An Autobiography Project in a New York City High School

In this helpful article in English Journal, Sarah Bickens and Franny Bittman (teachers in New York City’s Manhattan Village Academy) and David Connor (Hunter College) describe an autobiography project designed to help ninth graders develop their Common Core reading, writing, listening, speaking, and metacognitive skills and deal with their first year in the bigger, more hectic, more demanding, and diverse world of high school. Here are the ten chapters students write over the course of their first semester:

• Chapter 2: Before I Was, There Was… (Students begin with the second chapter and write Chapter 1, a reflection on the process of writing an autobiography, at the end) – Students interview family members and piece together what happened just before they were born. Teachers teach interviewing skills, get students thinking about cause and effect (how their parents met, important events in their parents’ lives, things that were happening in the world), review strong model texts such as Angela’s Ashes and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and work with students in class on composing and revising their interview questions. When students have done initial interviews and submitted an initial draft of the chapter, teachers work with them on missing details, verb usage, and strong conclusions, sometimes sending them back for more information. One student quoted her weeping mother: “Before I had you, my life was completely upside down,” and went on to write: “I knew at that moment that although her past was indeed more than fourteen years ago, to her it seemed like just yesterday.” 

• Chapter 3: My Origin and Culture – In this chapter, students research how their families came to the United States and describe four cultural traditions currently practiced in their homes. Teachers provide source material on patterns of immigration and current immigration issues and teach words like immigration, emigration, citizen, ethnicity, culture, multicultural, Middle Passage, tribal lands, and customs. As students begin to write this chapter, they introduce their ancestors and their countries of origin, write about the difficulties of immigration (or migration), describe their ethnicities, and use pie charts to map their cultural breakdown (one girl said she was proud to be 33.3% Puerto Rican, 33.3% Dominican, and 33.3% American). 

• Chapter 4: My Neighborhood – Students research and describe specific characteristics of their community. As students write this chapter, teachers focus on tone and use of details.

• Chapter 5: My Indelible Event – This chapter, in which students select any important event in their lives and describe it in vivid detail, is an opportunity for students to shift into a more literary mode. “As with most chapters,” say Bickens, Bittman, and Connor, “brainstorming early in the writing process is key. Maturity levels range enormously in ninth grade, and many young teens have yet to develop the ability to be self-reflective.” Teachers steer students away from writing about current boyfriends and girlfriends and eighth-grade prom night and ask what will matter in five or 25 years. Prompts help: “My scariest moment was…” “My happiest moment was…” and “The time I felt most confused was…” At this point in the semester, students are working in literature circles reading books like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Kaffir Boy. These literary experiences, along with exercises like bringing in different kinds of foods, help trigger memories and get students writing.

• Chapter 6: The Best Advice – Using similar prompts, teachers guide students to choose, draft, and revise a pivotal piece of wisdom from an elder, parent, or peer. This chapter has something of the feel of an ELA exam question, and helps develop a critical lens, compare-and-contrast skills, and the ability to interpret figurative language. 

• Chapter 7: The Person I Miss – Back in interviewing and remembering mode, students decide on a person they have lost and draft a letter to him or her.

• Chapter 8: My Creative Side – Students highlight their skills, talents, and preferred forms of expression using poetic, graphic, or comic formats.

• Chapter 9: It’s Not Fair – Teachers help students take a stand on a topic of importance – social, political, or personal – and support it through research on current events.

• Chapter 10: My Future – Projecting into the future, students write award speeches they might hear about themselves or write their own obituaries describing highlights of their long, productive lives. 

• Chapter 1: Introduction – Written last, this chapter encourages students to reflect on the whole project, think of themselves as authors, and introduce the autobiography as strongly as possible. Teachers encourage them to begin with a simile, symbol, quotation, image, or allusion that will grab readers and set the tone. Reading the opening paragraphs of well-known autobiographies is an effective prompt. After this creative introduction, students present basic information about themselves, identify primary and secondary themes, and use a metaphor to describe what it was like to write the autobiography. 

The final step is designing a cover page and writing a dedication and table of contents. “After reflecting on their lives and the journeys of their families,” say Bickens, Bittman, and Connor, “many students reveal a newfound respect for their parents and dedicate the project to them.” Students then prepare a PowerPoint presentation and “defend their lives” to a panel of teachers and student judges, pointing out highlights in each chapter and their favorite sections and saying what they learned. 

The autobiography project accomplishes several things, say the authors. It’s a powerful way to teach Common Core standards in the first semester of high school; it builds students’ confidence and sense of self-worth and in many cases helps them reconnect with their parents and other family members; it introduces students to a variety of authors and some powerful pieces of writing; students can go into more depth on particular issues, for example, immigration or social justice; and it helps teachers get to know students in much more depth. “The autobiography project is a challenging task for the teacher and for the students,” conclude the authors. “It requires great organization, a sustained focus, and the willingness to open up about personal issues and experiences.” And it’s well worth it, leading straight to higher achievement through the high-school grades and mastery of the rigorous English Regents exam.

“Developing Academic Skills Through Multigenre Autobiography” by Sarah Bickens, Franny Bittman, and David Connor in English Journal, May 2013 (Vol. 102, #5, p. 43-50), 

http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/1025-ma...;

the authors can be reached at lbickens@schools.nyc.gov, fbittman@schools.nyc.gov, and dconnor@hunter.cuny.edu. 

From the Marshall Memo #494