biography poster project examples

How to Teach Character Analysis Using Body Biographies

Are your students disinterested and tired of the traditional ways of learning characterization? Have you been searching for a really fun, student-centered, interactive way to eliminate their boredom? Well, look no further! I present to you a wonderful student-collaboration activity that will get your students involved and excited for a character analysis for any novel, biography study , mythology, current events, or for creative writing and character development.

About the Body Biography project

This project is an excellent representation of how students can conduct analysis for a notable person or biography your students are studying in class. At the upper elementary, middle school, and high school level, we usually rely on just discussing character traits. We want our students to infer tangible traits and values from accurate details found in the text.

This task really engages your students to infer those traits but also allows them to show their knowledge by applying those traits as they create a body biography which includes details from the person’s perspective. The project provides an opportunity for your student to explore together the supporting reasons for the character traits they have chosen for their character’s poster.

What’s the objective?

• The student objectives for the Macbeth Body Biography Project are as follows: Review what is supportive evidence
• Define the literary term “character trait” and explore how to provide details that support their inferences (apply this skill similar to exploring a fictional text).
• Use the novel, class notes, and web resources to research the character (subject), then cite evidence to find accurate and descriptive word choice.
• Fill out the Body Biography graphic organizer/poster.

Group work should promote:

• Intellectual understanding, abilities, and skills.
• Communication, cooperative and teamwork skills such as planning. management, leadership and peer support.
• Personal growth (increased self-esteem and self-confidence).

Remember the 4 C’s for 21st Century Learning

Communication:  They are working together to problem-solve. Students need to be able to communicate their ideas and thoughts to one another in order to complete their body biography. Collaboration:  Students form roles within the group. They learn how to work together towards a common goal, not against each other. They learn how to bounce ideas off one another, and not shut down other students thought. Critical Thinking:  Encourage students to analyze, to organize, to evaluate and to implement strategies they have previously learned in order to complete their project. Creativity:  This allows students to think outside the box to come up with possible assets to embellish their projects. The ideas won’t just jump out at them- they will need to use a little creativity to depict their notable person’s body biography.

Teaching Tips

• Moving desks together or allowing students to work at a table works best for this activity.
• Due to the length of the poster (32 inches), your students will want to have a wider and longer space to work.
• Scissors for each group.
• Have markers, crayons, pencils, and tape accessible and ready
• Displaying the body biography posters are really exciting for the students to see around the classroom – so plan on where you will display them!

Body Biography Project Categories

Direct Quotes: Three direct quotations from the story that sums up the character and add to an understanding of the character. These quotes do not necessarily need to be spoken by the character. Possibly, another character says them in regard to your character.

Virtues: What are your character’s best qualities?

Vices: What are your character’s worst qualities? This can be weaknesses and flaws.

Loves / Cares About: This should represent what this character loves most.

Thoughts about inner-self / Appears to others: Consider both how your character appears to others on the surface and what you know about the character’s inner-self (what the character really thinks about their own self).

Tries to Control: What is an example of how your character tries to seek control.

Symbols: What objects can you associate/relate with your character? Colors can also have a symbolic meaning.

Goals: What does this character want? What actions do they take? These actions often create conflict. How do this character’s goals create the conflict?

Best Accomplishment: What is this character’s best achievement? What is their proudest moment?

Challenge: What is standing in your character’s way? What is holding them back from achieving their goal? Is this someone? Or a character flaw? An event?

Physical Appearance/ Description: What You Notice First. These are defining traits or features of the character. These are aspects that are visually apparent, knowing nothing else about the person. The first thing you see when you look at someone could be their hair, clothes, nose, or figure.

Stayed the Same / Changed: Is this character static or dynamic? Are there any changes that this character has “undergone?” Changes are notable in the text are usually within the character. Could be outlook, insight or understanding. Commonly, changes in commitment, in values, allegiance, stature. Not all the characters are dynamic. Find evidence of both.

Ho w To Grade

Using the rubric, it is simple to grade this group project. Each item on the grading rubric is given a specific amount of points. You can alter the points if you choose.

Learning Outcomes for a body biography project

Reading: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

Writing: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Speaking & Listening: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Language: Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for the meaning of style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Here is an example of the common core standards that can be covered using a body biography project:

Reading: Literature 11-12.1-6 Reading: Informational Text 11-12.1-3 Writing 11-12.1a-8 Speaking & Listening 11-12.1a-1d Language 11-12.2b-5b

I am adding more body biographies to my collection. So, if you don’t see one you can use in your classroom, comment here on my post to let me know what your needs are! I am also working on a “blank” version for any novel. As soon as that one is ready I will update this post to include it.

