Autobiography Assignment

During this unit, you have explored your identity by examining yourself in three
different ways: 1) as a learner, 2) as a member of your community, and 3) as a
teenager. Now, I want you to explore how, exactly, you came to have the identity
you do!
An autobiography is a written account of someones life that is told firsthand. It is a
semi-chronological account of a persons life from birth to present (or death),
and it usually outlines important people, hobbies and interests, personality, school
life, career, and significant events and/or experiences!

THE BASICS:

Purpose: To inform & entertain

Title: Something that reflects your theme
Length: 1.5-3 pages
Font: Times New Roman, Size 12
Spacing: Double-Spaced

CONTENT & ORGANIZATION:

It is a good idea to think of your autobiography as having 2 parts:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Chronological Order
Before Birth
Birth (baby)
Before School (toddler)
Early Years (childhood)
Middle Years (pre-teen years)
Senior Years (teenagehood)
Present Day & Future Goals

Interesting Details & Anecdotes

Important people in your life
Hobbies and interests
Personality traits
School life
Jobs and extra-curricular
involvement
Significant events or experiences
(firsts, trips, births, deaths, fights,
break-ups, achievements, etc.)

In order to keep your autobiography flowing nicely, use chronological order to

structure it as much as possible, but also make sure to add anecdotes (small
stories) and interesting details about yourself along the way! This is what will make
your autobiography fun to read.
Your autobiography MUST have a beginning (introduction), middle (body), and
end (conclusion). This being said, it MUST have paragraphs! Here is an example
of how to do this:
1. Events prior to my birth, my birth, after my birth, and my theme
Introductio
n
2. Events before school started (me as a toddler)
3. Events during my early years (childhood)
Body

4. Events during my middle years (pre-teenhood)

5. Events during grade nine (teenagehood)
6. Who I am today, and what I want to do in the future
Conclusio

THEME:

A theme is a topic or idea that unifies, or ties your smaller ideas together. Having an
ongoing theme that reflects something about your life or who you are as a
person will make your autobiography more personal, interesting, and easy to read.
A theme should be introduced in the first paragraph of your autobiography, touched
on throughout the body, and re-introduced in the end. NOTE: An autobiography
DOES NOT HAVE TO HAVE A THEME. But it is usually better if it does. Here are some
examples:
Strength Throughout my life I have gone through many hard times,
starting from the time I was born and continuing into the present. However, it
is these hard times that make me who I am today.
Family When I look back on my life, the memories that I love the best all
involve my family. They have played a big role in making me into the person I
am today.
Sports Ever since I could walk, Ive either had a ball in my hand or on the
ground in front of my feet. As I grew up my love of sport grew with me, and
continues to grow each day.

WORD CHOICES: & An example of a WEAK vs. STRONG Introduction

Add pizzazz to your autobiography by choosing interesting words and writing
descriptive sentences that inspire your reader to think, feel, see, and hear your
experiences along with you. Here is what I mean:

Instead of saying My parents met at a party, got married, and decided to

have a baby.
o Say: My mother had the misfortune of meeting my father at a party in
the booming metropolis of Rivers, Manitoba. When he saw the
beautiful Lori Kunka, who he had been majorly crushing on for about a
year, sitting across the room, he realized that he really needed to pull
out his best moves. This translated into him taking a running dive onto
the couch my future mother was sitting on, his landing making such an
impact that it popped loose a spring which stabbed directly into his
future wifes shorts-clad leg. Despite this less-than-smooth first
meeting, my dad somehow convinced my mom to fall in love, marry,
and have a child with him.
Instead of saying I was born on August 26, 1991 to Paul and Lori Hammond.
o Say: It was a calm autumn day when I came into this world near the
end of 1991. My entrance, however, was anything but calm. According
to Paul and Lori Hammond, the first moments with their black-haired,
blue-eyed baby girl was a lot more like Nightmare on Elm Street than
the beautiful dream their baby books had made the experience out to
be.

Instead of saying After leaving the Brandon hospital, we went home to our
farm in Dand.
o Say: Right from the beginning, my parents knew I was not going to be
an easy baby. My dad, however, was lucky enough to escape my
headache-inducing cries, and blood-curdling screams by hopping onto
his combine to finish his harvest. My mom, on the other hand, was
stuck in the middle of nowhere (I challenge you to find Dand on a map)
with me. My moms post-partum depression is where the
unfortunate string of events that shaped my childhood began.
Instead of saying This is the story of my life.
o Say: Maybe my mom should have taken the leg-stabbing incident as
a bad omen, rather than a stupidly charming act of love. Maybe then
my childhood would have been all sunshine and roses Or maybe the
experiences that came out of their failed marriage, having a single
mother, and moving all over the damned place made me into the
strong, independent person I am today.