Prewriting for Phase Autobiographies
Prewriting is your first step in writing a phase autobiography. These prewriting activities will help you select a topic to write about, gather important actions and details, and organize your thoughts before you begin a first draft.
Prewriting to Select a Topic
The topic of your narrative should be a period in your life in which you learned something important about yourself or your world.
Explore topic ideas.
To help you think of topic ideas, review the list of possible topics that follow. Choose at least two that you have experienced, or think of two topics of your own. Freewrite about each topic. Jot down impressions, feelings, memories, or anything that comes to mind about the topic.
- One special summer
- A summer job
- Starting in a new school
- First trip away from home
- New baby or member in the family
- Being a member of a team
- Finding or losing a friend
- Moving to a new home
- Learning a new activity (sport, instrument, etc.)
- A death or illness in the family
Topic 1:
Topic 2:
Choose your topic.
Answer the following questions to explore each topic in greater depth. Then choose your favorite one as the topic of your phase autobiography.
- What did I learn during this period?
Topic 1:
Topic 2:
- Will others be interested in what I learned? Why or why not?
Topic 1:
Topic 2:
- What will my phase autobiography be about?
Prewriting to Gather Details
Your phase autobiography shouldn't include every detail of the particular time period you are writing about. If it did, it would go on and on. When you plan your writing, think about the most important actions and details that exhibited the focus, or main point, of your story.
Fill in a gathering grid.
Use the grid that follows to gather details for your phase autobiography. Fill in the first column with the events or actions you want to share. In the second and third columns, jot down details and feelings about each event.
What Happened |
Details About What Happened |
Feelings About What Happened |
| Event 1: | ||
| Event 2: | ||
| Event 3: | ||
| Event 4: |
Teaching Tip
Let your students know that their writing can have more or fewer than four main events.
Prewriting to Choose a Focus
Your writing should center around one main idea or theme. This main idea is your focus.
Choose a focus.
Answer the following questions to help find your focus.
- What did you learn from this phase in your life?
- What about the period of time is most important to you?
- Keeping in mind the answers to your last two questions, what will be the focus of your phase autobiography?