I hope your students find this project to be as engaging and educational as my students have. It truly is a fun project to watch and the end results are awesome. Good luck!

46 Comments

Omg this looks so amazing!!! I would love one for Night, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and the Crucible. Please let me know if any of these are in the near future?!?

Romeo and Juliet is done. Coming any day. I will have The Crucible for sure! Very soon. I need to gather my inspiration for the artwork. Thank you so much for commenting!

That sounds awesome! Thank you for the suggestion!

I am excited for Romeo and Juliet! Where can we find it?

I really love these. When do you think you will come out with a blank one? I teach a reading course at the high school level and we read various novels throughout the year. This would be a great project to help improve critical thinking.

I do have one that is a “blank” – you can find it in my collection. THANK YOU!

Eager for R &J…..

I would love to see some for The Giver, A Wrinkle in Time, or Freak the Mighty. These really are awesome!

I would also love one for The Giver and A Wrinkle in Time!

This is awesome. How about Equality 7-2521 from Anthem by Ayn Rand?

Wow! These are incredible. I love doing creative, visual projects, but there are never enough hours in the day. Thank you for sharing such an amazing activity. I teach 7th and 8th, and think this would make a wonderful personal intro to present to the class at the beginning of the year. Once students have done this as a group, individuals could use this as an independent reading response. Novels I teach: Freak the Mighty, The Giver, Roll of Thunder, My Dog Skip, Because of Winn Dixie, A Christmas Carol (play), The Diary of Anne Frank (play).

you are amazing! I’d love to speak with you more – and perhaps do a guest blog post for us! Thank you for sharing your reading list!

These are amazing! Have you created a blank one yet? Can you please let me know when you have a blank one available?

yes 🙂 You will see it listed – and I added it to this post. Thank you!

Have you considered doing one for Odysseus?

absolutely! II just need to get the artwork lined up.

Do you have the blank ones created? I’d love to try this with our book “Firegirl” and “Walk Two Moons” for our 6th graders!

I added blank ones to my collection! THANK YOU!

Julius Caesar please!

Wow! You are very talented! These are amazing. I would love to see Greek mythology: gods, goddesses, hero’s, etc. Malala Yousafzai and Amal from Amal Unbound!!

I’d love one for Fahrenheit 451!

Love this idea!! Would love to see one for the characters in Cynthia Lord’s RULES novel and MANIAC MAGEE as character analysis is a huge part of our those two novel studies.

I would love to see Freak the Mighty!

My 7th grade Special Education ELA class is working on Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling. One of the characters, Aven, is armless. It would be so incredibly cool to do this project with my kiddos!

How about Wonder? I would love to see one for it. These are incredible!

These are amazing! Would love one for “Of Mice and Men” or a blank one 🙂 Thanks!

I love these! I cannot wait to use the Outsiders version! I would love to see one for The Giver and The Watsons Go To Birmingham, those are the two other novel we read during our school year! 🙂

I see in the previous comments you have added a blank set. Where would I find these? I am a forensic science teacher. I would love to use this during our serial killer section! Or the history of forensic science to learn about the main historical people in the field. Your stuff is amazing!

These are amazing! I would love to see one of these for Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone or The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

How about The Old Man and the Sea!

Would you make custom ones for people if they are studying a particular novel? I’m a primary school teacher who teaches the older grades, these are my novels can you make any up for me? 1. Wonder 2. The Greatest Showman 3. Goldfish Boy 4. Charlie & the Chocolate Factory 5. Harry Potter & the Philosophers (Sorcerors) Stone 6. Wizard of Oz 7. Alice in Wonderland I have many resources for these novels but nothing like what you have created. Please let me know it would be a god send.

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This is absolutely awesome! I can’t wait to use the ones for To Kill A Mockingbird! I would love to see some for The Hate U Give!

I have To Kill A Mockingbird. I don’t have The Hate U Give yet. It’s on my list. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm!

Hi, ‘just purchased “Outsiders”, can you create one for “Wonder”?

hi! I do have it in my collection : ) Thank you for your enthusiasm!

These are incredible! I would love to see A Wrinkle in Time, The Giver, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Egypt Game! I’m looking forward to using the blank version until then!

I would love to see some for The Handmaid’s Tale.

I teach middle school gifted students and think this would be great as a culminating project for various topics I teach— currently teaching the Yellow Wallpaper and connecting it to feminism and mental illness….

I love using these! I already have so many but am missing Of Mice and Men… any chance that is in the works *crosses fingers*?

I just purchased the set for Beowulf, and it is great. Would you consider creating a set for Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds or at least one for Will. These would be perfect as a character study set for that novel.

