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Synthesizing means learning from what you read and adding new ideas to what you already know. Sometimes your thinking changes.
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First, choose which biopic you want to work on:
Biopic stands for biography picture. It means a movie about the life of a real person.
Sacajawea was a Shoshone Indian woman who was part of the Lewis and Clark expedition across the continent. She was only 16 years old when she helped Lewis and Clark's men become the first white people to reach the Pacific Ocean—and come back alive.
Sacajawea knew how to live in the wilderness. She helped Lewis and Clark talk to American Indians they met. She was the only woman on the expedition, and she carried a baby on her back the whole way.
| about 1788 | about 1799 | about 1801 | 1804 | 1805 | 1806 | 1812 | 2000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| born in Idaho area | kidnapped by Hidatsa Indians | marries French trapper Charbonneau | starts with Lewis and Clark expedition | has a baby boy | returns from expedition | dies of fever | face put on U.S. coin |
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader of the fight for equal rights. Back then, black Americans did not have the same rights as white Americans. Dr. King did not think this was fair. He made great speeches and led peaceful protests to make the government change the laws. He is most famous for his speech called "I Have a Dream."
Sadly, Dr. King was killed in 1968 by someone who did not like his ideas. But other people continued his work.
| 1929 | 1948 | 1954 | 1955 | 1964 | 1964 | 1968 | 1983 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| born in Georgia | graduates from college | becomes pastor of a church | becomes leader in civil rights movement | Civil Rights Act becomes law | receives the Nobel Peace Prize | shot in Tennessee | birthday becomes a national holiday |
Albert Einstein was one of the most famous scientists in the world. When he was a boy, he didn't like school. He loved music, math and science. Most of all he loved to think about what made things work.
Einstein is most famous for his idea E=MC2, which explains how matter (that's just a fancy word for stuff) can be turned into energy. This discovery helped scientists build the first atomic bomb and make nuclear power plants. Einstein believed in peace and spoke out against war.
| 1879 | 1896 | 1922 | 1933 | 1933 | 1939 | 1945 | 1955 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| born in Germany | goes to school in Switzerland | wins the Nobel Prize in physics | Hitler takes over in Germany | Einstein moves to United States | asks President to invent atomic bomb | asks President not to drop atomic bomb | dies in United States |
J.K. Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter book series. Her real name is Joanne Rowling, but she uses the pen name "J.K" in case boys would not want to read a book written by a girl.
She always wanted to be a writer, and wrote her first story when she was six. The idea for Harry Potter came to her while riding a train. It took five years to write the first book, and lots of publishers turned it down. By 2007, her seven Harry Potter books had sold over 400 million copies and she was one of the richest women in Britain.
| 1965 | 1983 | 1990 | 1991 | 1995 | 1997 | 2001 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| born in England | studies French at University | starts writing Harry Potter | moves to Portugal to teach English | finishes writing first Potter book | first Potter book published | first Harry Potter movie | last Potter book Published |
Anne Bonny had a very different life for a woman in the 1700s. She was a famous pirate of the Caribbean! She sailed with "Calico Jack" Ratham on his pirate ship Revenge, fighting bravely to capture ships and treasure. She dressed as a man because pirate ships did not allow women aboard.
After just a few years, she was captured and sentenced to death. But because she was going to have a baby, she was not killed with Calico Jack. Her father paid to get her out of prison, and she lived to be very old.
| about 1700 | about 1702 | 1716 | about 1718 | 1720 | 1721 | 1782 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| born in Ireland | family moves to North Carolina | marries sailor and moves to Bahamas | joins Calico Jack Ratham's crew | captured by Governor of Jamaica | moves to South Carolina | dies of fever |
George Washington was known as the Father of our Country. He did many things in his life—farmer, soldier, surveyor, and the first President of the United States. As leader of the Continental Army, he was famous for his bravery and the way he cared for his troops. He didn't even want to be paid for his job as general.
After the Revolutionary War, Washington helped write the U.S. Constitution. Americans loved him so much that he won the first election for president with 100% of the votes.
| 1732 | 1755 | 1759 | 1775 | 1782 | 1789 | 1799 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| born in the English colony of Virginia | becomes a war hero | marries Martha Custis | leads army in Revolutionary War | wins victory over British Army | elected first President of the United States | dies at 67 in his home Mount Vernon |
Think about what you learned about this person. Design a movie poster that shows what's important about his or her life story.
Go Back
Now write a tagline for the movie—a short phrase that makes people want to see the movie. Synthesize to come up with a really good tagline!
Go Back Continue
Congratulations, you've earned your synthesizing tangram. Don't forget to use it! Think about what you read, and put the pieces together to help you understand the world in a new way.
Print Your Bookmark Email Biopic Poster Listen to Synthesizing Song Print Your Poster and Bookmark Go Back Play Again Make Another Poster Go Back to Student Main Menu
E-mail your Biopic Poster to your teacher or someone else so you can talk about it later.
Check out my biopic poster! This shows how I synthesized what I know about Name's life. What does my poster tell you about Name?
I made it on the Into the Book Web site.
Use the biography, timeline, and pictures to learn about your famous person. Then put that together with what you already know to make a super movie poster.
Click on each button to make choices for your poster. Try different combinations until it looks just right. You can always go back and change your choices.
Each choice you make should reflect something about the person's life or character:
A good tagline for you poster will make people want to see the movie. These questions might help you synthesize to come up with a good tagline:
