The autobiographical poem was originally developed for teachers participating in the Wisconsin Writing Project, and was posted on the web by Nancy Haugen of Carminati, AZ.  The original poem was eleven lines.  The purpose of the original lesson was for the writer to "[analyze] self to provide an introduction to the rest of the class."   We improved on that lesson plan in two different ways, giving it a more multicultural focus.

Here is the outline for the original autobiographical poem plan, as submitted by Haugen:

Line 1: Your first name

Line 2: Four descriptive traits

Line 3: Sibling of…

Line 4: Lover of (people, ideas)…

Line 5: Who feels…

Line 6: Who needs…

Line 7: Who gives…

Line 8: Who fears…

Line 9: Who would like to see…

Line 10: Resident of (your city)…

Line 11: Your last name

The first modification we made was to add additional lines to the poem in order to get the students to think about their culture. The parts that we added call for information such as where one was born, one’s unique characteristic, a family tradition, a favorite experience, and what one values. The children have the opportunity to learn about their own uniqueness and the uniqueness of and similarities with others through the writing and sharing of the autobiographical poems. Here is the improved outline for the autobiographical poem, along with one of our responses:

Line 1:  First name (Jessica)

Line 2:  Born in… (Augusta, Maine)

Line 3:  Unique characteristic (Energetic)

Line 4:  Four descriptive traits (Leader, lacrosse player, competitive, positive)

Line 5:  Brother/Sister of… (Jamie and Lyz)

Line 6:  Family tradition (Lobster cookouts in the summer)

Line 7:  Favorite experience (Getting engaged)

Line 8:  Who loves… (The ocean, small cabins in the woods, peanut butter and fluff)

Line 9:  Who feels... (Happy and positive)

Line 10:  Who needs… (God and love)

Line 11:  Who gives… (Love, encouragement, and swim lessons)

Line 12:  Who fears…  (Losing a loved one)

Line 13:  Who values… (Family, friends, and time)

Line 14:  Who believes…  (In salvation through Jesus Christ)

Line 15:  Who wishes for…  (Peace around the world)

Line 16:  Who lives in… (St. Davids, Pennsylvania)

Line 17:  Last name (Smith)

The second modification is an extension activity: writing a biographical poem about a multicultural trade book character.  As the children work in cooperative learning groups to read the trade books, they are being exposed to yet another person’s culture. When writing the characters’ biographical poems, they are analyzing the characters’ cultures by answering the same questions they responded to in writing their own poems, which provides a great basis for comparison.

I.   Objectives

1. The students will realize that each person is unique and special.
2. The students will gain a greater understanding of themselves and their cultures.
3. The students will compare their cultures with those of the other students and the trade book characters.

II.  Materials

1. Teacher’s autobiographical poem either on an overhead transparency or the chalkboard
2. Forms for the students’ autobiographical poems
3. A variety of multicultural trade books (see list of suggested books)
4. Forms for the characters’ biographical poems

III. Anticipatory Set

The teacher will ask a few students to tell something interesting about themselves. The teacher will then elicit the students’ responses to the following question: "What are some ways we can tell a large group of people about ourselves?" The teacher will then guide the students to the subject of autobiographies, discussing and explaining that autobiographies and biographies can be in the form of poetry.

IV. Procedure/Guided Practice

The teacher will read his or her autobiographical poem to the class. The teacher will then distribute to the class the worksheet for the students’ autobiographical poems. The teacher will then have a student read aloud the description of the first line of the poem. After checking for students’ understanding of what the first line is to be, the teacher will ask the students to fill in the first line of their poems. This will be repeated for each line of the poem until the end is reached, at which point the teacher will ask for some volunteers to share their poems with the class.

V. Independent Practice

The teacher will divide the class into small cooperative learning groups. The teacher will then explain the next activity, which is reading or reviewing a trade book and writing a biographical poem of one of the characters. The teacher will then distribute the worksheet for the characters’ biographical poems (one to each pair of students). The teacher will make the various trade books available to the class; each group will be instructed to choose one book (alternatively, students may choose a book they have read recently). The pairs will then read the chosen trade book (or review one previously read) and choose one of the characters for the purpose of writing his or her biographical poem. Next, each pair will compose a biographical poem for the chosen character. The teacher will instruct the students that not every piece of information needed for completing the poem will be available in the text of the book, so the students should use the pictures (if any) to help. Also, for anything that is still "missing," the students should use what they know about the character to make their best guess as to what should be written in his or her biographical poem. (Note: Not all characters will have a last name.  Rather than making one up, students will be advised to repeat the character’s first name as the last line of the poem.)

VI. Closure

The teacher will ask for a few students to volunteer to share their characters’ poems with the class. The teacher should then ask the students what they have learned from writing their poems, both autobiographical and character. The teacher should guide the students’ responses to a discussion of comparing and contrasting their lives with those of the characters they have chosen, raising students’ awareness of other cultures.

