—It gives
teachers an innovative, engaging way to delve into nonfiction during their
narrative writing unit. Currently, the curriculum in many schools calls for
students to write personal narratives, an activity that many children dislike.

—Picture
book biographies celebrate the lives and accomplishments of a diverse array of
people. They also offer tie-ins to content area curriculum by serving as portals
to the past and/or authentically modeling the process of doing science.

—Students
have an opportunity to learn about members of their community and develop
interview skills, which will serve them well in the future.

—Students
learn that writing high-quality nonfiction is about much more than cobbling
together facts they’ve plucked from books or encyclopedic databases. Research
is a treasure hunt that can and should involve many different ways of gathering
ideas and information. At its best, it’s a creative, self-driven process.

—The
instruction in this unit focuses on “mentor processes” in addition to mentor
texts. As a result, students get a sneak peek at the creators’ pre-writing
activities. They also come to understand that a biographer’s selection of key
moments to include in the narrative are influenced by his/her own personality,
passions, beliefs, and view of the world.

Fantastico!

I’d love to
see more meaty, in-depth learning experiences like this one as part of the
curriculum in schools all across the country.

Dawes, Erika Thulin, et al. (2019). Portraits
of perseverance: Creating picturebook biographies with third graders. Language Arts, 96: 3, 153-166.