Names: Malie Koehler

UH Email: maliesk@hawaii.edu

Semester: Fall Year: 2014

Grade: 5

Lesson Duration: 50 Minutes

Title
Biographies

Lesson Overview

I will explain the qualities and elements that make up a biography. I will have them read
one biography, and write one biography about a famous inventor.
*My mentor teacher wanted to have them write on inventors to touch on history/social
studies as well as literacy*

Central Focus (Enduring Understandings)

Students will learn what a biography is, what elements are in a biography, how to find
information about historical figures, and how to write a biography.

Essential Question(s)
1. What is a biography?
2. What information is included in a biography?
3. What is the importance of a biography?
4. How can we produce a clear and coherent biography?

Content Standard(s)/Benchmark-

Common Core State Standards-

Writing- Research to Build and Present Knowledge

5.W.4- Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization
are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing
types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

5.W.7- Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge
through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
Benchmarks-

Benchmark LA.5.5.2- Use significant details and relevant information to develop

meaning

Benchmark LA.5.5.3- Organize writing to exclude extraneous details and

inconsistencies

Prior Academic Knowledge and Student Assets

Students (5th graders) are familiar with analyzing pieces of literature, and looking for
key points and information. Students are accustomed with using technology to find topic
appropriate research information.
*There are designated, school monitored programs on their computers to insure safe
web searches for in class assignments*

Academic Language Demands

I want students, by the end of the lesson, to be able to understand and define a
biography, the elements within a biography, and to formulate what they find through
research into a clear and concise piece of writing. The ten elements within a biography
they will learn about are name, birth date and place, family members, childhood and
school life, hobbies, interests and activities, anecdotes, career, reason for fame, later
life/old age, and death. Some vocabulary words covered in the lesson and the sample
biography are as follows: anecdotes, biological, tenacity, calligraphy, typography, and
revolutionizing.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

Agenda:
- PowerPoint
- Fill in the Blank Graphic Organizer
- Read Steve Jobs article
- Fill in Steve Jobs Graphic Organizer

- Pick a famous inventor

- Research
- Graphic Organizer
- Write Biography
- Exit Pass/ Homework Review

Teacher will review standard and relate to the importance of biographies.

Part I
 - Teacher will explain biographies and the elements within a biography
(PowerPoint)
- Students will fill out a graphic organizer explaining the components within a
biography
- Class will read a biography together
- Class will identify key elements and input information into another graphic
organizer (as a table group- *elements are pretty straight forward, so they are
well capable of doing all ten, especially as a table group)
Part II
- Students will choose names of famous inventors, and find the key information
about their people (*they have access to class computers and iPads*)
- Students must take the information they found for their inventor and create a
short, one page biography of them *hand-written*
Part III
- Exit Pass: Students must recall as many of the ten elements of a biography as
they can, write in on a card and give it to the teacher
- Homework: Students will interview a parent or family member (fill in another
graphic organizer) to write a biography on them

Assessment:
Formative assessment: Defining a biography (pre-instruction)
Summative assessment/ Exit Pass: Writing the 10 elements of a biography down

**This took longer than expected, so I only got through the first part of instruction and
got permission to complete the rest another day. Because of this, I made a rubric to
assess their work with filling in the information from the biography sample about Steve
Jobs, and also a rubric for the biography they will turn in later.**

Steve Jobs Graphic Organizer Rubric

Grades: 1- WB (33%) 2- DP (50%) 3- MP (83%) 4- ME (100%)

Quality Graphic Graphic Graphic Graphic

organizer left organizer is organizer mostly organizer was
mostly blank, filled with little completed, with filled in
with little to no quality relevant completely
answers information information from
provided the text

Quantity Graphic Graphic Graphic Graphic

organizer is organizer is organizer is organizer is
filled with one lacking three or filled with quality filled with
word answers, more important information, with relevant and
 little to no details about the one or two complete
complete topic details left out information
sentences or about the topic
thoughts

Neatness Graphic Graphic Graphic Graphic

organizer is organizer is organizer is organizer is
illegible and messy with mostly legible and easy
scrambled writing, and organized, with to understand
thoughts are not one or two
easy to words that are
understand and illegible
decipher

