How to Write an Autobiography for Kids and Teachers
Writing an autobiography provides an excellent exercise for students. Autobiographies help teach essay writing skills while forcing students to think about what they want in the future. If you are a teacher at a kindergarten, elementary, middle or high school, guide your students through an autobiography exercise. If students are in middle or high school, you may wish to provide less instruction to force students to determine how they wish to structure their essay.
Instructions
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Guide students through the pre-writing activity of creating a life map. Have students write down where they were born, where they have lived, where they went to school thus far and all of the members of their family. If desired, have students draw pictures representing these places and people.
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Ask students to brainstorm where they wish to go to college and what career they wish to pursue after college. Have them write these things in a list or fill out a questionnaire.
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Work through an outline with students. Write a bullet for each potential paragraph of the autobiography, such as a bullet for where you you born and a bullet for where you went to kindergarten. After each bullet, have students list several facts or points, such as "I went to kindergarten in New York City" and "My teacher was Mrs. Jones." Keep the outline focused on the past, present and future, in that order. Allow students to add their own sections, such as "My Trip to Texas" or "Why I Love Dogs." Help students determine the appropriate order of their section, such as between kindergarten and elementary school.
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Start the biography. Guide students through an introduction that focuses on their name and provides an interesting or unique fact about them. The detail and complexity of this autobiography varies depending on the grade level.
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Work through the next paragraph in the outline. Have students write a sentence for each point. If students are at a higher grade level, ask them to provide transitions between their sentences, to start each paragraph with an introductory sentence and to end each paragraph with a conclusion.
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Write all of paragraphs and end with a conclusion.
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Review the paragraphs with the student to correct any spelling errors.
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