Biography: Publishing an Informative Essay

I started the lesson by explaining the publishing stage as the last stage of the writing process. (I referred students to the writing process on the Writing Wall.) At this stage, you write and present your final copy of the writing piece. I displayed the final copy of my biography essay on the document camera. I pointed out that I had corrected all mistakes, typed my piece, and added a corresponding image. I noted it was clean and neat; it was my best work.

I used Google Docs to manage student work. They are familiar with the program. They logged into the class’ common account, clicked on their folder, and created a new document. They named the new document with the name of their famous person and began to type. I walked around the room and offered assistance as needed.

Students were evaluated using a checklist. I reviewed the checklist with students before they started typing. Each student received a copy. The checklist allowed students to evaluate their work against a given set of criteria.