Journal Article

A Case for Teaching Biography-Driven Writing in ELA Classrooms

EARLY, JESSICA SINGER

2019

Overview

The year was 1999. I had graduated from a teacher education program where I was trained to teach writing in the style of Nancie Atwell, Linda Rief, and Donald Graves. It was the height of the writing process movement (Tobin and Newkirk). I was beginning my career as an English teacher at an urban high school in the northwest. At this time, biography-driven writing was, by no means, the only kind of writing taught in schools; however, it was an accepted piece of the formal ELA writing curriculum (Gillespie). My curriculum was no exception. That year, and the years that followed, I asked students to produce a diverse range of written genres, many of which invited them to write from their lived experiences, ideas, cultures, stories, and values. While some students found the memoir essay more meaningful than others, all completed the assignment for Tracy and shared a strong sense of voice, perspective, vulnerability, and confidence in their writing.

• Publisher: National Council of Teachers of English
• Subject: Academic Language / Academic Standards / Anxiety Disorders / Audience Awareness / Autobiographies / Beliefs / Biographies / BIOGRAPHY AS CURRICULUM / Classrooms / College Students / Coping / Curricula / Education / Elementary Secondary Education / English / English language / English teachers / Essays / Foreign language instruction / Genre / Grade 7 / High Schools / Interpersonal Relationship / Learning / Literacy / Literary Genres / Methods Courses / School Libraries / Secondary schools / Standardized Tests / State Standards / Students / Summer Programs / Teacher education / Teacher Education Programs / Teacher Educators / Teacher Improvement / Teachers / Teaching / Workshops / Writers / Writing processes