3.11 It's All About Who?

Learning Target

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to say YES to the following question.

Can I access information and ideas from a variety of sources and from prior knowledge to build understanding?

learning target

Introduction

The world is full of people who have achieved great things or made important contributions. In this section you will choose one such person and create a report (biography) about his or her life. Who knows? Maybe in the future someone will write about you!

Over the next several lessons, you will research the life of a person of your choice and write a biography (life story) about that person. The biography will have an illustrated title page and four sections of content. In total, you should spend about ten hours researching and writing your biography.

Sample Biography

Here is a biography for Chan Ho Park, a member of the National Ballet of Canada. Your biography will be similar to this one.

Chan Hon Goh was born in Beijing, China on February 1st, 1969. Her grandfather had been a famous painter, her uncle had been a famous choreographer, and her parents were famous dancers with the Central Ballet of China. An artistic life seemed to be her destiny.

Chan grew up watching rehearsals and seeing her father perform. At home, she would sneak into her mother’s ballet slippers and pretend to dance. “I loved everything about ballet,” Chan remembers, “the movement, the stories, and the music.” But Chan’s parents didn’t want her to become a ballerina. They thought life was too hard for a dancer.

When Chan was eight, she moved to Canada with her parents. She was excited about life in Vancouver. However, Chan couldn’t speak English and she didn’t understand the games at recess. Her classmates thought she was stupid. Chan was lonely and embarrassed. Things were better after school. That’s when she studied dance with her parents at their new studio, the Goh Ballet Academy. Chan had natural grace but she had trouble controlling her long arms. Her father didn’t think she could become a good dancer. Chan was determined to try.

By the time she was eleven, she had passed the dance exams for Grades 2 and 3. By thirteen, her movements had improved tremendously. But her parents never corrected or praised Chan like they did the other students. Chan was upset and discouraged. She told her parents she dreamed of becoming a dancer. They finally agreed to help her in any way they could.

One day, the legendary dancer Anton Dolin visited The Goh Ballet Academy. Taking Chan’s father aside, he pointed out one of the students. “She has it,” he said. “She is going to be a beautiful dancer.” The dancer he pointed to was Chan Hon Goh.

By the time Chan was in high school, she was on the honour roll and she studied by correspondence. Schoolwork was done in the early morning and again at night. Days were reserved for ballet. “All I ever thought about,” Chan recalls, “was ballet.” She vowed that one day she would be a dancer and travel the world! Meanwhile, Chan performed in local festivals and competitions. She also spent a few months studying ballet in both France and New York. Chan’s last year in high school marked a turning point. First, she earned the Solo Seal Award which allowed her to work as a professional dancer. Then, Chan became the first Canadian to win a silver medal at the Genee Competition, one of the most important ballet competitions in the world.

Chan knew she had to leave her family to become a successful dancer. She didn’t want to move far so she applied to be a dancer with the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. She was turned down. Then, she auditioned for the National Ballet of Canada.

Chan’s audition was successful! In 1988, nineteen-year-old Chan Hon Goh became a member of the National Ballet of Canada. She had set her goal and worked hard to achieve it. Now she was about to realize her dream of becoming an internationally recognized ballerina!

Questions

See if you can answer these questions about Chan. Look on the previous page if when you need to reread for details.

Describe Chan's childhood and her family.

What were the biggest challenges Chan had to overcome to meet her goals?

What was the major accomplishment in her life?

What personality traits do you think helped Chan accomplish her goals?

Choosing A Subject

Whose life story do you find interesting? Is it someone from history or someone alive today? Is it someone you already know a lot about or someone you want to know better? In today’s assignment, you will choose someone whose biography you would like to write.

To help you choose someone whose biography you would like to write, you will complete an activity to learn about some of your options. Some possibilities include:

Celebrities (singers, musicians, actors or actresses, etc.)
Sports figures
Politicians and / or newsmakers
Authors
Businesspeople

Who you choose is up to you. Just be sure it's someone well known whose life story has been published. That way you will be able to find lots of information on him or her.

Your subject should also be an adult (at least in his or her 20s). Adults have accomplished more than most children or teenagers so there is more to tell about them.

Safety on the Internet

If you use the internet for research, your parent or home facilitator should be around. In fact, get your home facilitator now; read the rest of this page together:

The internet can be a helpful tool but you may run into content that is not accurate or even, gasp, inappropriate. The back button is your friend. If you end up on a page you are not comfortable with, use the back button to get out of there quickly! Then tell your trusted adult. You will earn respect by having the courage to admit you landed on a page you were not expecting!
Not everything online is true. Anyone can post anything online. When doing research, you should be able to find the same information in more than one place.

Remember these safety rules:

Internet Safety Rules

I will tell my trusted adult if anything makes me feel sad, scared, or confused.
I will ask my trusted adult before sharing information like my name, address, and phone number.
I won't meet face-to-face with anyone from the Internet.
I will always use good netiquette and not be rude or mean online.

Of course, this is a research project, not a game or a chatroom but it is always good to review safety rules. The public library can be a great resource. Books are safer - they have been carefully chosen by librarians and libraries indicate if books are "junior" level in content by how they are labeled. You can ask a librarian to show you this.

Bioriddles

This activity requires you to put on your detective hat and to get out your magnifying glass. If using the internet, it is a good idea to have your home facilitator with you. In your Learning Guide, you will find a list of 15 names and 15 clues. Your job is to match the names with the clues as a way to learn about some new people.

If searching online, you can put in key words from the clues. For example, if the clue is:

I was a banker who started writing poetry. I lived in the Yukon and wrote poems like, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”. I am: ______________________

you could probably simply put in the title of the poem and you would quickly find the author.

If the clue is:

I was a Canadian doctor. I discovered that “insulin” improved and lengthened the life of people with diabetes. I am:

you could probably search "discovered insulin" and you would get the result you are looking for.

Go to your Learning Guide and complete Bioriddles. Maybe you'll discover someone you'd like to choose for your biography research.

Choosing a Person

Biography means "writing about life." The key to writing a good biography is picking a good subject who has lead an interesting life AND who you can find information for!!! While it may be tempting to write about your favourite celebrity, you are strongly encouraged to select someone who has lived an important life and made a lasting contribution to the world.

People you are familiar with are also good subjects for profiles. They are easily accessible for interviews. Also, you can easily interview others about them.

Download the assignment template here to complete on your computer:

or here to complete on paper:

Step 1: Make a list of 3 - 5 possible subjects for your biography. Think about all the people in the world who fascinate you. Examples:

Pierre Trudeau (former Prime Minister)
LM Montgomery (famous writer)
Clara Hughes (famous athlete)
Queen Elizabeth (famous queen)
Albert Einstein (famous scientist)
Bryan Adams (famous singer and songwriter)

Step 2: Run a quick search on the Internet or on your public library website to see how much information you can easily find about your three candidates. It is not fun to try to write a biography on someone you can’t find enough information for!

Put a checkmark (?) by each person on your list you think there is enough information for. If none of them have checkmark, you need to add to your list.

Step 3: Choose a person. In a paragraph, explain who you've chosen for your biography and why you've chosen this person.

If you are able to request/reserve public library books online or sign out ebooks, do this now so the books arrive quickly. Don’t forget, books with many people may include your person. (The Kids Book of Great Canadians and books like that.)

Submit this assignment in the assignment dropbox for teacher approval.

Site:	Cowichan Valley School District - Moodle
Course:	ELA5, CSS, Sferrazza
Book:	3.11 It's All About Who?

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Date:	Sunday, 19 May 2024, 5:06 PM