Autobiography assignments, as well as biography assignments, can provide students with valuable opportunities for personal connection, reflection, and inspiration. Students can explore the lives of others and gain insight into diverse experiences, historical contexts, and challenges overcome.
When students read and write about real people, they can learn empathy, develop a sense of identity, and recognize how their own stories are important. Through writing their own autobiographies, students can reflect on their growth, set goals, and better understand their place in the world.
This blog post will share why an autobiography assignment is engaging for students, as well as resources you can use in your middle school classroom.
Authentic Writing Ideas: Autobiography Assignments
Why are autobiographies an engaging writing experience for students?
Autobiographies are engaging for students for many reasons:
- Students are writing about a topic that they are familiar with.
- They can use primary sources to gain information (e.g. family, friends, video, photos).
- They can use their own technology to integrate photos into their autobiography assignment.
- They have an audience ready to read their book: family, friends, teachers, classmates.
- Many mentor texts can be used to teach this writing form, depending on the interests of your students.
- The students’ autobiographies can be printed out in a variety of formats to be saved as valuable keepsakes for students to look back in their later years.
To get your students’ started on their journey toward learning about autobiographies and writing personal narratives, why not try an autobiography assignment?
Autobiography Writing Project Review
Do you need ideas on how to get students started on personal narrative writing? Try out the Autobiography Writing Project from Kovescence of the Mind. In January, my students will be working on selecting a biography of an influential person to read. Sarah’s autobiography assignment will be the perfect complement to their Biography Book Report.
Autobiography & Biography Writing Lessons for Middle School
My Life in Logos Paragraph Writing Assignment
Another way to introduce students to autobiography writing is through this My Life in Logos Paragraph Writing Assignment. In this engaging autobiography assignment, students will explore the logos that represent various aspects of their lives through a writing assignment.
By sharing their written pieces, students enable their teachers and classmates to gain a deeper understanding of who they are. It’s a fantastic get-to-know-you activity that sets the stage for a supportive and inclusive classroom environment.
Here’s what teachers have said about this autobiography assignment:
“This was a great resource. I used it as a culminating activity after learning about paragraph writing. It really helped me to also get to know my students better!” – Tanya H.
“This has been a fantastic resource to use at the beginning of the school year! It is very engaging for students and helps us as teachers get to know our students better. I love that students are reviewing how to create effective paragraphs which will set us up well for the rest of the school year!” – Jess H.
You can find the My Life in Logos Paragraph Writing Assignment on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.
Biography Symbolism Assignment
Once your students have completed their autobiography assignment, why not try biographies? In this Biography Symbolism Assignment, students will read a biography, memoir, or autobiography and then create a life map outlining the important events in their chosen person’s life.
After creating the life map, students will provide a written explanation and oral presentation of their life map. This assignment is Google Classroom ready with individual PDFs and Google Drive graphic organizers.
This resource includes:
- Detailed lesson plan
- Assignment sheet
- Graphic organizers
- Differentiated and engaging activities
- Individual PDFs of student pages
- Google Slides graphic organizers
- Assessment Rubrics (Levels or Points)
Here’s what teachers have said about this resource:
“This is a creative way of describing characters. My class thoroughly enjoyed it! Thank you!” – Carolyn Y.
“One of the best projects I’ve done in literacy. Checked all my boxes and made writing seem like less of a daunting task for my lower students.” – Taylor M
You can find the Biography Symbolism Assignment on Shopify CAD or Teachers Pay Teachers USD.
You might also want to check out:
- Why Teach Non-Fiction in Middle School?
- 3 Ways to Make Teaching Non-Fiction Interesting
- 10 Ways To Develop Research Skills in Middle School Students
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I LOVE having students write "memoirs" as we read professional memoirs. I'll have to look into this 🙂
How fun! And kids never get tired of writing about themselves. . . this looks like the perfect solution!
My students really need structure so this sounds perfect!
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