Biographies

Many famous people were born in the Month of March. Students generally would know them if they were entertainers or professional athletes. Here is a list of famous persons born in March that most students would not recognize, but whose work and accomplishments have provided benefits to mankind both in their time and even today.

• Ralph Ellison (March 1)
  
  
• Mikhail Gorbachev (March 2)
  
  
• Michelangelo Buonarroti (March 6)
  
  
• Luther Burbank (March 7)
  
  
• Yuri Gagarin (March 9)
  
  
• Percival Lowell (March 12)
  
  
• Albert Einstein (March 13)
  
  
• Andrew Jackson (March 15)
  
  
• Johann Sebastian Bach (March 21)
  
  
• Stephen Sondheim (March 22)
  
  
• Wernher Von Braun (March 23
  
  
• Sandra Day O'Connor (March 26)
  
  
• August Busch, Jr. (March 28)
  
  
• Sam Walton and Cy Young (March 29)
  
  
• Vincent Van Gogh (March 30)
  
  
• Cesar Chavez, Rene Descartes, and Albert Gore, Jr. (March 31)

Most elementary curricula include research activities that focus on biographies of famous people. This activity is designed to do just that. You should assign a different person from the list to each student.

Students should create an oral or PowerPoint report of about two minutes that uses at least two resources. It should include a picture of the person, as well as a second picture of something representative of their accomplishments.

The report should include answers to at least three of the following essential questions for critical thinking:

• When, where, and in what environment was this person born?
  
  
• What was this person's greatest accomplishment?
  
  
• What do you think inspired this person to achieve what he/she did?
  
  
• How do this person's accomplishments benefit us today?
  
  
• Are there any events or deeds in this person's life that you think they might regret?
  
  
• Is there anything about the person's life that inspires you? What?

Pathfinder:

Students should use the name of the person assigned to them to do a key word search. Students will need to use at least two sources to answer the essential questions.

Here are some new ProQuest models that students can use as templates for their PowerPoint presentations (1, 2) or written reports.

Read more about how Carolyn built easy curriculum resources with eLibrary BookCarts...