Contains depictions of discriminatory behaviour.

To write a biography (Part 1)

Key Stage 2

English

Inspirational figures - Biographical writing

﻿Hi, everyone, it's Miss van Vliet here and I hope that you are well. And we are about to start our eighth lesson in this unit. And it's going to be the first writing lesson. So we are going to write the introduction and the first two paragraphs of the main body. So, let's get writing. Our learning objective for today is to write a biography on Harriet Tubman. Our agenda is as follows, we're going to do a writing warmup. We're going to do a recap of the plan. Then we're going to do a shared write where I'll do a shared write and then in between the shared writes you will write your paragraphs. So the independent task that we're going to do, a shared write, an independent task, shared write, independent task, shared write, independent task. Is this lesson you will need an exercise book or paper, preferably lined, a pencil or a pen, and you need your notes from your research lesson and your plan from your plan lesson. So, pause the video now and make sure you have all of those things. Okay, so you should have everything right there in front of you. It's really important. Otherwise you're going to find this very difficult. Also, it's really good if you are in a really calm, quiet space so that you can focus. Okay, for the writing warmup today, it is a correct spelling. So, let's see which one is the correct spelling. So you can have a look at both. I'm going to give you two options and then choose one on the screen which you think is correct. So is it biography or biografy? Of course, it's biography. You might like to write these correct words down because they give you a bit of a word bank for when we are writing. Let's try the next one, conducter, conductor. Hmm. Which one is it? Point to it on your screen. Do that in three, two, one. Yes, it's conductor. It's the or sound at the end. Maybe add that to your piece of paper so you have that. Because you are going to use that word. Numerous or numeres? Numerous, numeres, hmm. Which one is it? You might have seen one of these. Numerous means there are lots of. Point to it on your screen. Do that in three, two, one. Yes, it's the O-U-S ending, numerous. And you could write that down and then you'd have the correct spelling. Okay, escaping or eskaping. Do we do it with the C or the K? Hmm, which one looks right? Which one might you have seen before? Point to it on your screen in three, two, one. Yes, it's escaping. We spell it with a C. Injustis or injustice? Hmm, which one looks right? Point to it on the screen in three, two, one. Yes, it's injustice, it's the I-C-E. Okay. And you might want to write that one down as well so you've got that. So you've got a word bank of correct spellings there for you. Well done. Okay, let's just recap the plans. What are we going to be doing today? So, remember I showed you this biography on Maya Angelou in our very first lesson in this unit. And it was the lesson on the features. When we looked at some of the features. Remember we looked at things whether the biography's been written in the past tense, in third person using lots of dates and facts. We looked at having formal conjunctions, relative clauses, and of course, we looked at the layout. And we need a heading, subheading, and paragraphs. So, we are going to write our introduction. Then we have the main body. So we've got three paragraphs to the main body. We've got early life, leading others to freedom and the Civil War. And we put our notes into those three subheadings. And then we're going to write a conclusion. We won't write the whole thing in this lesson. We'll write some of it in the next lesson. Okay, let's get writing. So, just before we get writing, what do we need in our writing to be successful today? So I'd like, in your writing, to use a range of sentence starters. And we've put some of those in our plan. We have some LY sentence starters. We had some time conjunctions. I also definitely would like you to use a who/which relative clause in your writing. And of course to use a range of formal "and" and "but" conjunctions. So if you put those three things, there's three things that are in our success criteria in your writing, you'll be very successful. Just a quick recap. What is a formal conjunction? There are different types of formal conjunctions and we have "and" conjunctions. So instead of saying and, and, and, we can start our sentences using these formal "and" conjunctions. So we could say, in addition to this. In addition to this. Moreover. Furthermore. As well as. We also have "but" conjunctions. So instead of saying, but, but. We could say, however. Despite this. On the other hand. And there's that image that we can use to help us. So just take a note. Take a mental picture of these. Try and