Biography Shoe Box

A biography is an account (story) of a person’s life written by another person. There have been biographies written about famous (good) and infamous (notorious, bad) people. A person who writes a biography is called a biographer.

This is your opportunity to become a biographer. However, instead of preparing a “written” report of a person’s life, you’re going to relay this information to your classmates in a very different way. Get ready to learn and have a lot of fun at the same time!

Here are the directions for your biography shoe box:

1. Select a famous or infamous person. This person may be alive or not.

2. Find out as much information as you can about this person. You may use sources such as books, encyclopedias, the internet, magazines, videos, etc. Try to use two or three different sources. Take notes so that you won’t forget what you’ve learned. These notes are just for your benefit. They will not be graded, however, you may use them during your oral report.

3. Decorate a shoe box with pictures, words, picture captions, etc. that help describe the person you’ve chosen. You may use pictures you’ve found on the internet, for example, and/or pictures you’ve drawn yourself.

4. Place at least five or more objects inside the box that represent this person’s life.

5. Be prepared to present an oral report (in your OWN words) about the person you’ve selected. You should not READ a report to us. Use the objects that you’ve placed inside your biography shoe box to help you relay some of the information you’ve learned about your famous or infamous person.

6. Be creative and have fun.