About the Biography Essay:16
To a degree, the biography essay, like the process essay, allows a student to concentrate more on the content of the essay than the structure because the story of a person’s life is usually done in historical sequence and demarcations usually correspond to the stages of that person’s life, such as infancy, childhood, etc.
However, what makes this biography essay assignment challenging is the fact that each student is required to write a biography on a living person he or she admires after gathering information in an interview of that person.
Introducing the Biography Essay:
| Prior to the first DESK Program session in this unit, the classroom teacher Joey Nipper informed the students that they would each be interviewing and then writing a biography of a person they admired. |
- At the beginning of the first session, ask the students if they know what a biography is. If they reply in the affirmative, have them offer working definitions. If they reply in the negative, supply a simple definition.
- Ask the students how many have read a biography and ask several students to tell the class what they have read.
- Then ask the class, somewhat rhetorically, how many have written a biography.
- Continue by explaining that since they would each be writing about a person’s life, they have to stop to consider how lives “happen.”
- After drawing a long horizontal line on the board, ask the class what is the first event of a person’s life.
- When you have received a similar answer, write “Birth” below the left end of the line and proceed to ask, “What’s next?” Continue until what becomes a life time line is complete:
- With the life stages under the time line, ask the class what kind of questions they would ask someone regarding their birth. As the students give suggestions, write these down on the board under the word “Born.”
- Continue through several of the life stages.
- Conclude by informing the class that while these are rather general questions, they offer an idea of what kind of questions they will use in their interviews.
| To challenge their thinking, I told the class that when I introduce the idea of biography in my college classes, I always explain that the word “biography” originated from two Greek words and put the following on the board: |
| The students chuckled at the simplicity of the question and several students answered, "A person is born." |
Considering Questions:
|
Some of the questions were:
When were you born?
|
- Students should be given a few days to consider their biographical subjects and asked to complete the “Starting the Biography”17 sheet as a homework assignment.
| To help the students prepare for their interviews, Mr. Nipper conducted and videotaped a mock interview with a student who was not a member of the class. You can create your own videotape and with your own transcript or conduct a videotaped interview using our transcript as a script. Even without a videotaped mock interview, studying our transcript will be helpful. |
- Prior to viewing the videotape, give the students a list of the original questions and then a transcript of the interview .18
- Point out that during the interview additional questions were asked. Call these “detour” questions and explain that these questions will probably occur to them quite naturally during their interviews.
- Also explain that in the far right column of the transcript are the answers written in the form of notes quickly jotted down during the interview.
Conducting the Interview:
- Since the students’ interviews might be conducted at different times during the next few weeks, at this point etiquette and procedural suggestions for conducting interviews should be discussed. Present the checklists “Before the Interview”, “During the Interview” , and “After the Interview” on the overhead projector and discuss in class.
- If time allows, a mock interview can be held during class to illustrate the “During the Interview” suggestions.
- After this discussion, give each student copies of these three checklists.
From Interview to Essay:
“From Interview to Essay” presents five steps and checklists that the students are to follow to transform their interview notes into biography essays. While a brief overview of the all the steps was done in one session, not all of these steps were done during one DESK Program session.
Depending on time constraints, class size and the skill level of the class, these activities can be done during DESK Program sessions, during regular class time, as assigned homework, or in any combination. However, I suggest that prior to doing or assigning any step that specific checklist should be reviewed with the entire class and then distributed for individual use.
Since the checklists themselves are self-explanatory of what was done, below I offer only additional explanations and suggestions.
Step 1: Reviewing Notes:
- Here stress that since their notes will be very abbreviated and not grammatical, they should to be edited very soon after their interviews.
Step 3: Turning Notes into Sentences:
- While more advanced students might be able to skip this step and begin writing the essay from their notes, you may use the transcript from the mock interview (this one or your own) to illustrate how notes lead to sentences. In the section (“Turning Notes into Sentences”), the transcript is presented and the sentences are placed in text boxes.
Step 4: Reordering and Grouping Paragraphs and Reordering Answers:
- Although students might reorder and group of their interview answers whether they are in note or sentence form equally well, you can present this step with two overhead transparencies, again drawing from the videotaped mock interview and its transcript. See “Reordering Answers” and “Grouping Answers ” .