Do you perhaps have the layout for Percy Jackson, The Lightning Thief or Hatchet?

The Canterbury Tales would be AMAZING!

I found your work while searching for Hamlet character analysis ideas. You mention a blank template, but I do not see it. Would love to see Hamlet and the Odyssey.

I bought the one for any novel and for A Christmas Carol. I would love if you would consider doing one for The Joy Luck Club!!

These are fantastic! I would love to have a set for Fences by August Wilson.

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I’m so glad you are here! My name is Danielle. I am passionate about helping teachers and homeschool parents promote critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication with their students. 

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Free Editable Biography Templates

Design a free creative biography template. engage your students to discover the power of synthesis and learn about the lives of famous authors..

Customize  Biography templates online . Use Edit.org to customize your biographies for schools, bookstores, and libraries. Create biographies about characters from a novel quickly and in a structured way.

Customize professional Bio examples online

At Edit.org, we have created a collection of editable biography templates that can be used by students, writers, journalists, and anyone who needs to create a biography of famous people, whether they are scientists, athletes, politicians, or singers. They contain predefined sections and fields that you can fill in as easily as in a Word document, including:

• Date and place of birth
• Place of residence
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Get spectacular designs for your biography! Use it in a school, magazine, or website . You can also use it in your bookstore, library, or cultural center .

Using our template library will save you time since you won't have to start from scratch as you will have a predefined structure. Create didactic activities in your classroom and organize biographical information in a clearer and more coherent way. Just select one of the templates we offer in this article or the final cascade, customize it with your educational proposals, and print it in high resolution.

Our biographies can be adapted to your needs . You can also use them as a page for a memory book or a resume .

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That's it, you're done!

Why is it a good idea to make a Biography as a school activity?

There are many reasons, but here are the 4 main ones:

• Researching someone's life and gathering information about their accomplishments, personal and professional challenges, as well as their contributions, will help students develop research skills and curiosity .
• Working on a biography improves writing skills, organization of ideas, and structuring information in a clear and coherent manner.
• Promotes critical thinking : students will learn to analyze different aspects of a public figure's life and develop their objective thinking about that person, history, and society in general. It also promotes empathy.
• Learn about the lives of influential people in different fields , such as science, politics, or art, and understand how their contributions have affected the world at large.

In short, doing a biography as a school activity is a great idea! It encourages research and understanding towards different life experiences and perspectives.

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Using Edit.org's online editor is easy! You don't need any design skills to create the best biographies for chronological, topical, or historical figures .

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Customizable Character Bio examples

Biography Projects for Kids

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Biography projects are a great way for children to learn about historical or remarkable people of any time period. Such classroom activities promote learning through hands-on creativity. There are many types of biography project ideas that are suitable and appropriate for children of all ages.

Biography Project Ideas

Biography projects are not one-size-fits-all. The child's age, creativity, and skill level should be considered when selecting a project.

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Lifetime Photo Collage

Bring a historical figure back to life by creating a collage of his or her lifetime. Children should collect pictures of key moments at different points in a historical figures life. The collage could also include photos of important places in the person's life, such as a birthplace or the location of a notable event. For an added touch, include photos of related monuments or buildings. This project is simple enough for children ages 5-12. To create this project:

• Instruct the children to organize the photos in chronological order.
• Grab a piece of poster board.
• Glue or paste the photos to a poster board in a creative collage.

Lifetime Line

Children can learn about timelines and an influential person through a lifetime line. Given the intensive research of this project, it is recommended for children 8-13. Here's how to create the lifetime line.

• Start by having the children each build a list of notable moments in the person's life. The list should include dates and be organized in chronological order.
• Have the children draw the basic line across the width of a poster board.
• Transfer the event list from their notes to the timeline. (Younger children may need some help with spacing, but overall this project should be pretty simple for the children to do mostly on their own.)
• Decorate the timeline. Adding photos is a great way to give the lifetime line a more interesting and fun-to-read look. Children can add as many or as few photos as they would like or even draw pictures.

Talk Show Interview

This project is suitable for a group of two or more children. It is also best for middle and high school children from ages 11-18. View the instructions below:

• Pair students.
• Each child in the pair should select a person to study individually.
• The pairs will each give a brief overview of their figure to their partner.
• Each child should then come up with a list of questions to ask about their partner's notable figure.
• The children will take turns being the talk show interviewer and interviewee.
• When everyone is ready, pick a pair to start.
• Have the interviewer announce their guest, just as they would on a television talk show.
• The interviewer should begin by asking questions from the list they have already created.
• Let the interview grow into a comfortable banter and allow the children to have fun with the project. (Dressing up in costumes and the use of appropriate props should be encouraged.)