put those in your head. Those are those kind of formal conjunctions that we want in this nonfiction writing. So what do we need in an introduction? Quick recap, this is what we did in our plan, planning lesson in the previous lesson. And we're going to use this to write our introduction. So the checklist for our writing is that our introductory paragraph we need that introductory sentence. We need two or three general facts and we need a linking sentence. And of course, to be successful in our writing, we want to make sure we use who/which relative clauses, formal conjunctions, and a range of sentence starters. Okay so, we're going to start our shared write. And first things first, I've already put, as you can see, my title. My title's Harriet Tubman at the moment. And then I'm going to start my first paragraph. It's my introductory paragraph. So I need to introduce who Harriet Tubman was in an introductory sentence. So that the reader knows what they're about to, who they're about to read about. So, I'm going to start my line with fascinatingly. Fascinatingly. And then I need a comma, because it's an LY sentence starter. Adverbial sentence starter. Then I write Harriet Tubman. And I've got capital letters for both Harriet and Tubman. It's because they're both proper nouns. And then we're going to write, devoted her life to fighting inequality and injustice in America. So America needs another capital letter because it's a... Proper noun. She was. I'm just going to tell people who she was and what she did. She was a nurse, a civil rights activist. Activist. As well as. As well as. An underground. Now, I'm going to put a capital letter for underground because it's like a proper noun, because it's a name of that route. I'm not talking about the real underground we're talking about this underground rail road route. So underground and railroad will both have a capital letter. As well as an Underground Railroad conductor. Remember how we spelled conductor? Con-duct-or. It was the or sound at the end that we saw in our starter. She risked her own life on numerous, so instead of saying many, we're going to use the word numerous. Slightly more ambitious language. And it was in our spelling starter, so it's the O-U-S ending. Numerous occasions, occasions. Oo, this is always a tricky word. Is it double C or double S? Hmm, which one is it? Tell me. Double C, one S, occasions. In order to help over 300 people to their freedom. Which their is it? To their freedom. Is it T-H-E-R-E or is it T-H-E-I-R, or is it T-H-E-Y apostrophe R-E? Tell me. We're talking about their freedom, so it's T-H-E-I-R. Their freedom. By facilitating slaves escaping, another one of our words. Remember it was with a C. Escaping from the southern states in America. Okay, now I've got my introductory sentence. And I've got two or three facts there. So I've got she was a nurse, civil activist, the railroad, what she did, she risked her life. She helped people escape. So now I want my linking sentence. So you see my checklist. I've done one and I've done two. And now I want my linking sentence. Remember, in our introduction we can just use, read on to find out more. So let's do read on to find out more about. And I'm not just going to say Harriet Tubman. I'm going to say, about this truly remarkable civil rights activist. Okay. Now we need to, of course, check and read our whole introduction. So, Harriet Tubman. Fascinatingly, Harriet Tubman devoted her life to fighting inequality and injustice in America. She was a nurse, a civil rights activist, as well as an Underground Railroad conductor. She risked her own life on numerous occasions in order to help over 300 people to their freedom by facilitating slaves escaping from the southern states in America. Read on to find out more about this truly remarkable civil rights activist. Yep, I'm happy with that. Okay, so we've just written our introduction. And it's always good to go back and just check our success criteria to see if we have already met some of the things that we need to be successful. So, we have used a sentence starter but I think we can use some more. We haven't used a who/which relative clause yet. We've only said as well as. So I think we still need to think about these three things in our main paragraphs. So now what I'd like you to do is to pause the video and for you to write your introduction, okay? So remember, you need that one introductory sentence. So you're introducing who she was. Two or three general facts about what she did and then that linking sentence, read on to find out more. I've put your success criteria on there as well so you can have a look at that. So pause the video and resume it once you have written your introduction. Well, you should have finished writing your introduction. So now we're going to think about writing our first paragraph of our main body. So