Biographies – Life Stories
January 20th, 2007
Here are some interesting links for you to find out more about biographies.
Check out the link “The Biography maker” to understand better what is involved in writing biographies.
The other links have biographies that focus on different people (on famous women for example) or look biographies in different ways.
- The Biography Maker
- Biography Writers Workshop
- Distinguished women of past and present
- Famous Mathematicians
- 4000 years of women in Science
- Academy of Achievement
- Biographical Dictionary
- Their Stamp on History
- Infoplease- Biography
- BBC – Historic Figures
- Who-What-When- An interactive timeline
- Multnomah County – Biographies
Cross check biographies of the same people to find out whether the same events, people and achievements are reported or narrated the same way.
Post your comments, questions or insights, discoveries. Make use of the time to come to an understanding of biographies.
Prepare your notes for:
a) The Biography Bag presentation
b) The Class Timelines
c) Your ERP Biography written assignment
They will be checked by me .
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50 Responses to “Biographies – Life Stories”
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See also:
- Any QUESTIONS??? (August 14th, 2007)
- Pictures speak a 1000 words (July 28th, 2007)
- All Summer in A Day – Venus (June 6th, 2007)
- IDIOMS are EVERYWHERE! (April 10th, 2007)
- What A Tangled Web We Weave (March 18th, 2007)
January 21st, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Long time ago, all the women scientists had to be confined to basement laboratories and attic offices. They crawled behind furniture to attend science lectures. They worked in universities for decades without pay as volunteers. According to : http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/subject/field.html
That is super unfair; what was wrong with women scientists at that time? Was there a written law that only males could be scientists? It is totally biased and women can be scientists too. Perhaps men at that time thought that men should reign supreme and he rest followed suit, like the idiom, ‘Birds of a feather flock together’?
January 21st, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Many of the sites will prove useful, though there are many dead links in them. I’m not very sure who to do the biography bag on. I also learnt alot about many famous people in the academy of achievements site. I want to read more about biographies.
January 21st, 2007 at 9:23 pm
hAZEL. Seriously. At that time, girls(or women) were brought up TO BELIEVE that MEN were better than us. therefore, women thought the ideal woman should probably be hardworking(in the housework sense),pretty,refined,elegant,uneducated(as they were raised to believe that men were their betters, their education should not be more than the males, preferably none at all, except in cooking,housekeeping etc, lest the women should think themselves better than the men,which is totally the problem),and most of all, obedient.It’s not the women didn’t want to be scientists, the option probably didn’t occur to them at all! They probably thought their only purpose in life was to sew,cook,marry,have children,be obedient,etcetc. they also probably thought:’leave all the intellectual matters to the men, they know the best.’
Yes, Hazel, that WAS unfair, but that was the tradition then, and that was the culture in most societies. I DO agree, though that some strong minded women of that time wanted to be important, and probably thought :’why can’t we do what men do?’, but they were rare, and some here and there… most had their families, their loved ones against them. for that matter, I personally feel many wouldn’t give up their family whom they love, just to be a scientist, which was frowned upon by society, and would probably not give them any profit, as who would listen to women scientist at that time? Who would praise her and risk losing everything he ever worked for, his job, position, and maybe respect?
It was the culture, Hazel, and some religious books even told them that men was the superior gender. Even in nature you can see examples of male>female.
It was awful… but the truth.
January 21st, 2007 at 9:24 pm
The sites are very useful and I have an idea of what to do for the Biography Bag
January 21st, 2007 at 9:25 pm
I will be doing isaac newton and roald dahl
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:42 am
Actually, Kimberley is right. Practically right from the cradle, girls were taught by their mothers that girls should learn to be good housewives. Probably why most of the motehrs get the girls to do their housework is to attract guys who are looking for hardworking wives. No wonder the families preferred boys at that time. Girls will just be ‘given’ away, in that sense. And yes, of course it’s unfair. The earliest female scientists were probably hated by almost everyone around them.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:54 am
Yeah, Melissa and Kimberley… True; last time, everybody wanted boys because they assumed that their sons would stay with them after they married and daughters would be, like Melissa said, ‘Given away’…
I will be doing Florence Nightingale for the Biography Bag.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:43 am
I am sure that completing the biograhy bag should not be too hard with the help of the helpful websites.