Spelling Six or more Three- five One or two All words are
words are words are words are spelled
spelled spelled spelled correctly, with
incorrectly incorrectly incorrectly no errors

Biography Rubric
Grades: 1- WB (33%) 2- DP (50%) 3- MP (83%) 4- ME (100%)

Content Biography has Biography is Biography Biography is

little to no missing several contains most of historically
relevance to pieces of key the elements accurate and
elements elements covered in class relevant to all of
covered in covered in class the 10 elements
class, is covered in class
historically
inaccurate

Grammar Biography Biography Biography Biography

contains six or contains three contains one or contains no
more to five two grammatical grammatical
grammatical grammatical errors errors
errors errors

Neatness Biography is Biography is Biography is Biography is

illegible and messy with mostly legible and easy
 scrambled writing, and organized, with to understand
thoughts are not one or two
easy to words that are
understand and illegible
decipher

Flow Biography is Biography is One or two Biography has

choppy, with slightly choppy, transitions were smooth
little to no with a few left out transitions and
transitions transitional sentences that
sentences relate and build
to/on one
another

Differentiation and Accommodations:

In my Fifth grade class there are a few students who need extra time to process
concepts when posed with a question. To accommodate them in this lesson plan, I will
allow tasks to be completed with small group and technological aid, as well as sufficient
time for processing.

For struggling students: Slow in speaking, repetition, clues and connections are given,
seating with support, provide perfect position in the class, close to the board, constant
communication, peer support, additional assistance

For accelerated students: They will be tasked with continuing on to the next step when
they are ready, and helping their fellow classmates to progress

Materials (optional):

- Biography Packet (Including a Definition Sheet, Graphic Organizers, and

Biography Sample [about Steve Jobs])
- PowerPoint
- iPads/computers

Lesson Plan Reflection:

This lesson was planned pretty last minute, due to pacing changes at my
placement school. So considering that I put this whole thing together in a matter of
about two days, I think it went surprisingly well. My instructional plans went as planned,
except I misjudged how long it would take to complete all of the tasks. I only got through
about half of the lesson today, but I think it worked out okay.
Being in this fifth grade class, I have been learning to be flexible. This skill
definitely paid off during my lesson implementation. About one-third into my lesson time
I realized that I would not have time to cover everything. Acknowledging this, I decided
to split the lesson in half, but dive deeper into the first part of instruction. As an exit
pass, I had the students turn in their graphic organizers to show they they had
understanding of the content being covered.
I have already attained my mentor teacher's permission to implement the second
half of my lesson on another day to complete it. During this second half, I will have them
complete the plan by researching for and writing their own biography about a famous
inventor, which was actually my mentor teacher's suggestion. She wanted to include
multiple subjects into the lesson to “kill two birds with one stone.”
For future lessons, I will need to work on adjusting the content according to the
time allotted. Although, I would like to point out that the time slots allowed for each
period are about double the time limit required for this lesson. So if this were actually my
class, the lesson I designed would have fit perfectly to the period.
After meeting with my field supervisor, I felt a little bit more confident about what I
had just done. She provided some really good feedback ad reassurance about
techniques I had incorporated into my lesson, including positive language and
encouragement, promoting thinking, and classroom management skills. She applauded
me for having done this on such short notice, as well as providing me with a few
suggestions to improve. Aside from condensing content to fit time limits, she suggested
that I include more group involvement, more shared reading, more movement around
the class, and more time devoted to vocabulary. I found this amusing, because these
are things I normally incorporate when I implement my lessons, but I think that since I
the lesson was last minute, I was more nervous than usual, and forogt to include some
things.
Overall, I think the lesson panned out nicely. There were a few bumps, but I feel
like I dealt with them as well as I could have. Breaking the lesson plan up into to more
than one segment of instructional time seems like a beneficial thing to do. There was a
lot of information in my lesson, and breaking it up allows for greater understanding,
because they are allowed more time for the concepts to instill. I will work on choosing
and deigning lessons more appropriate to the time limits provided.