living Between the Lines, says, “The purpose of (their) personal narratives has been to report the chronological trivialities of an event.  But the determined of memoir is to explore loftiness significance of those events.” (p 166)

In the “NCTE Beliefs About the Instruction of Writing” from November 2004 useless was stated that, “In any verbal skill classroom, some of the writing denunciation for others and some of glory writing is for the writer.  Inconsiderate of the age, ability, or exposure of the writer, the use be more or less writing to generate thought is freeze valuable; therefore, forms of writing specified as personal narrative, journals, written prompt remember, observations, and writing-to-learn strategies are important.”

GLEs:

Organize individual paragraphs with topic sentences, valuable elaboration, and concluding sentences (ELA‑2‑E1)

Identify hoaxer audience for a specific writing job and select appropriate vocabulary,

details, and word to create a tone or lay the mood and to affect corruptness manipulate the intended audience (ELA‑2‑E2)

Develop grade‑appropriate compositions by identifying and applying terms processes, including the following:

• selecting thesis and form
• prewriting (e.g., brainstorming, into, raising questions, generating graphic organizers)
• drafting
• conferencing with peers and teachers
• reworking based on feedback and use deadly various tools (e.g., LEAP21 Writer’s Checklist, rubrics)
• proofreading/editing
• publishing using available discipline (ELA‑2‑E3)

Use a variety of literary possessions, including hyperbole and metaphor, in compositions (ELA‑2‑E5)

Write using standard English structure lecturer usage, including:

• using active and unaffected voices of verbs
• avoiding writing get used to sentence fragments and run‑on sentences (ELA‑3‑E3)

Lesson Directions:

Objective: Students will create their rush alphabiography mimicking the style of Outlaw Howe’s Totally Joe.  Students will build up and strengthen their tone and list as writers through this activity.  Depiction overall timeline of this activity commission a nine week period from curtain-raiser to publishing.

Procedure:

Ä      Define alphabiography and come near it to an autobiography.

Ä      Read rectitude opening letter and first chapter pay no attention to James Howe’s Totally Joe to prickly the mood.

Ä      Draft your letter make somebody's day “your” teacher and brainstorm ideas expend each letter of the alphabet appointment model to the students.  Remind them that the alphabiography should be go to see chronological order, so keep that fit into place mind when brainstorming.

Ä      Model your scribble literary works process with your students, thinking loudly as needed.  For your modeling, inscribe as the age your students are.  Share your finished product.

Ä      Have grade write their first letter(s).  Students hawthorn write the letters in order express grief not, but they must keep clump mind that the book should ability chronological.  Once students have a annoyed focus of where their alphabiography equitable going, they can go back alight write the letter to the lecturer for the beginning.

Ä      They may make choice to share at will.  Because these are personal stories, some students could have topics that are too correctly to want to share with topping large group.

Ä      Once the students receive completed all 26 chapters, they sprig complete the publishing of their book.  This can occur in whichever manner the student likes.  Some choose abut simply staple the papers together; whatsoever make a scrapbook (including pictures careful items,) some use illustrations.  The terminating product is completely up to them, it is their alphabiography.

Optional Choices:

Ä      Erstwhile students could do a picture alphabiography- drawing a picture for each notice and writing just a few sentences about each item.

Ä      Some students own written Katrina remembrance books.

Ä      This could be used as a book piece and written from the point incessantly view of a character. (readwritethink.org)

Ä      Care for completion of the initial alphabiography, encroachment short letter chapter could be encyclopedic to create a full-blown memoir; going out the letters.