Lesson video

Hi, everyone, and welcome to our lesson.

Today is the final lesson of our unit.

Today, we're going to be "Planning and writing the conclusion of our biography about Harriet Tubman." In today's lesson, you'll be using your research to plan and write the conclusion of a biography about Harriet Tubman.

Here are some keywords we're going to use.

Purpose.

Conclusion.

Summarise.

Legacy.

Well done.

The purpose is the aim of the text.

A conclusion is the closing paragraph of a non-fiction text.

To summarise is to sum up or conclude the main body of the text.

A legacy is the lasting impact of a person's life or actions that are left on the world.

Today, we're going to be planning and writing the conclusion of a biography about Harriet Tubman.

We're gonna start with planning the conclusion, and then we're going to write it.

Now, we know at this stage that biographical writing often follows the same structure.

The introduction is the first paragraph that encourages the reader to read on, and we've written that.

Then we have the main sections.

In our biography, the main sections were about Harriet Tubman's early life and her activism.

They contained paragraphs of information related to a particular aspect of her life, and we've written both of these sections.

Now, we're onto our conclusion, which is the last paragraph that summarises the key information of the text.

This is what we're going to plan and write today.

The purpose is the aim of the text.

And the purpose of the conclusion is to summarise the key information of the biography.

And also give the reader some summarising general information.

This is quite similar to our introduction because we keep our information very general.

In the conclusion, we do not introduce lots of new or specific facts in the conclusion.

The purpose of the conclusion is to.

Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you spotted that, the purpose of the conclusion is to give the reader general information, and summarise the key information of the text.

The conclusion is the final paragraph of a non-fiction text that summarises the key information in the text.

The conclusion follows a clear structure.

We have a subheading, an introductory sentence, general information, and a concluding sentence.

The introductory sentence introduces the paragraph and summarises the key information.

The general information sentences, give the reader some necessary information about the person's life.

And the concluding sentence ends the biography.

Match each section of a conclusion to its function.

Pause the video while you do that.

Well done if you spotted that the introductory sentence introduces the reader to who the biography is about.

The general information sentences give the reader some necessary information about the person.

And the concluding sentence ends the biography.

The purpose of a plan is to prepare ourselves for writing.

If we give careful thought to the planning process, our writing outcomes will be more successful.

We can build on ideas from our plan during the writing process.

When we plan, we use notes.

Notes are concise and they capture subject-specific vocabulary and information.

The purpose of notes is to help the writer to organise information easily for future use.

We use bullet points when note-taking.

And they look like this.

What is in a plan? Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you spotted that in a plan, we have bullet points for notes, subject-specific vocabulary.

We do not include full sentences with capital letters and full stops.

The only capital letters we would use is for proper nouns and we do not include unnecessary information.

Let's review the structure of the conclusion of a biography.

So we've got our subheading, our introductory sentence, which introduces the paragraph and summarises the key information.

Our general information gives the reader necessary information about the person and their life.

And the concluding sentence ends the biography.

We are going to use the same structure in our plan, so that when we come to write, our planning is nice and cohesive in an appropriate structure.

Now, it's time for your task.

Firstly, write the subheading conclusion.

Then write any bullet points for key words and phrases you will use in your introductory sentence.

Use the prompts on the screen to help you.

So what will your sentence starter be? And what was discussed about Harriet Tubman's life? So think back to what were the key sections of our biography and how are you going to reference them.

Remember, we always keep the information here, general.

So there are no new or detailed facts at this point.

Pause the video while you complete your task.

Great work, everyone.

Here's my plan.

So I've got my subheading, which is the word conclusion.

I've also put down a couple of potential ways to open my sentence, so I could go with two conclude comma or in summary, comma, and I'll decide which one I want to use when I come to writing.

Then, I've just got to state what we talked about really in the biography.

So Tubman dedicated her adult life to civil rights activism.

Take a moment to reread what you've written down on your plan and make sure that you are happy with your introductory sentence planning.

Now, before we move on to our general information about Harriet Tubman, let's just take a moment to review some of the information we have learned.

Her work was fundamental in the US Civil War.

That means it was very, very important.

She led many enslaved people to freedom.

She also became the first African-American woman to serve in the US Military.

So here are three examples of general facts, we could use for this point in our conclusion.

Now that we have reminded ourselves of some of this general information, you're going to complete the next part of your task.

Write bullet points for key words and phrases you will use in your general information sentences.

Remember, we want to keep this information general.

Pause the video while you complete your task.

Great work, everybody.

So in my plan, I've decided to note down that her work was crucial, or I could also say that it was intrinsic to the success of Lincoln's army.

When I say Lincoln, I mean Abraham Lincoln.

It also resulted in the abolition of slavery in America.

So that means that slavery was abolished or it was got rid of because a largely due to lots of her work.

Take a moment to reread your planning.

Make sure you're happy with it before we move on.

Okay, and now to finish off, we're going to write bullet points for key words and phrases you will use in your concluding sentence.

So how will you open your concluding sentence and have you discuss Tubman's legacy and her lasting impact on the world? So we've mentioned now what she did with some of that general information, but what's the lasting impact that she has left on the world? How did she change history? Pause the video now while you complete your task.

Well done, everyone.

In my plan, I've written that Tubman's activism altered US society and politics forever.

'Cause if we think about it, she was a large part in helping abolish slavery.

So getting rid of slavery completely changed the course of US politics and society and history.

And so she is known as one of history's most significant activists.

If you are happy with your plan, then we are ready to move on.

