Sacha Muller and Laura Wolff

Article: Using Biographies to Explore Social Justice in U.S. History, by Gary Fertig, Social Studies and the Young Learner 16(1), pp. 9-12.

*NOTE: Although this lesson was inspired by the article listed above, it does not specifically address social justice as a key concept.  The lesson, however, could be easily adapted to include social justice by having students investigate biographies of people who historically have fought for social justice.

Title: Intro to biographies unit

Grade Level:  4-5

Content Areas: History

Key Concepts: Artifacts, biographies

Learning Objective: Students will be able to read a biography and determine three important events from that person’s life and why, as well as three artifacts that represent those events.

Learning Target: Knowledge, Reasoning  

EALR’s Social Studies – History

1.3 Benchmark 1- describe the contributions of people of various cultural groups to the development of the local community and Washington State, for example, native peoples, colonists, pioneers, and immigrants

Assumptions:  Students have experience using the library or researching information, students have access to books (teacher could provide a wide variety of biographies in the classroom)

Materials: a copy of Dear Benjamin Banneker by A. D. Pinkey, chart paper with graphic organizer on it, graphic organizers for students, access to biographies for students, materials to make artifacts

Procedures

Introduction:  In the next couple of weeks we are going to be working with biographies.  We are going to use biographies to find out about the things people have done to make them famous, and the times they live in. Today I am going to read you a biography about Benjamin Banneker.  He was an African American that lived around the time this country was just beginning.  He did many great things, but he is mostly known for working to show how slavery was unfair and wrong.   

When we read biographies, we look for the major events, the important events that make that person famous.  While I read this biography try to see if you can pick out at least three main events in Benjamin Banneker’s life. (Ask a student to repeat what they will be looking for while you are reading)

Read the story.

Can you think of some things in Banneker’s life that were very important?  Turn to the person next to you and share some things you thought were important. In a minute I will get these ideas from you..  (Think-pair-share) 

In the next week or two you will also be reading a biography about someone who contributed something important to our society.  You will need to organize your facts with this graphic organizer. (Show graphic organizer poster)  You will have paper versions of it.  I just put it on this chart paper. For example if I were going to fill out this graphic organizer for Benjamin Banneker, based on the biography we just read, I would write his name at the top.  Then I would fill in these columns.  In the first column it says, What were three important events of Banneker’s life?  Write down students’ responses on poster paper with the graphic organizer.

Then we write why each event was significant, in the next column.  Get students’ responses for the three events written down. 

Then come up with an artifact for each of these events.  (Discuss what an artifact is.  Get students’ ideas if they have any first, then clarify.)  What is something that could represent that event in his life?  When you make the artifact you can create a number of things to represent something.  For example with this story I made a feather pen out of construction paper as my artifact. (Write in feather pen under the artifact column.)  Can anyone tell me why? What about Banneker’s life is represented by the feather pen? 

Then the fourth column is simply why the artifact represents the event.

Person:_________________________

3 Important events in _______________

life:

Why were these events significant?

Artifact

What does the artifact represent?
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Closure:      Wrap up by creating the timeline of the biography project and due dates.  Discuss how to find biographies and materials.

Assessment:  Students will be graded on their ability to identify three important events from the biography they read, as well as their ability to create three artifacts that represent those events.