Autobiography/ Biography

          An autobiography is a story about a person’s life written by that person. A biography is a story about a person’s life written by someone else.  Autobiographies and biographies serve as role models for students. These texts teach students about important people in our history. It gives students insight on how this person became famous. The first criterion I look at when selecting an autobiography/ biography is appropriateness. Making sure the person being discussed in the text is appropriate for the grade level. The text meets the learning goals that are set for your classroom. The second criterion I look for when selecting a autobiography/ biography is text features. The text includes different fonts to highlight key concepts of the text. Illustrations in the text correlate directly with what the text is talking about. The text has sidebars of information to help build the students prior knowledge.

          I will incorporate these texts into my classroom when discussing famous people in history. I will also have a wide range of these texts in my classroom library. Autobiographies and biographies can have a major influence on student’s lives. Exposing children to these texts will give them good role models to follow in the future and gives students motivation to follow their dreams. I will use autobiographies and biographies in my classroom for shared reading and read aloud. I will also have a wide variety of these text available in my classroom library for students to refer to on their own time.

Zeldis, Y., & Weber, J. (2005). Who was john f. kennedy? New York:. Grosset & Dunlap

Grade level in which text is considered “complex”

• Fourth grade

Grade level for class read-aloud

•  Third grade

 Who was JFK? This text discusses John's childhood and college years. It also talks about how he was a war hero and how he became president. This text is a short chapter book that would work great for students who are just starting to read chapter books. The illustrations correlate very well with text. The illustrations help visual learners understand what the text is talking about.  Important documents such as the Declaration of Independence is mentioned in the text. The documents are broken down into kid friendly terms. This helps students build prior knowledge and get a good understanding of the text. Students may need some assistance with complex vocabulary terms.  

Martin, J.,& Azarian, M. (1998). Snowflake bentley. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 

Grade level in which text is considered “complex”

• Third grade

Grade level for class read-aloud

• Second  grade

This text talks about how photography has evolved over the years.    Snowflake Bentley discusses winter and how each snowflake is unique in its own way. The author included history sidebars throughout the book. If students did not have prior knowledge about some of the facts the side bar helps students make the connections. This book has also received the Caldecott Medal and would be a great text to incorporate into your classroom library. Students should also make connections of how much camera’s have evolved over the years. I feel that students will not need assistance when reading this text.