Now that we have planned our conclusion, we're going to move on now to writing the conclusion of our biography about Harriet Tubman.

Throughout this biography, we have learned to use a whole range of cohesive devices.

Fronted adverbials.

Subject-specific vocabulary.

Complex sentences.

Parenthesis in brackets.

Each of these cohesive devices enhances the text's flow, keeps the reader engaged and helps us achieve the text's purpose.

Remember, the whole purpose of a biography is for us to inform our reader about a person and their life.

So by using all of these cohesive devices, we can make our writing much more clear, more concise and cohesive, so that our reader is able to understand more clearly what we are writing about.

And as a result, we meet our text's purpose more easily.

Match each cohesive device to its definition.

Pause the video while you do that.

Well done if you spotted that the fronted adverbial is a sentence starter followed by a comma.

Subject-specific vocabulary is vocabulary used when writing about a particular subject.

A complex sentence is a sentence formed of a main clause and a subordinate clause.

Parenthesis is additional information that can be removed without compromising grammatical accuracy.

Great work, everyone.

It is really important that we understand all of these definitions, so that we can then confidently use these cohesive devices in our writing today.

Now that we've completed our planning, we are going to move on to writing.

When we write, we always try to do these things.

We plan and say each sentence before we write it.

We use punctuation where we know the rules.

We showcase each sentence type we know.

We write letters neatly on the line and in joined handwriting.

We use spelling strategies to spell words accurately.

We check and improve our writing when we think we have finished.

This is the success criteria that we are going to use today.

Let's read them through together.

I have followed the appropriate structure for my conclusion.

I have summarised the key information in my biography.

I have referred to Harriet Tubman's lasting legacy.

I have used a range of cohesive devices to enhance text flow.

Now, remember, with a success criteria, we can use these criteria as a really useful guide to help remind us of what to include in our writing to make it as successful as it can possibly be.

But that does not mean that we can only use the skills in our, we can use additional skills as well if we want to, as long as they're appropriate for the text type.

Now, before you go and write your conclusion, we are going to read mine.

I've written a model, and we are going to work together to read through that model and assess where it has met the success criteria.

So let's begin by reading through it together.

Conclusion.

In summary, the experiences of Harriet Tubman's early life had a significant impact on her future actions and activism.

Tubman's work during the Civil War in America was instrumental in the abolition of slavery in 1865, leading to the freedom of countless enslaved people.

She will forever be remembered as one of his history's most important and influential civil rights activists.

Now, if we take a moment to just reread our success criteria.

So I follow the appropriate structure for my conclusion.

I've summarised the key information in my biography.

I've referred to Harriet Tubman's lasting legacy.

I've used a range of cohesive devices to enhance text flow.

Let's begin with the first one.

Well, I've used an introductory sentence, I've used some general information, and I've used a concluding sentence.

So I have met my structure success criteria, so I can tick off that first criteria.

My second one is I've summarised the key information in my biography.

Let's reread this sentence.

In summary, the experiences of Harriet Tubman's early life had a significant impact on her future actions and activism.

So in that introductory sentence, I've mentioned her early life, which was section one of my biography, and I've mentioned her activism, which was section two.

So I have summarised the key information of my biography.

Success criteria three.

I've referred to Harriet Tubman's lasting legacy.

So remember, a lasting legacy is how a person's life or their actions left a lasting impact on the world.

So if we look at the final sentence, she will forever be remembered as one of history's most important and influential civil rights activists.

That's the mark she left on the word.

So yes, I have referred to Harriet Tubman's lasting legacy.

And the final one, I have used a range of cohesive devices to enhance text flow.

So when we recapped some of the cohesive devices, we had learned about, we talked about fronted adverbials using a range of complex sentences, using subject-specific vocabulary.

Let's have a look at some that we've used here.

So in summary is a nice fronted adverbial.

Activism, Civil War, abolition and civil rights activists are all examples of subject-specific vocabulary.

And I've also used a non-finite complex sentence in my conclusion.

And I know this because it's got a non-finite subordinate clause leading to the freedom of countless and enslaved people.

And we know that it's a non-finite subordinate clause because it starts with that word leading, which is a verb in its progressive form with the ing suffix.

So yes, I've met my fourth success criteria.

Thank you for all your help with helping me spot where I've met these.

Now, it's time for you to use your plan and your success criteria to write the conclusion of your biography about Harriet Tubman.

Take a moment, first to read through your plan and reread your success criteria.

Then pause the video while you complete your task.

Well done, everyone.

So now that we have written our conclusion, take a moment to read your conclusion back again and check that it meets your success criteria.

Here's my example, let's read it together.

Conclusion.

Harriet Tubman, who led a life devoted to fighting inequality and injustice in America, is one of history's most influential civil rights activists.

Because of hers and other activists' work during the Civil War, slavery was abolished in the 19th century.

As a result, many enslaved people experienced freedom and this monumental event altered America's and the rest of the world's, society and politics for ever more.

Tubman is therefore regarded by many as one of the most influential civil rights activists of all time.

Well done, everyone.

That now brings us to the end of our final lesson of this unit where we have been "Planning and writing the conclusion of a biography about Harriet Tubman." Information in the conclusion of a non-fiction text should be kept general.

When planning, we should write in note form, using bullet points.

When writing, we can build on the ideas in our plan.

We should use our plan and success criteria to guide us when writing.

I hope you've enjoyed this unit and I've enjoyed learning about Harriet Tubman and her inspiring activism.

Well done, and I'm so impressed with the writing that you have produced.