Step 5: Turning Notes (or Sentences) into Paragraphs:
- Although most students will not complete steps 4 and 5 during the same class period, presenting the checklists for both these steps on the overhead projector and discussing them together will give students a clearer vision of how they are moving toward the final product, the first draft of their biography essay.
- Here reviewing all the mock interview pages at one time might be effective in preventing students from feeling “bogged down” with individual tasks and give them a sense of their progress toward completed biographies.
Completing the Biography Essay:
- Several subsequent class periods can be spent revising and editing
the biography essays.
Since the students seemed to exhibit a tendency to merely record dry facts, we especially encouraged the students to be vivid and detailed in their writing. During these sessions, Mr. Nipper and I frequently worked one-on-one with students as they worked at their desks or at computer terminals. Occasionally, we put students in pairs or small groups to work on revision and editing.
- When the essays are complete, give each student a final copy of every other student’s essay.
- Where were you born?
- How many siblings to you have?
Is Richie older or younger?
- Were your parents strict with you?
How were they strict?
- What do your parents do for a living?
Did you ever want to work at the Post Office, too? What about now?
- Did you ever fight with your siblings?
What did you argue about?
- How do you view your childhood?
mischievous - Unified: Be sure to use a clear topic sentence at the beginning which expresses the main point of that paragraph.
- Developed: Be sure to use enough detail and examples to “show” your ideas.
- Coherent: Be sure that the ideas of your sentences “flow,” that they smoothly and logically follow one another.
- Ryan was born in New Orleans.
- He has one older brother who is 20 years old. Ryan is 17 years old.
- Ryan feels that his parents were strict with him. For example, if he was bad his parents would make him stay home.
- When Ryan was a child, Ryan’s father worked the night shift at the Post Office, and his mother was a housewife. Ryan wanted to work at the Post Office when he was little, but now he is not so sure.
- Ryan and his brother Richie didn’t fight seriously when they were little. However, they did argue especially if they wanted the same toy.
- Overall, Ryan enjoyed his childhood, even though he thought he was rather mischievous. He was a curious boy and asked a lot of questions, especially when they traveled together on vacations. Since his parents were both deaf and signed ASL, they answered his questions.
- Ryan was born in New Orleans.
- He has one older brother who is 20 years old. Ryan is 17 years old.
- When Ryan was a child, Ryan’s father worked the night shift at the Post Office, and his mother was a housewife. Ryan wanted to work at the Post Office when he was little, but now he is not so sure.
- Ryan feels that his parents were strict with him. For example, if he was bad his parents would make him stay home.
- Ryan and his brother Richie didn’t fight seriously when they were little. However, they did argue especially if they wanted the same toy.
- He was a curious boy and asked a lot of questions, especially when they traveled together on vacations. Since his parents were both deaf and signed ASL, they answered his questions.
| Biography Assignment | Your Name _________________________ Today’s Date________________________ |
Whom do I admire? (Type the person’s full name here.)
Why do I admire this person? (Type your paragraph here.)
Interview Questions: (Type each question here, numbering each one as
you go.)
|
Original Questions + “Detour” Questions
|
Answer Notes
New Orleans
One, Richie
20 (Ryan 17)
yes, strict
had to stay home if bad
Dad post office night shift
when litle, Ryan wanted to, but now he not sure
not fight seriously, just argue
argue about things they wanted same things
he thought himself
enjoy childhood |
Before the Interview 
Make an appointment with the person you are going to interview that
is convenient for him or her.
Dress nicely for the interview.
Be on time for the interview, even early.
Before the interview starts, thank the person you are interviewing
for taking the time out of his day to let you do the interview.
During the Interview Be pleasant, but purposeful. You are there to get information,
so don’t be timid about asking questions.
Use the list of questions you have prepared.
Let your interview subject do the talking. Don’t try to impress
him or her with your own knowledge or accomplishments.
Be objective. Don’t offer your opinion on the subject.
Some answers prompt additional questions: ask them. If you do
not ask these questions as they arise, you may forget them.
Be flexible. Don’t be afraid to take “detours” in the interview.
However, if the interview subject gets too for off the subject, be
ready with a specific and direct question to get her back on track.
Take only memory jogging notes that will help you recall the conversation later. Unless you are a very good note taker, you probably won’t
be able to get down every word.
