Introduction/Overview
Biographies are an account of one's life. I plan to look at biographies of Helen Keller, Theodor Seuss Geisel and Walt Disney. The chronological details will be explored to account for how their interests evolved into great achievements. Each of these individuals contributed to American culture through the enrichment of children's lives. I choose them because of my interest in children, and I want to know why they chose to enrich children as I have. The gifts they have will be used in the unit to facilitate different strategies related to literacy. The gifts I am talking about are characteristics or skills the three individuals possessed to realize their accomplishments. This includes their personalities which helped focus these accomplishments.
Walt for instance is animation and performance. Walt had several difficult experiences before he became successful in animation. Helen triumphed over physical and environmental disadvantages. The lack of her parents knowing how to assist her was difficult. So she started off really as a lost child. Her new journey, with Anne Sullivan as her formal teacher, started at the age of seven, the same age as the students I teach. Theodor's is writing. His writing is special because of the rhythm and rhymes involved. He also experienced failure through the rejection of his peers. His peers and some of his teachers thought he was the least likely to succeed. All of these individuals will fit into the categories my student will recognize. They also have something just as significant as their gifts and that is they all do something with stories. Helen helps the blind with reading. Walt likes to tell through animated pictures stories and Theodor liked writing them. Their love for literature and reading has made it better for children everywhere.
How can you tell a life story and give it a sense of history? We will explore the specific biographies through daily journal entries. This will let the students keep a daily account of their own lives while also practicing grammar skills.
In our classroom, we will explore informational text and expository writing, which are part of biography. This type of writing and reading builds knowledge of the natural and social world; it builds vocabulary and other literary knowledge. Using biography, I want to build an atmosphere of enjoyment for factual information. I want to initiate discussions with the use of queries, such as, what is the author talking about or trying to say? Some of the other literary strategies included in this unit will be segmenting the text (through reading, stopping and discussing), and marking (attention given to important ideas to be discussed), re-voicing and rephrasing of ideas to add clarity to my students thinking, annotating (filling in information not provided in the text), and recapping and summarizing to reinforce main ideas.
In the arts integration section of this unit we will make Braille words on paper and animation flip books. We will also do some Readers Theatre. This grade level loves to do this acting out of stories. The enjoyment of some of Walt Disney's movies will show how animated film has evolved. Art integration is a part of the school's curriculum. This is when you pull significant information about skills that are from an art base such as animation. The use of Braille is another way of learning how to read. Making these things will add more of a tangible connection to Walt and Helen. Theodor's love for writing will be explored in the Readers and Writers Workshop. This section of the unit will blend all of the seriousness of a biography with the fun of what these individuals love to do.
My class is an urban inner city first grade classroom. I teach at an Arts Integration school. Some of my students have some challenges related to academic achievement and environment, so extra interesting activities and creativity always help. I will have a group of thirty students. They have a mandatory 90 minute block of reading and 45 minutes of differentiated instructions daily. The differentiated part involves teaching specific skills related to reading on a particular student's level. Reading involves all the literary components, fluency: writing, speaking, grammar and phonics. And also a 45 minute of Drop Everything and Read is when the students can be read to or read a book of their choice. This will be when the biographies will be read. Each biography will contribute to a part of my student's lives. Walt will contribute technology and art; Helen will show the need to continue their education through a character attribute which we call citizenship. Theodor will contribute to their academics through literacy exploration. He won several awards for his books. I plan to discuss each individual based on the type of accomplishment that addresses my students' needs.
Biography
Biography is the reconstruction in print or film of the lives of real people.
Different Forms of Biography
Some definition of forms of biography follows and will be used in the classroom to explain different ways you may see biography every day. These are the simplest examples of this genre and actually you wouldn't know that you're doing them unless you have taken a course in biography. Some of the ones that we will be using are listed below.
Diary/ Journals
Diary is a form of autobiographical writing, a regularly kept record of the account of one's activities and reflections. Written primarily for the writer's use and has frankness about it. Diary can be written in several different ways. It can be just keeping a record of the daily weather.
This type of writing is an account of day to day events or a record of experiences, ideas or reflections kept regularly for private use. A journal also can include daily situations that pertain to a specific theme.
Narratives
A narrative is a story that is created in a format that goes from a sequence of events. A narrative means to recount. The story and narrative can be synonyms. It is somewhat like an expository paper which informs explains, describes or defines. I will be reading stories to my students using a narrative format.
Media Forms
This form can be through a photographic biography. Helen Keller has one. The story can be told through motion picture or on film. The History Channel, Biography Channel, A&E and History International are all forms of media biographies. The online biographies are not in chronological order they are media sources about an individual events in his or her life. The development of documentaries, docudramas and interviewing has also made shape to today's forms of biography. It makes it easier to access biography.
Biographer's Craft
We will also look at the biographer's craft such as
- Plot change: Look at the conflict in the plot and how it helps with change and growth in the characters. This can be a career change or a move to a different city. I will make reference to this is the changes in Walt Disney's career from driving an American Red Cross truck to writing for a newspaper. In essence it is the order of events in a story.
- Use of dialogue: How is the dialogue used? Is there conversation or just narration. Does the dialogue advance the plot I want to explain that the way a biographer uses his dialogue is unique because some may tell a story and others may draw you in with questions about their subject.
- Sequencing and time: This goes with history and society and how they influence lives. Where and when did the story take place? The use of setting can help the story along and add excitement.
- Inter-textual links between the text and the illustrations: Are pictures part of the story? The three books I have chosen have illustration throughout. If the story is colorful so should the pictures be. My students will use illustration to make inferences about the story.
- Compare and contrast writing styles of the biographers: How are the stories written? Are they alike or different? I plan to use this to ask questions concerning the purpose of the author.
