This is a fun and different strategy for a biography – have your students’ recreate a famous person’s desk. What would they find on Abraham Lincoln’s desk? This is a summarization strategy that allows students to tie key ideas to an historical figure.
Include the following:
–Calendar– significant date(s) in the life of the person identified
–Pictures-key people in the life of the person
–Communication – example of communication to or from the person that would be representative of the time period (letter, email, memo, telegram, text, etc.)
–Reading-book, newspaper, or magazine related to person’s role in history that they might have been reading
–Written Document-example of a document the person might have created or one that would be important to this person’s time in history
–Memento-a personal item significant to the person
