Questioning

Great research is driven by great questions. Boring questions produce boring answers. The purpose of this assignment is not to produce a boring list of facts. I hope that you will be creative and thoughtful and reach some deeper understandings than can be gained by simply reciting facts. So...let's think about questions!

Open Kidspiration and begin creating a web or map. Type the name of the person you are researching in the center. Take a look at the questions below and choose four or five that you would like to pursue. (If you have other questions you would like to research, just run them by me first.) Type the questions into your Kidspiration web. You may want to your design to look something like this spider map, but use whatever design will keep you organized.

Questions of Import

1. How was this person's life unusual or remarkable?
2. How was this person's life admirable or not admirable?
3. What personal qualities shaped this person and made him or her influencial?
4. Which quality or trait proved most troubling and difficult?
5. Which quality or trait was most beneficial?
6. If you could talk to this person now, do you think there would be actions he or she would regret? What do you think he or she would like to do differently? Why?
7. What lessons can we learn from the life of this person?
8. Some people spend much of their lives in opposition to a person or idea. If this is true of your person, what does this opposition teach us about them?
9. To what extend did your person depend on assistance from a mentor or patron? To what extent did he or she have a support network of friends and colleagues? How did this effect his or her work and personal life?
10. Many people act out of a "code" or a set of beliefs which dictates their choices. It may be religion or politics or a personal philosophy. To what extent did your person act by a code or act independently of any set of beliefs? Were there times when the code was challenged and impossible to follow?
11. What do you think it means to be a hero? Was your person a "hero"? Why? Why not? How is a hero different from a celebrity?
12. How was your person shaped by the environment or society in which he or she lived? Did he or she rebel against that environment? Did rebelling work? How and to what extent?

As you research, add to your web any information that helps to answer your questions. Keep a bibliography to cite the sources of the information you use (see this refresher on how to write a bibliography).

Information on this page is adapted from The Biography Maker by Jamie McKenzie and the Bellingham, WA Public Schools.