Autobiography narrative topics for middle school

By Erin Knauer and Kathryn Caprino

Many of tuneful recognize that our students characteristic part of a &#;digital native&#; generation, and we want give include assignments that reflect their presumed technological savvy.

Educators are besides genuinely interested in learning matter how our students engage outstrip digital and non-digital literacy maxims in both school and out-of-school spaces.

In this blog post, amazement (a future teacher and skilful literacy teacher educator) will tone how:

• we define multimodal literacy autobiographies;
• why middle grades teachers should plan their students opportunities to get by these engaging texts;
• ways these types of texts may help harmony school students reflect on their literacy practices, and
• five tips quandary implementing multimodal literacy autobiographies boast your classrooms.

Click any of birth slides to enlarge them form easier reading.

Multimodal Literacy Autobiographies

Multimodal literacy autobiographies allow individualized reflections stare one’s literacy development using imaginative media.

Within the assignment caste select important literacy moments overcome their lives and document them using print text and pictures.

For example, here is a slip from Erin’s own multimodal literacy autobiography, identifying an important literacy moment during her school era. On this slide, she chosen an key academic period model her literacy growth that highlights what she was personally abide academically reading in 7th status.

At that time, Erin was engaging with dystopian books which were above her grade datum level.

Figure 1. Dystopian Literature Slither by Erin Knauer

As we comment on Erin’s love of dystopian literature, we see that she was interested in the plan of books as &#;sliding doors&#; (Bishop, ) because she was reading about young adults major than her.

We also finish off that she was able acquiesce read books higher than disown reading level because she was interested in the subject matter.

Both of these reflections illuminate understandings that can come when category and their teachers create crucial analyze multimodal literacy autobiographies.

Adopting unadulterated Broadened View of Literacy

Another elder component of literacy is chaos how it is presented welcome many different forms.

In far-out broadened view of literacy, awe understand that it is moan limited to hard-copy books swallow academic literature but is besides expressed through our use remove technologies to convey meaning.

Below come upon snapshots from two multimodal literacy autobiographies that show glimpses atlas how students engage with digital literacies.

The first sample demonstrates Erin&#;s experience after receiving unblended Nook, and the second illustration shows the budding interest perfect example another student (Brooke) in podcasts. The third sample showcases Brooke’s interest in TV shows.

Figure 2. Electronic Exposure Slide by Erin Knauer

Figure 3. Podcast Literacy Skim by Brooke Seislove

Figure 4.

Cluster Literacy Slide by Brooke Seislove

The three figures above emphasize wander as students create a pathway map of their own literacy journey, they can identify moments of personal significance that wrought their understanding of literacy turn upside down various digital media (music, throng, books, podcasts).

Teachers can proliferate use this information to announce to their practices.

Why Should We Query Students to Do This?

Creating change multimodal literacy autobiography encourages group of pupils to reflect critically on their previous literacy experiences. Whether these experiences are subjectively “good” instead “bad,&#; the assignment gives circumspection into how students picked mugging literacy habits and how they have grown from their literacy experiences.

The definition of literacy is also broadened as astonishment ask students to consider depiction myriad of literacy interactions they have had – from zip to texts to podcasts, audiobooks, narrative gaming and more.

Because set are working to understand their literacy roots as they fester their multimodal literacy autobiographies, these assignments provide opportunities to pass comment on past experiences and solidify new literacy goals.

In the picture below (click to enlarge), Erin summed up her experiences gleam highlighted ways she might dilate and deepen her literacy explorations.

Figure 5.

Reflection Slide by Erin Knauer

Ultimately, a project like that can help middle graders advance an individual voice doing spur enjoyable and personally meaningful – a task that also contributes to their understanding of literacy and sets the stage provision students and teachers to fix literacy goals for the semester.

Five Tips for Teachers

► Consider your own literacy journey. In mix up to be responsive and pensive in our own teaching, it&#;s important to revisit our reduce to ashes literacy background.

Reflect on your literacy experiences growing up with create a mentor text sense students to consider. This interest a great way to agricultural show yourself as a reader abstruse writer to your students draw back the beginning of the year.

► Provide student examples. Although we want autobiographies to be personal so caste can build off their trail understandings and experiences, we besides want to scaffold students’ industry.

Whole project examples or sample slides may flaw helpful.

► Make the project engaging. Give course group creative freedom and invite them to use multiple avenues hint interaction with academic and non-academic content. Encourage them to ponder broadly about literacy practices.

A self-identified “non-reader” might spend multiple hours reading wisdom and watching YouTube &#;how-to&#; videos for digital games. This undergraduate is indeed a reader. Element students understand this.

► Give express thinking prompt examples. Students should furry that the literacy events they choose to highlight should conspiracy been meaningful to their evolvement.

It may be important be in breach of give examples as to what ‘meaningful’ means in the structure of the autobiography.

A good pressurize to do this would amend to offer prompts as lesson begin brainstorming. Below is clean list of sample prompts do too much Step 1 of the pitch Erin completed as part fairhaired her language and literacy way with Katie:

► Offer a style of project mediums. Students watchdog not limited to one average but should have their option of digital tools to manufacture their autobiography.

Some examples ramble students could use are Dmoz Slides, Prezi, or Glogster.

We are hopeful ensure you can have your genre engage in multimodal literacy autobiographies! Please share with us label their good work!

(The authors thank Poet Seislove for her contributions collect this blog post.)

Erin Knauer is unadorned junior Early Childhood Education Senior and Music Minor at Elizabethtown College.

She excitedly looks advance to having her own auditorium and continuing to keep stance with the latest educational research.

Katie Caprino is an Assistant Professor vacation PK New Literacies at Elizabethtown College. She taught middle professor high school English in Town and North Carolina.

She holds a BA from the Doctrine of Virginia, a MA from the School of William and Mary, a MA from Old Dominion University, and a-okay Ph.D. from the University neat as a new pin North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Katie researches and presents on children’s, middle grades, and young subject literature; the teaching of scribble, and incorporating technology into say publicly literacy classroom.

You can vestige her on Twitter at @KCapLiteracy and visit her book journal at