Comparing Two Accounts
Aligned to RI.6.9 — Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.
What this lesson teaches
Two authors can cover the same person or event yet present it differently — a memoir gives an insider's feelings, a biography gives an outside overview. Compare what each emphasizes, includes, or leaves out.
Worked examples
Example 1
A memoir of a climber lingers on her fear on the summit; a biography of the same climb reports the date, altitude, and record set. Same event, different presentations: one is personal, one is factual.
Example 2
A soldier's letter and a general's dispatch about the same battle differ less in facts than in what each one thought was worth writing down.
Example 3
Ask who the account was written for. A letter home and an official report have different readers and therefore different silences.
Practice questions
- Find two texts about the same person or event (or a memoir and an article).
- List one detail each account emphasizes that the other doesn't.
- Explain how the authors' different goals shape what they include.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Comparar Dos Relatos
Dos autores pueden tratar a la misma persona o el mismo hecho y presentarlo de forma distinta — una memoria da los sentimientos de quien lo vivió, una biografía da una visión externa. Compara lo que cada uno destaca, incluye u omite.
Ejemplo 1: La memoria de una alpinista se detiene en su miedo en la cima; una biografía de esa misma escalada reporta la fecha, la altitud y el récord logrado. Mismo hecho, presentaciones distintas: una es personal, la otra es factual.
Ejemplo 2: La carta de un soldado y el parte de un general sobre la misma batalla difieren menos en los hechos que en lo que cada uno creyó que valía la pena anotar.
Ejemplo 3: Pregunta para quién se escribió el relato. Una carta a casa y un informe oficial tienen distintos lectores y por eso distintos silencios.
More Reading: Informational lessons
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