Memoir
A memoir is a story about a memory. Most memoirs:
- Focuses on a particular time (such as childhood)
- Focuses on a particular moment
- Reveals the author’s thinking, feeling, reactions, and emotions
- Makes others care and want to read
- Explains what life was like
- Passes on the memory to others
- Reveals something special about the author
Reading Memoirs
In class, we read various memoirs written by different authors. In addition to using our comprehension strategies while reading, we identified the elements of memoirs within each story. Below are a few of the picture book memoirs that we read.
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco
Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
Writing Memoirs
After reading many memoirs, some by published authors, and some student exemplars, we are ready to write our own memoirs! The students are working through the writing process (pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, reflecting peer revising and editing, publishing, and more reflecting) to develop their own memoirs.
The mini-lessons the students learned to help strengthen their memoirs include:
The mini-lessons the students learned to help strengthen their memoirs include:
- narrowing a topic
- zooming in - getting the outside (actions) and inside (thoughts and reactions) story
- using a lively lead
- adding dialogue
- adding action
- adding sound effects
- adding thoughts, reactions, and reflections
- using sensory language
