Education Technology


NCTE: Drafting an Autobiography

Activity Overview

Students will think about events in their lives that they feel are the most important or memorable, write them, and construct their autobiographies according to the Activity 1 file (or work sheet), Outline for an Autobiography.

Before the Activity

See the attached Activity PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity.

Print the appropriate pages from the Activity for your class.

Install the LearningCheck(tm) and NoteFolio(tm) Apps on the students' graphing calculators following the attached instructions.

Students should have their devices and keyboards ready for typing. They will use a new NoteFolio? file to write the draft of their autobiographies. Note that they will write only a rough draft of their autobiography in this activity.

During the Activity

  • Distribute the appropriate pages from the Activity to your class
  • Distribute the LearningCheck(tm) and NoteFolio(tm) file(s) to your class using TI Connect(tm) and the appropriate TI Connectivity cable
  • Follow the procedures outlined in the Activity


  • Students will:
  • Understand and identify the distinguishing features of the major genres and use them to aid their interpretation and discussion of literature.
  • Recognize different levels of meaning.
  • Read aloud with expression, conveying the meaning and mood of a work.
  • Evaluate literary merit based on an understanding of the genre and the literary elements.
  • Write stories, poems, essays, and plays that observe the conventions of the genre and contain interesting and effective language and voice.
  • After the Activity

    If the students did not complete a rough draft of their autobiography in class, they should complete this draft as homework. When the rough draft is completed, encourage students to think of ways to write a fluid autobiography, connecting each memorable moment that they've written about in the draft. If students are stymied for ways to make transitions, have them look at existing published works for ways in which others have overcome this problem. Encourage the students to be as creative as possible in their writing.