The Personal Biography Project

Generative Topic: People in Colonial History Unit-level Understanding Goals addressed by this performance: Sentence Form: Students will understand the potential of biographies as historical sources. Question Form: What might biographies tell us? What questions might we ask of biographies? How do these questions relate to the Throughlines for this course? Understanding Performances: [Assignment: Students choose and read a biography of anyone from any time or place who interests them personally.] In a collaborative dialogue, students brainstorm the important things they noticed as they read their biographies. In a collaborative dialogue, students analyze and categorize their brainstormed list. In a collaborative dialogue, students generate a list of important questions. The teacher synthesizes these into the Questions to Consider [see next page], which is used to guide the next two phases of the work with biographies. Students keep a process journal of reflections on their work. Ongoing Assessment: Feedback: Informal and oral by peers and teacher Written reflections by student Criteria: Developed collaboratively by student and teacher

Pictures of Practice Contents Introduction The Colonial Biography Unit (7th Grade History) A Year of Seventh Grade English A Year of Eighth Grade Science The Jazz Unit Snapshot Using the CCDT to Develop Generative Topics