what was that again? Let's remind ourselves. Have a look at your plan from the last, the planning lesson. So we're going to write about early life. And this is what we planned together and you probably have some other ideas on your plan. And again, our checklist is very similar to our introduction. We're going to have an introductory sentence in our paragraph then we're going to have about three sentences with facts about her early life. So now we can have those specific facts. And then we're going to write our linking sentence. So we'll do a shared write together and then you'll write it on your own. Okay, so let's continue on with our first paragraph of our main body. So we've got early life and you can see, I've got that up on my page and I've already underlined it because that is my subheading. Then I've got Harriet Tubman was born on a slave plantation. That was that, what I had in my plan. So I've already written that for you. I'm going to use that, so, let's finish the sentence. Harriet Tubman was born on a slave plantation in Maryland. So that needs a capital letter. In Maryland. In, oh sorry, I'm going to actually say as Araminta Ross in 1820. I'm going to say 1820, but remember there is slight confusion about the day she was born because there are no formal records of it. Then I'm going to write that she took her mother's name when she was 13. So I'm going to say, she took her mother's. Mother's. Mother's name. So, the name belonging to the mother, so I need an apostrophe S. That's not lots of mothers, it's the name belong to the mother. So took her mother's name. Harriet. When she was 13 years old. Okay, hmm. Now I'm thinking about my plan. I'm going to add in. Sadly, comma. And I'm going to write a sentence about how her life was quite difficult. I'm going to say, sadly, Harriet's start. Harriet's start. Is it Harriet's apostrophe S or is it Harriet S? Of course, it's apostrophe S because it's the start to Harriet's life. Harriet's start to life was difficult. Oh, and we're going to make this into a complex sentence and we're going to say, as she lived in a one room cabin. Oh, it's a bit late. With her parents. And 11 siblings. Full stop. Oh, I'm going to say about how she was loaned out to that family to look after the baby. So, by the age. I'm going to use by the age of six. When most of us have just started school. She was working already. She was loaned out to another family to help take care of a baby. I'm going to say, then, from the age of 13. She did what? Yeah, she worked on that cotton plantation, didn't she? Harriet worked on the cotton plantation. Oh, I'm going to make that into a relative clause. Which was. And then we're going to use a word from our vocabulary lesson. And I'm going to use, which was back breaking. Back breaking. As, oh and I'm even going to make it into a complex sentence. As it included. Included. A lot of physical labour. Remember labour is work. Okay, so I've definitely already written three facts there. So now I want to use, get my linking sentence. And I really pound that. And I said something about, she was tragically hurt in an accident. So I'm going to just add a sentence starter. I'm going to say, I'm going to use a non-finite clause and I'm going to say, during this time. She was. Tragically. Hurt. In an accident. I've finished with that relative clause. Which led to her seeking a new life. Full stop. Okay, now I've linked that last sentence unto my next paragraph which will make my whole biography flow. Okay, now of course we need to read back what we've just written. So early life. Harriet Tubman was born on a slave plantation in Maryland as Aramina. Oh, Aramina. But it's Araminta. Araminta Ross in 1820. She took her mother's name, Harriet, when she was 13 years old. Sadly, Harriet's start to life was difficult as she lived in a one room cabin with her parents and 11 siblings. By the age of six, she was loaned out to another family to help take care of a baby. Then, from the age of 13, Harriet worked on the cotton plantation, which was back breaking as it included a lot of physical labour. During this time, she was tragically hurt in an accident, which led to her seeking a new life. Great, I've got. I can check off all my checklist. Intro sentence, at least two or three facts about her early life, and a linking sentence. So now I'd like you to write your paragraph on her, under the subheading, early life. So remember your introductory sentence. You need two or three general facts. And a linking sentence. And then remember to be successful, we want to see a range of sentence starters, who/which relative clauses and those formal "and" or "but" conjunctions. So pause the video and take some time to write. Do that now, good luck. We now need to put into our second paragraph of our main body. So have a look at your plan from the planning lesson