New Ways to Do That Biography Project

Each year, I find myself doing a biography project with my students. You know the ones; students pick a famous figure like Isaac Newton, Napoleon, or Ernest Hemmingway, do some research, and write a paper talking about when they were born, when they died, and the big things that happened in between. Biography projects can be incredibly valuable to students, giving them a chance to learn about major figures in a field with whom they would otherwise have no experience. But they can also be incredibly boring. These can be about more than just learning about dates and quirky stories, though. It should present an opportunity for students to find themselves in the giants of a field, set goals for their future, and plot out courses to success. Here are six strategies for making biography projects more engaging for students.

1. The Living History Project
These types of projects are quite common in the primary and elementary grades but are often considered to be too juvenile for high school students. But, actually, having students embody a historical figure can be even more valuable for older learners. They have the opportunity to use their knowledge of their character to engage with other historical figures. Imagine what would happen if Martin Luther King, Jr., were to find himself in a room with President Lincoln! Alternatively, students could determine how their historical figures would respond to current events and technology. While Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is a silly comedy, the project Bill and Ted tackle has a great deal of educational value.

2. The Social Media Project
In my time teaching physics and middle school science, I have had students create imagined Facebook and Twitter accounts for their chosen figures. I did not have them actually use the social media platforms for this purpose, instead opting for formatted Google Slides to serve as a template for their profiles. This allows students to adjust the date and timestamps for posts and create interactions with contemporaries. Students still find all of the information typical to a written biography, but they are able to present it in a more relatable, fun format. Make sure that you are choosing a platform that students still use, though. Tik Tok is more relatable to current high schoolers than MySpace.

3. The Modern Figures Project
This type of project fits better into a mathematics, art, literature, or science classroom than a history classroom, but it can still be of benefit to any secondary teacher. Too often, when we have students to biography projects, we have them choose from a narrow list of major figures that are dead and gone. It can be so boring when every single student wants to research Albert Einstein! It can be an interesting change of pace when we have students do biographies on people who are still alive and currently working in a field. Making a subject more accessible and modern serves to allow students to better identify with it and even develop a vested interest in following the work of a living expert.

4. The Overlooked Figures Project
On the subject of avoiding any more reports on Albert Einstein, there is a huge gap in research done on people of color and women. Consider having students choose someone who fits into one of these categories for their research. Even better, have students research both traditional and minority figures in a field and compare the path they took. Considering the differences in the lives of figures from different backgrounds can serve as a privilege check to some students, and an invitation to engage for others. We need to see more women and people of color making history, and the best way to make that happen is to give these students figures to look up to who look like them.

5. The Biopic
Try incorporating technology in a big way by having students create a biopic for their character. Obviously, you shouldn't expect them to create something like Bohemian Rhapsody or The Theory of Everything, but with all of the huge biopics that have hit theaters in the past few years, there is a lot of inspiration for students to create biopics on famous figures. Have students create shorter biopics (focus on scripts and recording over production value and costuming) to share with their classmates. This presents an opportunity for all of our budding YouTubers to work on their content creation skills as well!

6. The Children's Book
One of my favorite biography projects that I ever had students do was creating a children's book about a famous scientist. We read a number of mentor texts to give us an idea of what a children's book would look like, students did research on a famous scientist, and they assembled a storybook about their scientist. Some students targeted kindergartners while others chose a third grade reading level for their books, but all of them ended up with really cute stories! We then had our books printed and bound and donated them to younger students in our district. Everyone loved this project, and our library keeps a few of the better books on hand for students to borrow!

Maybe you still do a traditional biography project with your students and want to update it. Maybe you got rid of your biography project and want to bring it back in a new and exciting way. Either way, I hope that this sparked a few ideas. Let me know if you want to know more about any of these projects, or if you have other ideas for how to spice up biography projects