Autobiography of Matthew Telling.

I was born in 1982 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire but moved at a young age to Rotherham into a house built by my grandfather, Jack. I grew up with lots of fun and laughter in my household alongside my older sister, Nicola and younger brother, Chris. We lived in the house next door to my grandma and grandad and often visited them. My auntie and two cousins lived just down the road.

Growing up we always had a pet dog, which is how my love of border collies developed.

It’s funny the things you remember about your childhood. For me my fondest memories are the times spent at Mrs Dodds’ caravan site with my family in Arran, Scotland. My cousin and I were affectionately known as ‘little tikes’ due to the adventures we had. This included a midnight swim across the sea to the Monks Island. We only just managed to get there and when we finally succeeded in reaching the land, we timidly tiptoed to the Monks door, knocked quietly and ran back to the sea and swam back to our campsite. All of this in the dark. Fortunately, our parents only recently found this out as we thought we would be safe to tell them at the age of 35.

One of my proudest moments was achieving a soccer scholarship at a division 1 university in New York. I was part of a successful team who travelled the country playing a game that I loved while studying teaching. It was a great time in my life and I met so many interesting people and some friends for life. I will never forget our first away game where we flew to Las Vegas for a tournament.

Upon returning to England, I continued to play football semi-professionally. It was during this time I was lucky enough to play alongside England player Jamie Vardy.

I am now married with a wonderful daughter who brings laughter and entertainment to my day on a regular basis. She has now taken the title of ‘little tike’ in the family. I enjoy so many activities with my family and I will always remember the first time my daughter completed her first outdoor climb at Stanage. More recently, she volunteered to be the first child to kayak down a weir on our family holiday in France. What a kid she is!

My work is varied and I get to do lots of activities that I enjoy from caving to archery. I get to work with some interesting and funny children and I hope I am lucky enough to continue this for many years.

Roles: Boss, clarifier, questioner, summariser.

Questions.

Read 1st2nd paragraph (model intonation and speed) –

Do you think he had a happy childhood? – Find the words to prove that.

Do you think he was close to his family? Why?

Model how to find.

Get answers from children.

Model writing answers as full sentences.

Knowledge, comprehension

3rd paragraph –

Where do you think his best holidays were?

Clarifier: What do you think ‘little tikes’ means?

How do you think they felt when they were at the Monks house? What words in the text make you think that?

Summarise the autobiography so far.

Knowledge, comprehension, analysis

4th/ 5th paragraphs –

Do you think he was proud?

Q for discussion – would you be proud? Why?

Questioner – think of a question to improve understanding from text so far and ask table.

Knowledge, comprehension, analysis

Independent questions: Knowledge, comprehension, analysis, creating

Independently on tables.

6th paragraph –

Do you think he is proud of his daughter?

What in the text makes you think this?

7th paragraph –

Does he enjoy his work?

Reading his story, are there any other jobs you think he would enjoy doing?