Biography literature unit outlines

Focus Questions: What are the elements of biographies and autobiographies? How are they alike and how are they different?

Part 1

Say, “Today we are going to look at biographies.

What is a biography?” (the story of a person’s life written by someone else)

Assign one short biography for each student or group of students to read.

Biography literature unit outlines

Ask students to make notes about the kinds of information about the person that are included in the biography. Have students discuss their notes with a partner.

As a class, discuss the elements of a biography. Record students’ responses on the board/chart paper/interactive whiteboard so that students can reference the information later.

Key details and events should include the following:

• date and place of birth
• information about family and childhood
• achievements
• major events in his/her life
• why s/he is important

Review text structures that were examined in Lesson L-6-4-1 (cause/effect, compare/contr