How Do You Know It’s True? Evaluating Biographies with Children
When asked how biographers gather information about a person’s life, elementary and middle grade students often respond, “They read books,” and “They use the Internet.” Third and fifth grade teachers in Boston Public Schools are implementing a new approach to teaching history through biography with exciting results. Participants in History Makers, a professional development seminar presented by the Library’s Education Department in partnership with Boston Public Schools, are learning how biographers research their subjects and select and interpret information. During the twelve-week program, teachers meet with guest authors and children’s literature specialists. They practice, adapt and implement critical reading strategies exemplified by Myra Zarnowski in her book History Makers: A Questioning Approach to Reading and Writing Biographies. In one of these practical classroom activities, Zarnowski, a professor of Elementary and Early Education at Queens College in New York, outlines a strategy in which students compare two or more biographies about the same person. They examine similarities and differences in the selection and interpretation of information, source material, authors’ notes, illustrations, theme and style.
Several teachers who have implemented the strategy found that students quickly realized that biographies about the same person often include different information. The students also discovered that some biographies had conflicting “facts.” Faced with this dilemma, the teachers asked their students, “How do you determine which one is true?” This question prompted further investigations: How did the biographer gather this information? What sources were used? Were they accurate? To answer these questions, students had to think like historians as they evaluated the evidence presented by the author.
Students were fascinated to find that biographers interpret the same historical figure’s life differently and sometimes even have different versions of the same episode. As students became familiar with criteria for analyzing biographies, they offered their own interpretations and ideas about the author’s approach. Empowered with her new knowledge and skills, one student requested that her teacher help her find a book by an author she deemed trustworthy, based on having evaluated his source material. One teacher reported that as his students learned to compare biographies, “the conversations that were going on in the classroom were amazing. The students learned more about learning (in history) than any other subject.”
(History Makers is presented in partnership with Boston Public Schools, and is supported by a Teaching American History Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.)
RELATED TEACHING RESOURCES AND CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS
Related Teaching Resources
Visit our web site, www.jfklibrary.org, in the “For Teachers” section to find Historical Resources for Elementary and Middle Grades including:
• Biographies in American History: Annotated Bibliographies for Elementary and Middle Grades. These extensive booklists describe recommended biographies for the Colonial Period, the Revolutionary Era, the 19th Century and the 20th Century.
• Evaluating Biographies and Nonfiction Books for Elementary and Middle Grades – Handout for Teachers
• What to look for when you read a biography – Handout for Students
• Criteria adapted from the Orbis Pictus Nonfiction Award offer guidelines for selecting high-quality books for elementary and middle grade students
Classroom Applications
Refer to the annotated bibliographies above to select at least two books about the same historical figure for each student to read. Have them work individually or in groups to record information about one or more elements of the biographies:
1. Did you find conflicting information? Different versions of the same story?
2. What source materials did the authors use? How do you know? Which sources are more likely to be accurate? Which are less likely to be accurate?
3. What was the main theme of each biography? How did you determine this?
4. What information did the biographer choose to include and how was it presented?
5. Is there information about how the author became interested in the historical figure?
Reference:
Zarnowski, Myra. History Makers: A Questioning Approach to Reading and Writing Biographies. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN YOU READ A BIOGRAPHY
A GOOD BIOGRAPHY PRESENTS THE FACTS ABOUT A PERSON’S LIFE including what the subject did and how he or she made a difference in the world. It should also tell the story in an interesting way, showing what the person was really like, how he or she acted, and how others responded. What picture does the author paint of the individual?
WHAT IS THE AUTHOR’S POINT OF VIEW? What does the author think of the person he or she is writing about? Biographers interpret information in different ways. How is the person’s life presented? What conclusions does the author draw from the person? What parts of the book show you the author’s point of view?
WHAT INFORMATION DID THE AUTHOR INCLUDE AND WHAT IS LEFT OUT? If you read two or more biographies about the same person, you will find different information in each biography. Why do you think the author included certain information and left out other information?
IS IT TRUE? This can be a very difficult question to answer. Biographers make their writings accurate by learning as much as possible about their subjects. They study materials such as diaries, personal letters, oral histories and autobiographies. The most accurate biographies are based on historical evidence. But some biographers are less thorough and careful in their research and may not use the best source materials. Also, the book may be fictionalized, or partly made up. Sometimes authors use their imagination in writing about a person’s thoughts, feelings and conversations. (A fictionalized biography may be a good story, but it is not necessarily true.)
HOW CAN YOU CHECK WHAT EVIDENCE A BIOGRAPHER USED? See if the book has a bibliography, end notes or an author’s note to explain what sources the author used.
REMEMBER THAT JUST BECAUSE something is in a book doesn’t mean that it’s true.
WHEN WAS THE BOOK PUBLISHED? What is the copyright date? Older biographies can be excellent, but newer books may include new information based on more recent research. They may also have fewer stereotypes. Newer books often look more appealing, too; they are designed for kids and may have beautiful illustrations and interesting photographs.
BE SURE TO EXAMINE PICTURES THAT LOOK “HISTORICAL.” Sometimes these images were actually created many years after the event by artists who did not know anything about their subjects. They were not made to show what life was actually like, they were created as art. The images may also be based on stereotypes of certain groups of people. Look to see if the captions show when and by whom the pictures were made. It is important to be aware that just because an image appears old and “historical” doesn’t mean that it is authentic.
THINK ABOUT WHY SOME PEOPLE HAVE MANY BIOGRAPHIES WRITTEN ABOUT THEM AND OTHERS HAVE FEW OR NONE.
Prepared by Sasha Lauterbach and Marion Reynolds for History Makers, a professional development program presented by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Education Department in partnership with Boston Public Schools, supported by a Teaching American History Grant from the U.S. Department of Education, 2007. To download this student handout, visit the “For Teachers” section of our web site.