Biography Skits

Kids with a flair for drama will enjoy turning a biography project into a short skit . These performances are great for all ages from 5-18. To start:

• Have each child put their problem-solving skills to the test by allowing them to figure out how to pull off a one-person skit.
• The children should be given an adequate amount of time to write, edit and perform their skits.
• Limit the performance time based on the age of the students. Younger children should have a shorter skit while older ones should be able to come up with a more in-depth performance.

Puppet Show

A puppet show is an incredibly fun way to tell a story. Visual effects and fun-loving puppet characters always make stories more interesting for kids from 5-13. This may be the best solution to an otherwise boring project.

• Start by having students select a figure.
• Create a fact-based story based on the figure.
• Give the children time to work on their stories.
• Encourage them to make their stories fun and lighthearted.
• Provide art supplies like paper bags or socks to make their puppets . The more involved children are in a project, the more they will learn from it.

Children can turn a biography into a book that almost any of their peers would enjoy reading. Comic books, or graphic novels as they are often called, are fun to read because of the bright and colorful illustrations. This is a great project for kids ages 5-12.

• To create a comic book, fold a few pages of plain white paper in half, width-wise.
• Staple the pages together at the fold to hold the pages in place.

Treasure Hunt

Turn a biography project into a treasure hunt. This project is suitable for groups of three or more children from ages 5-10.

• Find several items related to a historical figure.
• Hide the different items around a room.
• Create riddles for the students based on the items and where they are hidden. For example, George Washington can be seen in a famous image floating across a lake. There is a one-dollar bill near the sink.
• Allow the children to start reading one riddle.
• Once they find that item they can move on to the next riddle.

Did You Know?

Great for kids from 7-11, this simple biography project requires the child to find ten specific facts about a person of historical significance. You'll need poster board and art supplies.

• The information should be presented on a poster board or sturdy construction paper.
• Each line will begin with, "Did you know...," and should tell an interesting fact.
• Have the children decorate their projects appropriately.

For an interesting twist, have the children offer ten facts without revealing the person's name. The child's peers should try to guess who the subject is based on these ten facts alone.

Fun and Interesting

Biographies can often be bland and boring for children. Biography projects can change that, making child's play out of history. What's more, a biography project can encourage critical thinking and reasoning skills. With a little creativity, learning a biography can be a lot of fun. It is just a matter of finding interesting ways to present the facts.

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Benjamin Banneker Body Biography Project — Collaborative Poster Activity

Description

Have your students create a collaborative poster and learn about  Benjamin Banneker  in a fun, fresh, and engaging, way!

This  biography research project  emphasizes the significance of teamwork and effective communication, highlighting the importance of a unified body of knowledge.

Your students will conduct research and demonstrate an understanding of the life of Benjamin Banneker by creating a beautiful biography poster.

This is an awesome  Black History Month Activity!

Powerful People Project Steps:

1. To construct the biography poster, your students will work in groups to conduct research on Benjamin Banneker.

2. Students will then transfer their findings to boxes on the poster.

3. Next, they will work together to color or paint the pieces of the poster.

4. Lastly, students will tape together the final product.

The poster is made up of  six pieces of paper , which can be printed on regular copy paper or card stock.

Once taped together, the final product will be  28″ x 15″  and can last a lifetime if you laminate it.

This resource includes the following:

• Student Directions (PDF and editable word document)
• Project Rubric (PDF and editable word document)
• Brainstorm Graphic Organizer (PDF and editable word document)
• 6 Blank Coloring Pages (PDFs)
• Benjamin Banneker Answer Key
• Example of Final Project (PDF)

Check out  more  from my POWERFUL PEOPLE COLLECTION:

Martin Luther King Jr.

Amanda Gorman

Barack Obama

Harriet Tubman

Bessie Coleman

Jackie Robinson

George Washington Carver

Booker T. Washington

Kamala Harris

Jacqueline Woodson

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Poster Projects

Customize a poster today.

• Timeline of Historical Events: Create a timeline poster featuring key events from a specific historical period or the life of a historical figure.
• Biography Posters: Research and present information about a famous person, artist, scientist, or historical figure on a visually appealing poster.
• Book or Movie Reviews: Design a poster that reviews a favorite book or movie, including a brief summary, main characters, and personal opinions.
• Science Fair Project: Showcase the process and results of a science experiment or project using visuals, graphs, and explanations.
• Travel Brochure: Design a travel brochure for a specific country or city, highlighting key attractions, culture, and interesting facts.

Happy Creating!

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