Name:______Period:______ Preparing to Write a Mini Autobiography Based on Your Uncommon

Name:______Period:______Preparing to Write a “Mini Autobiography” Based on your Uncommon Beliefs or Pastimes

Instructions: Think about uncommon things you believe (“I believe a family should eat dinner together every night”) and unique things you like to do (“I collect bicentennial quarters”). Your goal here is to have a list that is pretty unique from everyone else’s, so you need to ask your group “Does this sound uncommon enough?” and respect your group’s decision when they say yes or no.

In his time, for example, Noah Webster was uncommon in his belief that there needed to be American school books. That uncommon belief shaped who he became. Peter Roget liked to make interesting lists. That uncommon hobby shaped who he became. Your goal is to come up with six fairly uncommon beliefs or six things you like to do that make you fairly unique from most people.

Record your list below, but do not write anything down until your group helps you decide if your belief or your “like” could be considered uncommon.

6 uncommon things you believe or like to do:
1. / 2.
3.
/ 4.
5. / 6.

Side two Instructions: With your group’s help, come up with an interesting (25-cent) adjective and/or a descriptive phrase that you would use to accurately describe yourself based on the uncommon belief or your uncommon thing you like to do.

What labels or descriptions do your six unique things reveal about you?
1.

I’m ______/ 2.

I’m ______
3.

I’m ______/ 4.

I’m ______
5.

I’m ______/ 6.

I’m ______

Finally: Tell your group how you came to believe the most interesting and uncommon belief you have listed, and tell them how you came to like the most interesting uncommon activity that you like to do.

Ask your group, “Which explanation/story about my uncommon features do think would make the most interesting piece of writing that could count as my ‘Mini Autobiography’?”

© 2015 Corbett Harrison, Educational Consultants, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may reprint freely for classroom use. This brainstorming tool accompanies this lesson at Corbett’s free-to-use website: