Middle school is a time of many changes and developments. Have your class reflect on their personalities during this tumultuous time with a portfolio full of autobiographical writing prompts. Kids write about the way they feel now, their...

Readers of Solomon Northup's brutally frank slave narrative Twelve Years a Slave examine passages that support the argument that slavery "undermined and corrupted" the institution of marriage. Background information is provided by a...

Encourage your middle and high schoolers to share their memories of a recent event. After reading a New York Times article, they discuss Elie Wiesel's memoir, Night. They write their own memoir about a significant event that affected...

For the end-of-unit assessment, scholars engage in small group Socratic seminars to connect the lyrics of two songs to texts they read and studied. They discuss how the songs "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" and "Lift Every Voice...

Five hundred school children first performed the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" in 1900 to celebrate President Lincoln's birthday. Scholars listen to the historic song and discuss the lyrics with partners. They continue preparing notes...

Song lyrics can help people better understand literary texts. Scholars continue listening to "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" and discuss the connections between the song's lyrics and Carlotta Walls LaNier's memoir, A Mighty Long...

The longest journey begins with a single step. Scholars analyze the details of Carlotta Walls LaNier's journey through the desegregation of schools in the United States. They continue reading the author's memoir, A Mighty Long Way, and...

The Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case connected to the Jim Crow laws. Scholars explore the topic by engaging in the World Café protocol to analyze specific Jim Crow laws. They discuss how the laws relate to Plessy v. Ferguson as well...

Scholars begin building background knowledge about Plessy v. Ferguson by watching a video about the landmark Supreme Court decision. They engage in discussions to analyze the importance of the case and to deepen their understanding of...

How do incidents in A Mighty Long Way provoke the author, Carlotta Walls LaNier, to make certain decisions that shape her story? Scholars engage in a close reading of the memoir, analyzing events in US history and in Carlotta's personal...

What was life like in the American South following the Civil War? Scholars watch a video that discusses the aftermath of the Civil War and the events during the Reconstruction Period. Additionally, they continue reading Carlotta Walls...

Are dogs truly a man's best friend? Pupils read a newspaper column by John Grogan about the death of his dog, Marley. Next, they answer text-dependent questions and complete graphic organizers to examine Grogan's feelings about his dog....

To conclude a study of the French Revolution, young historians adopt the voice of critics of Napoleon Bonaparte and lay charges against him. They then craft a memoir in Napoleon's voice that details his motives and what he sees as his...

Lois Lowry's The Giver is one of the most engaging and thought-provoking works of literature in the middle school curriculum. Round out your novel unit with a collection of reading activities, comprehension questions, memoir and journal...

"I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth." Just who is this "I"? In the third of ten-lesson unit that uses The Things They Carried as the anchor text, class members...

Start kids thinking about point of view and autobiographies by telling them a short story about your morning (first person), and then asking a volunteer to re-tell the story to you (second person). There are tips to help you tie this...

What is a memoir? What makes a memoir special? Encourage your young writers to create their own memoirs based on a memory they have. First, they discuss chapter one of the book Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli, and they talk about the memoir...

Are you working on an autobiographical or narrative writing unit? Bring this activity to your class, as it takes young writers through the process of drafting and sequencing an autobiography. After observing and demonstrating steps of...

Using chapter 1 of Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed, middle schoolers write a personal memoir based on Spinelli's style and a Six Trait writing activity. The lesson suggests several ways to activate prior knowledge, including a picture book and...

If you are planning a unit on memoir and autobiographical narrative, you should consider this resource. Using Internet research skills, pupils review works by James Frey and Henry David Thoreau. In response to these works, learners...

Explore the concept of literal and figurative language in this language arts language lesson. After reading an excerpt from Gary Paulsen's memoir, middle schoolers then classify the information in the memoir by drawing conclusions,...

After reading and analyzing two narrative memoirs, middle schoolers engage in a variety of activities, including writing an essay, developing a story map, and creating character charts. They then compare and contrast story maps, and...