January 22nd, 2007 at 4:26 am
Of yes, biograhy bag, here I come.
Biograhies are so fun!
Gandhi, he’s the Gandhi, he’s the greatest old Gandhi in the universe.
Gandhi, where’s my Gandhi, where’s my greatest old Gandhi in the universe.
Gandhi, bring my Gandhi, fetch the greatest old Gandhi in the universe.
Gandhi, he’s the Mahatma, he’s the greatest old Mahatma in the universe.
GANDHI, HE’S THE BEST!!!
January 22nd, 2007 at 4:28 am
Guess who I am going to do about for my biograhy bag.
January 22nd, 2007 at 4:29 am
What is the class timelines? I forgot.
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:22 am
When does the biograpy bag takes effect and starts? Next week?
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:31 am
WIll be coming back at nightime, hope to see more comments by then.
Until then, See ya.
January 22nd, 2007 at 7:20 am
i think i’m going to do the bio-in-a-bag on oprah winfrey. and the sites were quite helpful. have to go now.
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:15 am
What the… Only one more comments?
This is mostly disappointing and disappointment.
Oh dear me…
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:18 am
actually, I have another theory why girls were discriminated against:girls rarely(or maybe never) pass on their family name… and they ‘marry into’ a household: the husband’s household gets a HUGE dowry, a wife for its son, AND a new woman to clean, work, and housekeep. they’re probably mistreated too…
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 am
what do you want us to say here, Jek Kee? Hi? Bye? remember the big scolding last time for polluting the blog…
It is easier for one to do the biography in the bag about someone whose name is a household name… the search engines turn up more relevant websites, eg George Bush, or even the name so popular in class at this time: Florence Nightingale. Type in something like Samuel Morris and you’ll probaly get some big tycoon or other irrelevant websites It may be seen two ways…
1)Hurray! a CHALLENGE! AT LAST!
2) Sigh… more work… more reading up… sigh, I gues I’ll just have to ditch this subject.
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:04 am
I think I will do the bio-in-a-bag on Julius Caesar, as I read his biography last year and I admire him.
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:09 am
For my biography-in-a-bag, I will be doing on Clara Barton.
And yes, Kim, girls NEVER pass on the family name, they take the husband’s name after marriage. Of course people prefer guys to girls.
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:13 am
In other words, the girl’s family practically sells her to another family.
January 23rd, 2007 at 7:21 am
Who are all these people? Clara Barton? Julius Caesar?Samuel Morris?
Maybe I would have to read up more about bios to understand just who these people I am hearing for the first time are…
January 23rd, 2007 at 7:26 am
I do not understand this whole chunk. Can some kind soul floatin around tell me more???
It is easier for one to do the biography in the bag about someone whose name is a household name… the search engines turn up more relevant websites, eg George Bush, or even the name so popular in class at this time: Florence Nightingale. Type in something like Samuel Morris and you’ll probaly get some big tycoon or other irrelevant websites It may be seen two ways…
1)Hurray! a CHALLENGE! AT LAST!
2) Sigh… more work… more reading up… sigh, I gues I’ll just have to ditch this subject.
(Source: http://williamgrosse.edublogs.org/2007/01/20/biographies-life-stories/#comment-1378, comment by Kimberley, January 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 am. Comment on article: Biographies – Life Stories posted on January 20th, 2007 by williamgrosse.)
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:11 am
I guess I’ll be doing the Bio Bag on MLKing.
Have yet to find out more about him, though…
Anyway, like more than half of the posts are complaining about the unfairness of men to women. a bit… OVERBOARD, do you think…
but then again, I agree with all the above about women being treated unfairly. Many married women were mistreated by her husband and maybe even her parents in law. Poor thing. Hey! come to think about it… Why does the Western side tend to treat women practically the same as the Eastern side. Chinese also seem to think that males are more important than females. UNFAIR!
January 24th, 2007 at 3:15 am
Who is MLKing???
January 24th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Realised something. Nelson Mandela is not found in any of those sites shown. The search gives irrelavent information.