- Characterization: Who are the characters in the biographies and what part do they play? How is the character admirable or how is he despicable?
- Format of the story: In the format of the story the writer can have a passive or active voice. The active voice is more descriptive and alive and it can be heard through narration. It helps that biography come alive. I plan to have an example of each type of writing.
- Point of view: This will help with telling the story and gives the story some direction. This view can be from the writer's view or the individual's view based on moments in their life. Would you have taken a specific incident in the subject's life and written about it or did whole life writing?
These points are important to the teaching of the biography. My students will be looking at them through carefully crafted questions. Learning more about authorship and some of the qualities that accompany it will help in comprehending some of the writing techniques in stories. All of the individuals I have chosen are public figures in America's culture. Each of these individuals represents a social world of their own. This is best stated by Lee in relation to a portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol. It has rows of her head endlessly across it. Relating this to her biography, Lee writes: "a highly appropriate version of her life story: endlessly exposed, instantly recognizable, and unable to communicate anything except what has been constructed for public consumption." This is a picture that describes biography and how biography tells everything about an individual.
The Biographies of this Unit
Helen Keller
Let's talk a little about her background so you have the basic knowledge about her. This is a biography in this unit and this part is to give you prior knowledge. Helen as a young girl is blind and dumb at nineteen months from a rare disease. She worked to improve the lives of the blind and the disabled. Martha Washington, the family cook's daughter, may have been a crucial help because of her friendship at an early age until Helen was 6. Martha and Helen had made 60 homemade signs that she and the family used. Alexander Graham Bell, who discovered the telephone and worked with deaf and blind children, had the opportunity to work with Helen. Helen's parents employed a tutor named Anne Sullivan. Anne taught Helen formally. Helen was an author. She wrote her first book at age 11, "The Frost King." Then at age 22 she wrote The Story of my Life. Helen appeared in many plays, including one which went around the world called Deliverance. She also did some vaudeville acts. She won several awards: The Presidential Medal of Freedom and The National Women's Hall of Fame. She was the first death and blind person to receive a B.A. She has a foundation named Helen Keller International which helps with funding vulnerable people who are blind. She worked very extensively for blind causes. She visited wounded soldiers. She worked for women's causes and the rights of others. She helped found the American Civil Liberties Union. Helen stayed involved with social issues and helped with fostering change. Helen was chosen for this unit to give an example of achievement with obstacles present.
Walt Disney
A very famous man when he died, Walt was an optimistic guy. He was known for seeing the entire picture. He was born in Chicago, Shortly after his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri. He had four siblings. He enjoyed drawing and art. He was selling small sketches of his work at an early age. Instead of doing his school work, Walt would be doodling pictures of animals and nature. He enjoyed trains because he lived so close a train line. He use to build miniature ones, and worked on a train during the summer selling things. In high school, he was on the school paper, and at night he attended the Academy of Fine Arts. Walt came from a farming family in which his father worked very hard, and they had very little money. Walt use to tell stories to his friends and draw on a chalk board as he told them. He also would sneak out of his home and do comical skits. At age sixteen, he tried to join the military and was rejected because of his age. He joined the American Red Cross and went to France. When he came back to the States, he produced short animated films. He had a studio in Kansas named the Laugh-O-Gram Studio. After this he moved to Hollywood, and he and his brother Roy went into business together. He created the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. It was said that his own enthusiasm made it easier for him to believe in himself. He married one of his employees, named Lillian. They had two children. All of the biographies I read stated he enjoyed quiet evenings at home with his family. Then he created Mickey Mouse. While he had made Mickey Mouse, he also made his first silent film Plane Crazy. About three years later, Mickey Mouse made his appearance. He went on to make small films. Five years later he made Snow White and added Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ushered in the animation phase for Walt. His mother died by accident in the home he had just purchased for his parents. This did not deter him but hurt him deeply. He built a studio and hired countless people. This studio helped in WWII with making propaganda films. He went on to make Mary Poppins and opened a park called Disneyland. His accomplishments include 26 Academy Awards and 7 Emmy Awards. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal.
Theodor Seuss Geisel
This person goes by the name of Dr. Seuss. He was born in Massachusetts. He was inspired by his mother's stories. His grandfather was a brew master for the city. His family didn't experience hardship until WWI and Prohibition. He uses the streets of Springfield as a back drop to his pictures. He went to college as a teenager. He was editor for a short time. He also went to England to school. He came home and became a cartoonist and also created advertisements. Then WWII came along he was too old for the draft so he helped with making war training movies. He also had a drawing poster contest that would promote the war. This is where he learned art animation and did animation trainee films. He started writing for Vanity Fair, Life, The Saturday Evening Post and other magazines. His first children's book was rejected 27 times. Ted's first wife died and he married a childhood friend. He wrote 44 children's books that are translated in 15 languages. His books were made into 11 children's TV Specials, one Broadway musical, and one motion picture. He has Academy awards Emmy Awards and the Pulitzer Prize. He was hired originally by a curriculum company to help children read. This gave him his breakthrough as an author. He did books that are considered to be beginner books. He uses poetic meters in his stories along with a well crafted illustration to match the words. He also touched upon social issues with his stories such as The Lorax on environmental issues, How the Grinch Stole Christmas for anti-consumerism and Sneethes on equality. Dr. Seuss books are still used in homes and in the schools.
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life (New York: Pocket, 2005), 3-98
- Whitney Stewart, Who Was Walt Disney? (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 2009), 2-72
- Thomas Fensch, The Man Who Was Dr. Seuss: The Life and Work of Theodor Geisel, (Minneapolis: New Century Books, 2001), 5-87
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