For the most part, do not ask your interview subject to slow down
as this imposes on her time and may make her lose the train of thought.
A few times during the interview, you may want to ask the interview
subject to repeat an especially good quote that you want to get word-for-word.
This is a compliment to the interview subject, but don’t overdo it.
After the Interview Before you leave the interview, be sure to thank the interview subject.
Ask your interview subject if he or she wants to see a rough draft
of your paper and/or the final copy.
Immediately after the interview, use your memory jogging notes to
help you review and record more detailed notes. Don’t put this off!
No matter how good your memory is you will forget.
Within a few days after the interview, write a handwritten thank-you
note to your interview subject.
If your interview subject has requested seeing your draft, don’t forget
to get it to her. Be sure to allow time for her to review it in advance
of the essay deadline.
From Interview to Essay Read through each question and the notes you took for each answer.
If the notes are especially unclear in any place, edit them to make
them clear. Do not take time now to write complete sentences or to
fix spelling and grammar.
Mark off and label the major sections.
Do this by making bold lines between the sections and labeling them
with words such as “Childhood,” “Teenage Years,” etc.
Rewrite your notes into complete sentences.
Don’t worry too much about grammar and spelling at this point.
Don’t worry at all about make the sentences “flow” from one to another.
Take one major section at a time.
You may want to copy this document to a new document and delete the
questions so you are just reading the answers either in sentences or in
note form.
Reread (questions and) answers and see if a few seem to “go together.”
You can indicate this by putting additional spaces between groups on your
computer screen or drawing lines if you have the answers printed out.
Decide if the order of the answers needs to be changed. You
can do this by cutting and pasting on your computer or using arrows on
paper.
Keep in mind that soon these sentences or notes will be paragraphs.
Write your groups of answers (sentences or notes) in paragraph form.
Do this rather quickly; don’t worry about errors at this point.
When you are done, take each paragraph at a time and check it to be
sure it is:
Step 3
| QUESTION 1. Where were you born? |
ANSWER
New Orleans |
|
2. How many siblings to you have? Is Richie older or younger? |
One, Richie
20 (Ryan 17) |
| 3. Were your parents strict with you?
How were they strict? | yes strict had to stay home if bad |
| Ryan feels that his parents were strict with him. For example, if he was bad his parents would make him stay home. |
| 4. What do your parents do for a living?
Did you ever want to work at the Post Office, too? What about now? |
Dad post office night shift
Mom housewife when little, Ryan wanted to post office too, but now he not sure |
| Ryan wanted to work at the Post Office when he was little, but now he is not so sure. |
| 5. Did you ever fight with your siblings?
What did you argue about? | not fight seriously, just argue
argue about things they wanted same things |
| Ryan and his brother Richie didn’t fight seriously when they were little. However, they did argue especially if they wanted the same toy. |
| 6. How do you view your childhood? | he thought himself mischievous enjoyed childhood curious asked questions parents deaf signed ASL and travel with family |
| Overall, Ryan enjoyed his childhood, even though he thought he was rather mischievous. He was a curious boy and asked a lot of questions, especially when they traveled together on vacations. Since his parents were both deaf and signed ASL, they answered his questions. |
Step 4
Step 4
Step 5
Ryan was born in New Orleans. He has one older brother who is 20 years old. Ryan is 17 years old. When Ryan was a child, Ryan’s father worked the night shift at the Post Office, and his mother was a housewife. Ryan wanted to work at the Post Office when he was little, but now he is not so sure.
Ryan feels that his parents were strict with him. For example, if he was bad his parents would make him stay home. Ryan and his brother Richie didn’t fight seriously when they were little. However, they did argue especially if they wanted the same toy.
Overall, Ryan enjoyed his childhood, even though he thought he was rather mischievous. He was a curious boy and asked a lot of questions, especially when they traveled together on vacations. Since his parents were both deaf and signed ASL, they answered his questions.
16 I must give full credit to Joey Nipper whose idea it was to assign the biography essay with the interview component.
17Joey Nipper created this sheet for his students.
18While this interview, or similar one, could be videotaped, this transcript could be reproduced on an overhead transparency and discussed without the video. It would also be effective to have two students, or a teacher and student, re-enact the interview before the class.