This lesson was conducted in a fifth-grade inclusive class. The students had just done a unit on poetry, so the tone was set for the autobiographical poems they were about to write. I followed the anticipatory set, then told the class that they were going to be writing autobiographical poems. Next, I modeled the activity to them by displaying my own poem on an overhead transparency and reading it to them. My poem is as follows:

Born in Suffern, New York

Loving, caring, curious, hopeful

Uniquely honest

Sister of Dana

Whose family tradition is making tacos to eat during the Superbowl

Whose favorite experience is floating in the Dead Sea

Loves friends, challenges, life, books

Feels happiness and peace when singing

Needs lots of love

Gives encouragement, love, hope, and smiles

Fears falling off the top bunk while sleeping

Values time by herself

Believes anyone can be happy if they want to be

Wishes for peace, love, and joy for all people

Lives in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania

At this point, I informed the children that they would be writing a second poem, this time a biographical poem about a character from a trade book. I divided the class into groups of three and distributed a trade book and a form for the character poem to each group. I had brought with me all of the books on the suggested book list, and gave each group the opportunity to choose their own. I chose books that could be read in the time allotted, so many of them were well below the independent reading levels of the students. The children read the books in their groups, then worked together to complete the characters’ poems. I told them that some of the information would not necessarily appear in the text—they would need to use the pictures and their imaginations to come up with some of the responses. Again, the issue of siblings arose, and I instructed to do the same thing as before. Also, not all the characters had a last name, in those cases I had the students repeat the characters’ first names at the bottom of the poems. Upon completion of this activity, the children returned to their desks. Once again, I asked for volunteers to read their poems to the class, and again, the children were enthusiastic to do so. Here is a poem written by three of the students about the character Flossie from the book Flossie and the Fox by Patricia C. McKissack:

Flossie

Born in Tennessee

Uniquely respectful

Tricky, sneaky, kiddish, polite

Granddaughter of Big Mama

Whose family tradition is picking peaches

Whose favorite experience is the day with Fox

Loves animals, peaches, dolls

Feels secure

Needs peaches

Gives eggs

Fears foxes

Values loyalty

Believes Fox is not a fox

Wishes for Fox to leave her alone

Lives in Tennessee

Flossie

I concluded the lesson by talking about the similarities and differences of the students’ and characters’ poems. I also asked the children which poem was more difficult to write: theirs or those of the characters. Most of the students in this particular class responded by saying it was harder to write the characters’ biographical poems because they really had to search for the information. However, some others have said that it was more difficult to search for what is within their own hearts. What matters most is that every child expressed having learned something about themselves, their classmates, and the characters during the course of this lesson.

One of the greatest reasons to use this lesson is because of how easily it can be adapted to fit the current needs of the students. For example, the characters’ biographical poems could be used as an alternative form of a book report. Or the lesson could be integrated with a language arts unit focused on biographies and autobiographies. The lesson plan is flexible and can be used across the curriculum—to accompany a social studies unit on a particular culture, for example. The possibilities are virtually endless.

When the lesson was conducted with the fifth-grade class, it was done in a single class period, which was just over an hour long. It may work better to allot more time for the lesson, or even to do the students’ autobiographical poems one day and the portion with the trade books the next. This would provide more time for discussion of the students’ and characters’ cultures, which is truly the focus of the lesson.

We would like to thank Nancy Haugen for posting her lesson on the Internet. The original lesson plan can be found at http://www.col-ed.org/cur/lang/lang24.txt. We would also like to thank Longstreth School of Warminster, Pennsylvania, and especially Mr. Robert Stremme for allowing us to conduct this lesson with his fifth-grade students.

Garland, S. (1993) The lotus seed. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company.

Handforth, T. (1938) Mei Li. New York: Doubleday & Company.

Hunter, S. (1996) The unbreakable code. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Publishing.

Isadora, R. (1991) At the crossroads. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Kalman, E. (1994) Tchaikovsky discovers America. New York: Scholastic Inc.

Lamorisse, A. (1956) The red balloon. New York: Doubleday.

Levine, E. (1974) Lisa and her soundless world. New York: Human Sciences Press.

Martel, C. (1976) Yagua days. New York: Scholastic Inc.

McCully, E. (1992) Mirette on the high wire. New York: Scholastic Inc.

McKissack, P. (1986) Flossie and the fox. New York: Scholastic Inc.

McKissack, P. (1988) Mirandy and brother wind. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Miles, M. (1971) Annie and the old one. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Polacco, P. (1990) Just plain fancy. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell.

Polacco, P. (1992) Mrs. Katz and Tush. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell.

Polacco, P. (1994) Pink and Say. New York: Philomel Books.

Winter, J. (1988) Follow the drinking gourd. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Your Autobiographical Poem

First name:

Born in:

Four traits:

Unique characteristic:

Sibling of:

Family tradition:

Favorite experience:

Who loves:

Who feels:

Who needs:

Who gives:

Who fears:

Who values:

Who believes:

Who wishes for:

Who lives in:

Names: _______________

Character’s Biographical Poem

Title of Book:

Author:

Character’s first name:

Born in:

Four traits:

Unique characteristic:

Sibling of:

Family tradition:

Favorite experience:

This character loves:

This character feels:

This character needs:

This character gives:

This character fears:

This character values:

This character believes:

This character wishes for:

This character lives in: