Samantha Pallitto

October 7, 2014
Writing Mini Lesson: Biographies
Grade: 4
Common Core State Standard: W.4.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to
examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Objective:
Students will be able to gather information to write biographies
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to begin writing biographies.
Materials:
The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) passages
Chart Paper
Graphic Organizers
Procedure:
Lesson Introduction/Objective and purpose
o Boys and girls, yesterday we read The Extraordinary Mark Twain
(According to Susy) We learned that Susy was writing a biography on
her famous father, Mark Twain. Well writers, youre going to be
writing biographies too, just like Susy, but before we can do that we
need to understand what biographies are and what kinds of
information goes into writing a biography and we are going to learn
this information by looking back on how Susy wrote her biography on
her father, Mark Twain.
o For your biographies, you will be pairing with your writing partner
and interviewing one another to gather information. You will be
writing your biographies on your writing partner and using this
graphic organizer to gather information. (show graphic organizer on
the overhead projector, and read each part out loud.)

Teach and Model:

o Writers we followed Susy through the story yesterday as she wrote a
biography on her father. The first thing Susy did was observe her
father and collect information to write about him. I know this because
the author tells me this, and if you turn your attention towards the
overheard projector we can examine together
Susy observed Papa carefully how he stopped whatever he was
doing, just to confer with a cat, how he paced the floor between
courses at dinner, waving his napkin to punctuate a particular point;

and how he let the housekeeper know when his shirts were missing
buttons.
So writers, after reading this paragraph, I know that the first step of
writing a good biography is to observe and gather information about the
person I want to write about. You all will do this by observing your
partners and asking him or her interview questions.

Guided Practice (Example 1):

o All good biographies have accurate facts about the people, places,
dates, and quotations that are being written. This is the next step in
putting your biography together.
Susy noted Papas habits. She described his fine qualities. She
even described his not-so-fine qualities. Into the biography-and
under the pillow-it all went.
So lets look at this together writers. The author is giving us a clue to
how Susy described accurate information she observed or
interviewed her father doing. Can anyone tell me what he or she
thinks is the next step in writing a good biography? (Wait time) Yes,
thats correct, good writers take notes so that they have accurate
information about whom they are writing their biography on. So
when you are observing and interviewing your partners make sure
you are taking good notes to refer back to when you are
independently writing your biographies.
(Example 2):
o Now Im going to introduce you to the next step in writing a good
biography. Because I know how smart you all are, this time I want you
to tell me what the next step is, without as much help from me. Lets
look at what Susy does.
He is known to the public as a humorist, but he has much more in
him that is earnest than that is humorousPapa can make
exceedingly bright jokes, and he enjoys funny things, and when
he is with people he jokes and laughs a great deal.
In this passage from the book, Susy is telling you her father is funny,
which she has stated to us in the book before, but she doesnt only just
tell us her father is funny, what else does she do? How do we know
that her father is funny? (Wait time); Correct good writers support
what they say with examples instead of just stating a fact. In this case,

Susy told us her father is funny, then she told us how she knows her
father is funny.
(Example 3):
o There is one more step in writing a good biography. Lets take a look
at what Susy does, and see if you can tell me what that last step is.
Papa sometimes made pronouncements about himself at the
breakfast table just to help his biographer along. And if his
biographer needed to fill in the blanks, she just asked.
So writers, what do you think the last step is to write a good
biography? Correct, good writers ask for help if they need it.

Independent Practice
o Writers I am going to leave the steps up for you to refer back to while
you collect your own information for your biographies. But first I am
going to say the steps out loud and I would like you to repeat them
back to me:
Observe and Gather Information
Use accurate information
Support your facts with examples
Ask for help if needed
o Great job writers, now I would like you to begin gathering your
information by meeting with your writing partners. Remember to
observe and interview them by filling out your graphic organizers.
o After you have gathered your information you may begin drafting
your biography.

Assessment:
o I will be able to determine if the lesson was a success by collecting the
graphic organizers and making sure all the sections were accurately
completed.