January 24th, 2007 at 8:10 am
Is that ML King Martin Luther King (1929 – 1968)? So sad he was assasinated.
January 25th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Err…..I suppose I will try Leonardo Da Vinci for the Biography Bag………..
January 25th, 2007 at 10:11 am
Why are the girls doing bios on women and the boys doing bios on men so far?
January 27th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
How would I know? Gary, you are WRONG!!! If you like more closely, you would have realised that Gloria is doing on ML King. (don’t ask me why)
Sighs…
January 29th, 2007 at 5:46 am
I’m doing on Fanny Crosby.
Gary, are you telling me that you are doing on a woman? I think not. Maybe I’m wrong… but here’s my theory(again):
I think that girls do on women and Boys do on men because they find it easier to relate to their subject. except Gloria, of course. She probably can relate well to MLKing. Maybe because of what he believed in, his goals, dreams, aspirations… etc.
January 29th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Hey leave me out of this argument!
I just chose him ’cause I think it’s nice to learn more about someone who contributed a lot to the blacks in America. And I give you an explanation: All of you are sexist. Period. AND DON’T DRAG ME INTO THE ARGUMENT!!!
BTW, why is it that the picture is like that? Biograoh then some funny lines. What does it represent? Does it hint something? Why did the artist draw a box to box the word up?
February 1st, 2007 at 6:20 am
Nope, I saw the word Biograhy in the drawing. Well, that is how I depicted the drawing.
Maybe it’s because I have the same untidy handwriting as that artist…
February 1st, 2007 at 7:30 am
You guys are starting to suppress me as one???
February 3rd, 2007 at 3:37 am
What does suppress mean?
February 5th, 2007 at 6:32 am
What does suppress me as one mean?
February 7th, 2007 at 7:18 am
now im thinking of doing the bio in a bag on amy tan. my sis has her book. and jekkee… can u stop like spamming. u are just jacking up the post count
February 11th, 2007 at 2:42 am
What does jacking up the post count mean?
Does it mean to increase the post count by typing nonsence or increasing for the sake of increasing by onec again, typing nonsence?
February 11th, 2007 at 7:39 am
goodness, jek kee, stop posting nonsense. Mr. grosse wont like that u know. I’ll be doing sir Isaac newton for bio-in-a-bag. oh come on jek kee, really stop posting irrelevant things. for example that you r coming back at nighttime, and also that part where u commented about that part where only one new comment.
February 12th, 2007 at 6:26 am
How about the part on the Gandhi song?
I managed to get a few items but there is one item i can’t find…
February 12th, 2007 at 6:27 am
wat gandhi song? quote it lah
February 12th, 2007 at 6:31 am
oh yeah, everyone who has time read the few posts on keiko that whale or whatever. third last post(i think). i almost fainted from looking at it
February 12th, 2007 at 6:42 am
ok, now its fourth last post. anyway, its about male enhancement……
*its so sick!*
February 14th, 2007 at 5:41 am
The Gaundhi song is on one of the earlier posts (Please, I created them.).
February 18th, 2007 at 4:59 am
Jek Kee, please remember that this IS mr grosse’s blog, and it is not wise to spam. plus, your posts keep irritating people and after a period of irritance, they might just srcoll through your posts like they were never there, like I’m doing…
February 19th, 2007 at 4:45 am
can we have an item that does not mean any thing in the person’s life?
if so, I will have a ring for isaac newton. 
February 20th, 2007 at 2:57 am
i doubt that. i think it has to be significant to whoever you are talking about. and i think it will also have to represent something
February 20th, 2007 at 3:02 am
have anyone of you started planning on your second draft? it should be on thursday…..i better start now.
p.s. could you put a sig here? just asking. if can i think i’ll try to get one on terminator 3
February 27th, 2007 at 10:14 am
I’ll have an apple (obvious)
a weight measure (measured in newtons)
a degree from cambridge U
March 7th, 2007 at 2:44 am
I will be doing on Helen Keller instead of Clara Barton.
March 7th, 2007 at 8:48 am
oh, the blind girl, my brother’s read the book