12/8/2015

Having My Say: A Multigenre Autobiography Project - ReadWriteThink

LESSON PLAN

Having My Say: A Multigenre Autobiography Project

Grades

9 12

Lesson Plan Type

Unit

Estimated Time

Eight 50minute sessions

Lesson Author

Scott Filkins
Champaign,
Illinois

Publisher

Overview
Featured Resources
From Theory to Practice

OVERVIEW
Students can be guided to make powerful connections between their life experiences and the world surrounding their
individual narratives. In this lesson, Elizabeth and Sarah Delanys autobiography, Having Our Say, serves as a model
for student texts. Students read and analyze passages from Having Our Say looking for specific examples of
multigenre writing within the text. Students then choose to narrate a life event that has connections to or is
informed by a larger event in their lives or in the world around them. They compose a multigenre paper that includes
the autobiographical narrative essay as well as an informational nonfiction piece that provides context for and
connections to the story from their life.
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FEATURED RESOURCES
Autobiographical Narrative Component Peer Review Guide: This handout includes a chart to guide students in a
thoughtful peer review of a classmate's autobiographical essay, but it could be adapted for use with any peer review.
Contextual Essay Planning Sheet: This handout provides a chart that guides students in thinking about the kinds of
information an audience might need to know to understand their autobiographical essay.
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FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

In Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers, Tom Romano describes his ideal ELA classroom as one
in which students "are both consumers and producers of all kinds of literature and media" (43). As students are
exposed to or are expected to have gained "mastery" of certain genres, teachers can challenge students by asking
them to combine genres into cohesive multigenre pieces. In her article discussing the use of multigenre writing
assignments in her classroom, Nancy Mack states "I know that assignments must be innovative and interesting enough
so that they appear unlike the old drudgery of hackneyed assignments. The format must be open and attractive to
invite the possibility of doing something engaging rather than merely pursuing the trivial school game. Topics for
writing should make use of the unique knowledge and skills that students already have, connecting school work in a
respectful way to things that they value in their personal lives. The completed assignment should be personally
significant and full of power and integrity for the author so that the writing itself demands to be heard by a real
audience." (98) The writing assignments in this lesson do just that, as they challenge students to write in multiple
genres with connections to stories from their lives.
Further Reading
Romano, Tom. 2000. Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Mack, Nancy. "The Ins, Outs, and InBetweens of Multigenre Writing." English Journal 92.2 (November 2002): 9198
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12/8/2015

Having My Say: A Multigenre Autobiography Project - ReadWriteThink

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