Sample Lesson: From Writing Memoir
The following lesson is from the Writing Memoir Unit. It is the second lesson in the series of 16.
Lesson 1.2: Brainstorm Topics for a Memoir
Lesson at a glance [+]
Prep & Tech
- Technology: LCD projector, laptop, Internet access, student computers and speakers (optional)
- Differentiated Instruction Handout 1.2a: Memoir Meaning
- Other Materials: Student folders, writers’ notebooks and copies of the mentor text “The Jumps” that is available in Professor P’s Office
Limited Tech Options [+]
If there is no access to the technology needed for this lesson, try the following options:
- Writer’s Work Time: Instead of directing students to JT’s Think Aloud: Brainstorm Topics, show students another method for generating memoir topics, such as making a list of emotions and thinking of times when they experienced each one.
Objective:
- Students will generate memoir topic ideas that have personal meaning to them.
Focusing Question:
- Why are memoirs written? How can you generate ideas for your memoir?
Mini Lesson (20 min.)
Show lesson visuals, Brainstorm Topics for Your Memoir.
Explain to students that the purpose of this lesson is to begin developing suitable topics for their memoirs. Tell students that as part of this process, they will uncover the deeper reason for writing a memoir, beyond simply telling what happened in an author’s life.
Distribute copies of the mentor text for this lesson, “The Jumps” by Casey M., a seventh grade student, from Thinking Through Genre by Heather Lattimer. In this text, the author learns how to jump over a canyon on his mountain bike.
Note: If “The Jumps” is not appropriate for your students, you may substitute a different mentor text from Professor P’s Office. You may also wish to continue with the mentor text from Lesson 1.1 if introducing another text will take too much time or confuse your students.
Read the mentor text aloud, without interruption, to provide a fluent and engaging reading. As you read, ask students to take notes in the margins of the text about the emotions they believe the author is experiencing.
After reading the text, review with students the experiences in this memoir. Transition from a discussion about experiences to a discussion about the “lesson” learned by the author. Prompt the discussion using the following questions:
- Why do you think the author chose to write about this experience?
- What does the author want the reader to understand about his experience?
- Did the author learn anything about himself, others, or the world as a result of this experience?
Teacher Model:
- Write and read aloud the lesson that the author learned in this memoir.
- Describe a few different times in your life when you learned lessons from significant experiences, linking them to lessons in the mentor texts you have read. Explain how your lessons were life-changing experiences.
- Think aloud and list two or three other ideas you think might be good topics for your memoir and why. You can do this by brainstorming significant people, moments or strong emotions. Be sure to mention the lesson associated with each of these.
- Begin writing an entry (a few sentences) about one or two of the ideas.
Preparing for Writer’s Work Time:
Ask students to:
- Go to the Writer’s Room on the Writing Memoir website and read and listen to JT’s Think Aloud: Brainstorm Topics.
- Use the brainstorming techniques they learned as well as the experiences described in the mentor texts to help generate ideas.
- Create a list of memorable experiences in their lives.
- Develop an entry in their writers’ notebooks about one or two of the ideas.
Sample Narrative [+]
In the memoir, “The Jumps” Casey overcomes a challenge.
Casey learns to conquer his fears. The lesson he learns is, “if you try you can succeed.”
I need to relate this experience to a lesson I once learned. I have actually learned several lessons in my life. Getting my college degree was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. It was a lot of hard work. I learned that an accomplishment is all the more valuable when you’ve worked hard for it. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
I can come up with more ideas for my memoir before I select a topic. Let me think about some other lessons I have learned in my life. I am going to think about times when I felt strong emotions:
|
Emotion |
Event |
Lesson
|
| Loneliness and homesickness
Don’t they love me any more? |
Going away to boarding school when I was five
|
Never do that to a child.
|
| Fear and shame
How does she know? |
Lying to my mother
|
Don’t lie. It doesn’t feel good and someone always finds out.
|
| Frustration and anger
Why isn’t she getting it? |
Teaching my sister how to drive
|
People learn in their own way. You have to figure out what works for the person you’re teaching.
|
Now I am going to write a little more detail about one of these experiences.
I remember when I was trying to teach my younger sister how to drive. It was really frustrating. She couldn’t figure out the difference between the gas pedal and the brakes. She was really slow getting it. I kept telling her what to do, but she wasn’t listening. I had to get out of the car because we started yelling at each other.
mini narrative here
Writer’s Work Time (20 min.)
Students make text-to-self connections between lessons they learned in their own lives and lessons learned by the author of the mentor text. Students write a list of possible topics and a few paragraphs about each. This writing enables them to begin “trying out” their ideas, which will in turn help them select topics for their memoirs in Lesson 1.3.
Circulate among students, encouraging them to think about their own experiences and lessons they have learned apart from the mentor text memoir. Remind students that they will be sharing their writing during the lesson summary. Look for students that used different brainstorming techniques to comment on in the lesson summary.
Note: Generating ideas is a key element in crafting a memoir. You may want to extend brainstorming to an additional lesson before asking students to commit to a topic in Lesson 1.3.
Differentiated Instruction Strategies [+]
- Difficulty using the writer’s notebook? Distribute Memoir Meaning (Handout 1.2a). Students can use the handout to help them write about times in their lives when they learned similar lessons to those in the mentor texts they have read. Students can attach the handout to their writers’ notebooks.
- Struggling to generate ideas? Form a guided writing group and provide students with additional prompts for generating topics. Students can create lists of people, such as their best friend, brother, etc., or moments, such as moments that were moving, and issues, such as being independent or having trouble passing tests, that might make good subjects for writing.
- Finished early? Instruct students who finish early to write additional entries. Students can also read other memoirs located in Professor P’s Office to help them think of additional experiences in their own lives.
- Individual conferences: Review students’ writing and guide them to think about important experiences that have influenced their lives. Help struggling students to make connections between the teacher model or the mentor text and experiences in their own lives.
Sharing and Lesson Summary (5 min.)
Reconvene the class. Ask students to share their writing with a partner. Students should provide feedback to their partner by making sure that they are describing experiences and not events and that their experiences include a lesson that changed their lives. Share a couple of examples of different brainstorming techniques you saw students use. Remind them to continue to generate topic ideas for their memoirs because they will choose one topic to focus on in the next lesson.
Revisit the class checklist and add additional elements that surfaced in today’s lesson. Information may include:
- A memoir is written in the first person.
- A memoir contains a lesson.
Assessment
Review students’ entries in their writers’ notebooks. Check to see whether students’ writing reflects an understanding of the basic characteristics of memoir. Provide feedback to students on which of their experiences might be particularly appropriate for their memoirs. If students’ writing focuses on an event in their lives and does not include the emotions they felt or the lessons they learned, provide feedback before they begin to expand their memoir topic in Lesson 1.3.
Note: Beginning in Lesson 1.3: Develop a Topic Web, you will need to develop your own memoir that you will model for students throughout this unit. It is important to select a topic you feel comfortable sharing with students and one that students can relate to. You will be modeling parts of the memoir as it develops in each lesson. However, you may wish to prepare some of the memoir before each class, so that it will take less time during class. For example, before the next lesson, you may wish to select a topic and prepare some of the experiences you would like to include in your web.