and let's see. So the second paragraph is going to be on leading others to freedom. So make sure you have a look through your plan from the planning lesson. And let's do our shared write now. Okay, so I've already put my subheading and I've already underlined it. And then I put my first introductory sentence down. So, in 1849 Tubman fled to freedom. And so now I want to talk about, this is all about how she was helping people using the Underground Railroad. So my next sentence is going to be how she then started working for the Underground Railroad. So I'm going to add a sentence starter. I'm going to use, two years later. Two years later, comma. She joined the Underground Railroad. Remember, that was that capital letter. It was slightly strange because it's referring to the actual underground railroad system that was used by the slaves. Underground Railroad. And I'm just going to put some brackets for added information. So my parentheses here. I'm going to say, an organisation. An organizay. Organisation. Of safe houses. Called stations. I'm going to say, which helped slaves escape. Which helped slaves escape is an... What is it? Yes, it's a relative clause, well done. I'm just going to explain how the slaves moved along in this. I'm going to say, at night. Because I have that as a sentence starter. At night, slaves would move from station to station, hiding in the woods, until they reached safety. Safety. In the northern states. Oh, northern states. Of America. Oh, I only want a caps letter for the A not for the M. Of America. Or even Canada, we can say. Because that, we learned that, didn't we? Sometimes they even went as far north as Canada. Canada. Of course I need capital letters for both America and Canada because they're proper nouns. Oh, now in the vocabulary lesson you learned the word gruelling. Gruelling. And I really want to put that in because it was a gruellingly strenuous. So I'm going to say, these were often gruelling journeys because slave masters would be out looking for those fleeing freedom. And I'm going to say, as such, these expeditions were incredibly dangerous. So I've got quite a lot there already. I've got quite a few facts. Now I'm just going to do my linking sentence. I'm just going to add. I'm going to just add my LY sentence starter. I'm going to say, bravely, Tubman risked her life many times and guided hundreds of slaves to freedom. And this sentence then will link on to how she was also brave during the Civil War. So not just when she was an Underground Railroad conductor, but then when the Civil War broke out she continued to be incredibly brave. So, I've got my checklist there and I can check that off, that I've done all those sentences. And I always need to remember just to read through my writing after I've written a paragraph. So, in 1849, Tubman fled to freedom. Two years later, comma, she joined the Underground Railroad, brackets, an organisation of safe houses called stations, closing brackets. Comma, because I'm starting my relative clause. Which helped slaves escape. Full stop. Now I'm going to add my comma. Slaves would move from station to station, comma, hiding in the woods, comma, until they reached safety in the northern states of America or even Canada. Caps letter for America and Canada because they're both proper nouns. These were often gruelling. Gruelling, good word choice. Journeys because slave masters would be out looking for those fleeing freedom. Fleeing to freedom, I should say. I'm going to add fleeing to freedom. As such, comma, these expeditions were incredibly dangerous. Bravely, comma, Tubman risked her life many times and guided hundreds of slaves to freedom. Okay, I'm happy with that for now. So I'd like you to pause the video now and to complete your task. So the task is to write your leading others to freedom paragraph. Remember you need to think of the checklist. Remember those type of sentences and then your success criteria. So, pause the video and then resume the video when you have written it. Enjoy! Wow, so you should have finished writing. So, let's have a look at what we've done today. Whoa, you've done a writing warmup. You've recapped our plan. We've done shared write, you've written, shared write, you've written, shared write, you've written. So you've written quite a lot today. So give yourself a big pat on the back because that was not easy. Absolutely great job. So, you have finished today's lesson. You'll be please to hear, I'm sure. It would be lovely if you told your parents and carers about your writing. And then in the next lesson we'll finish writing our whole biography. So absolutely well done. Big thumbs up from me, well done.

To write a biography (Part 1)

To write a biography (Part 1)

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UnitEnglish / Inspirational figures - Biographical writing

English