A Reflection of the Genre Expert Workshops

Throughout this semester, I have engaged in Genre Expert Workshops for Journal Reading and Writing, Letter Reading and Writing, the Persuasive Genre, Descriptive Genre, Biography Genre, Poetry Genre, as well as my own exploration of the Narrative Genre. As I reflect upon these experiences, I feel I have developed a deeper understanding of the Biography Genre. 

I knew that “Biographical writing focuses on people” (Tompkins, 2012, p. 230), but I did not consider the various types of life stories within this genre. I felt familiar and comfortable with biography vs. autobiography, where an autobiography is written by the individual themself, and a biography is written about an individual by another individual. I also was aware of memoirs, but not how it is distinguished from the other types. Explicit instruction and engagement with mentor texts illustrated the four types of life stories I will encounter when teaching and learning about the biography genre. I really love the visual that this group created, to help us visualize the connection of these four types but recognize their distinctions from one another using Tompkins (2012) descriptions. I will be including this visual, so I can refer back to it via my reading and writing blog. I also consider this a great resource for the classroom environment. 

While in class, I engaged with a biography mentor text, “Abby Wambach” written by Esther Porter. I dove deeper into this mentor text by gathering general information about Abby Wambach’s life. The author used the form of a timeline or lifeline, which Tompkins (2012) described on p. 241. I had not ever considered the specific form that authors use to illustrate one's life in a biography text, so this was a valuable experience. Tompkins (2012) also indicates additional forms that readers and writers can utilize, such as photographs, quotes, letters, stories, newspaper articles, etc. (p. 241). I then analyzed the audience, who I felt this text was written for. I indicated that it was written for soccer fans and female athletes, as this text often noted her accomplishments for women in sports. Examining mentor texts was valuable for a few reasons. First, it gave me an idea of high-quality books I could include in my own classroom and instruction, Tompkins (2012) states, “Teachers read-aloud award-winning and other high-quality picture books and chapter books…chosen carefully to highlight an aspect of writing” (p. 19). Second, it allowed me to examine one specific book with the guidance and support of each mentor group, to analyze the text and apply my new learning. Genre Expert Workshops allowed us to explore many of the genres and Tompkins (2012) text, which is a valuable tool for teachers of reading and writing across all grade levels. 

Reference

Porter, E. (2016). Abby Wambach. Capstone Press.