Tompkins, Ch. 7: Biographical Writing

Biographical writing provides the students with interesting and engaging moments for creative writing. In writing a personal narrative, students describe a real-life story based on their own experiences and draw conclusion that explains what the experience meant to them. “Young children as well as older students become more active, engaged writers as they write about themselves in personal narratives” (Steinberg, 1991, as cited in Tomkins, 2008, p. 148). Writing biographies of others offers insightful opportunities as well in that they can examine a person’s life- living or dead, accomplished or nominal- from historical, psychological, or sociological perspective. Biography writing not only requires the students to illuminates the social context of person’s life, but also provides room for personal reflections to be told (Griffiths & Macleod, 2008). That way, the students can be more reflective by intertwining their life with accounts of others; thus, leading them to be open to different perspectives on life. Being reflective and having differentiated ideas and perspectives is a key to creative writing.

Response to Julien Sanghyo Park

I like the quote cited, “Biographical writing is highly imaginative writing and always has been. The task of the biographer is to weave a riveting story from the fabric of the subject's life” (Felderman, 1989). This quote seems to me to well express the essence of biographical writing. When engaged in this type of writing, students need to focus on the most impressive or memorable incident in the person’s life that merits serious consideration. Basing on these topics, they are reformulating their stories through their own lenses. That way, biographical writing can provide the students with valuable reflective learning. Being reflective can open more doors in their own leaning process to be more creative.

Sources

Griffiths, M., & Macleod, G. (2008). Personal narratives and policy: Never
         the Twain? Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42 (s1), 121-143.

Tompkins, Gail E. (2008). Teaching writing: Balancing process and
         product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson