Day 1 Procedures:

Introduction: (15 minutes)

• Introduce the term ‘biography.’ Ask the students what they think that word means.
• Ask the students what is usually included in a biography. 
• Go over the list of what a biography is:
  1. A biography is often found on the flap of a book or at the very end of the book.
  2. Biographies are nonfiction, which means they are about real people and actual events and places. 
  3. A biography is a story of a real person’s life written by someone other than that person.
  4. Biographies can be about famous people in history or about people who are alive today. They can even be about people they know, such as a friend, parent, or grandparent. 
  5. Biographies tell about someone’s life and have a beginning, middle, and end.
  6. For example, some people in history have left an incredible impact in their communities and it’s important that we pass on the story of those people through biographies. 
• Have students each sit with a partner. Have each partner tell the other as much about herself as possible in one minute, then switch.
  1.  Encourage students to begin with when and where they were born.
• Ask the students if the stories they shared are fiction or nonfiction.
• Ask: What makes these stories interesting?
• Review a few biographies the class may have read together OR discuss any biographies that students may have read. Who were the biographies about? Why were the biographies interesting? 
• Say: As a class, we will be learning about a Hmong leader named General Vang Pao and we will be writing a class biography about him and his contribution to the Hmong and American community. You will be taking notes while we read a short article on General Vang Pao. 
• Say: Vang Pao was a general in the official Laotian Army, the chief of a secret army financed by the Central Intelligence Agency and the leader of the Hmong. It is important for us as American citizens to learn more about our veterans that accomplished so much at war and impact their communities. 
  1. Project the General Vang Pao Photo Timeline (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/fyxmd3w4kg81aa9cnc8gpnmrxt03eji8) and have the students analyze the different (significant) time periods of the general’s life.
  2. Pull up and project the “Hmong History Profile on General Vang Pao'' (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/4x4sirkok7qm2hpgb2b905b3jygwb13y) on the Smartboard or bulletin board. (Optional: teachers may wish to print out and give each student a copy of the profile.)
  3. Hand out the General Vang Pao Research Handout (page 1) to all students and go over the questions as a class (https://ucdavis.box.com/s/71r65uoc538dokzd1zcc3xaqe6dtlga4).  
  4. Begin reading the profile and fill out the research handout together as a class as answers appear in the reading. 
  5. After reading the profile, discuss points and questions (in whole group or small groups) such as: 
     • Where and when was Vang Pao born?
     • What was his childhood like?
     • What kind of education did he have?
     • What is/was his family life like?
     • What are/were his accomplishments?
     • What positive contributions has he made to the world?
  6. The students will now choose one point from their notes that they found interesting that they would like to write about (family, wars, medals, etc.). The students will practice writing a small part of a biography using Vang Pao’s information. Students will write one paragraph on the piece of information they choose. 
  7. After students complete their paragraph, have them pair up with another student to share as well as compare/contrast the information they chose to write about. 
  8. Next, write a class biography about General Vang Pao and his contribution to the Hmong and American community. 

Day 2 Procedures:

Introduction: 

• We have learned about what a biography is and who General Vang Pao is. Who can tell me a fact about a biography or a fact about General Vang Pao that we learned in his biography? (allow several students to answer). After learning about Vang Pao, each one of you chose a person that you would like to write a mini biography about. (Allow a few students to share with the class who they chose).
• Today, you will research someone who you think is a historical or influential person  and find information to make our very own biographies about those people. I want you to think about someone, a figure that has made a positive influence. 
  • It could be a leader like General Vang Pao, or a president, actor, athlete, or someone else who has changed the world in some way like Harriett Tubman, Martin Luther King, or Mother Teresa. 
• You will find information to write mini biographies about the person that you chose to write about. The information that you want to find is information you think other people need to know about this person from history. For example, it might be important for people to know when they were born/died (if they have), what they did for work, how they were influential, or their family. The information that you gathered will be used to write your biographies. 
  1. The students will need access to individual laptops, computers, or iPads to gather research about a person they would like to write about. 
     • Teachers are encouraged to have students select a Hmong leader using the Txhawb Magazine 2012, “Great Hmong Leaders from History” 36–40  https://ucdavis.box.com/s/85x7mm7cpqv5omt28ey2crm24tpe5cwm.
  2. Once each child has access to a computer, the teacher needs to hand out the “Biography Research Handout” for the students to follow and fill out once they chose a person (page 2  https://ucdavis.box.com/s/71r65uoc538dokzd1zcc3xaqe6dtlga4). 
  3. The teacher should be roaming the room and asking the students questions about their research. If multiple questions arise that are similar, those should be addressed in the whole group setting. 
  4. Once every student has all the sections completed on the Biography Research Handout, they can find more information that they can write or record and use to enrich their biography.
  5. Say: We are going to go over how to write a quality biography with the information that we gathered.
     1. Organization of the biography 
        • Introduction paragraph: introduce the person you are writing about, where they were born, and why you chose to write about them. 
        • Body paragraph: at least three facts that you chose should be written in this paragraph.
        • Conclusion: conclude the paper by explaining why this person was influential during their lifetime and why you like this person. 
     2. Students will then be given a clean piece of paper to write a rough draft on. 
     3. Once the students are finished with their rough drafts, have revised any spelling or grammatical errors, and added any information they wanted to share, they are now able to write their final draft on a clean piece of paper or type it in a word document. 

Closure:

Say: We have learned about biographies and how important they are in history. Without biographies, the life stories of incredible people wouldn’t be shared or passed down through generations.

Time permitting: At the end of this lesson, you can allow students to present their biography to the rest of the class. 

Optional: You can also have students ask questions about each other’s work. This will give them an opportunity to learn about new people and find new heroes and role models. You may choose to use the Oral Presentation Peer Feedback Form to take notes and give their peers feedback (page 3 https://ucdavis.box.com/s/71r65uoc538dokzd1zcc3xaqe6dtlga4).