Curated OER
Memoir Writing Based on Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed
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...
Louisiana Department of Education
How to Write a Memoir
Who are we and what shapes our identities? Seventh graders work to answer this question as they learn how to write a memoir. Full of non-print resources and supplemental texts that range from fiction to non-fiction, scholars write their...
Curated OER
Memoir
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...
Curated OER
A BIOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY: USING THE LITTLE PRINCE TO EXPLORE BIOGRAPHY & CREAIVE WRITING
Young scholars integrate Author and Biography study with Students personal perspective. They make connections between research and creative writing. Young scholars enrich research and critical thinking skills. They encourage students to...
Curated OER
Elements of Art - Memoir Book
Learn and practice the elements of art by making a picture book. Also containing short memoirs of their own lives, this would be a perect project and also a gift to take home. In doing this project, they also gain an understanding of the...
Curated OER
Varied Beginnings: Research Process / Narrative Writing Techniques
What's the best way to start a story? Learners write a memoir using effective openings. They research the process and work through a list of hooks to use in their writing. They use at least two hooks to begin their personal memoir. A...
Curated OER
Structuring Memoir
Review the essential elements of the memoir with a presentation that reminds writers of the structural options (chronological order, in medias res, etc.) available to them. Augment the slides with memoir models to ensure understanding.
Massachusetts Department of Education
Nostalgia
To prepare for crafting their own memoir, class members examine poetry by Margaret Atwood, Billy Collins, Robert Hayden, and Claude McKay, stories by Richard Rodriquez and Willa Cather, and Barry Levinson's film Avalon. They examine how...
Cleveland Metro School District
Novel Lesson for The Giver
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...
Curated OER
Introducing Literacy Elements in Nonfiction
Explore nonfiction writing with your class. They will identify elements in nonfiction by reviewing elements of fiction. Then they use biographies, memoirs, menus, Time for Kids, and text books to identify elements of nonfiction. They...
Curated OER
Using Memoirs to Open Doors to Research
Interesting memoirs can be a springboard into some very enjoyable research assignments.
New York City Department of Education
Theater Units for Lower and Upper Elementary Levels
Introduce middle schoolers to playwriting and the elements of drama with a six-session storytelling unit that encourages kids to expand their acting and writing skills. The 12-page packet includes overviews of the lessons, assessment...
Curated OER
Memoirs and Personal Essays
Young scholars can then pinpoint problems the characters experience and interview their parents to see if they too may have once faced a similar problem. Interviews with family members can be recorded by students in their home language.
Curated OER
What If: The Seed Of A Story
Young scholars read and comprehend a piece of fictional writing, analyze how setting, characterization, and plot affect the theme of a story and work in a group to create a new writing assignment. This 5-day plan culminates in students...
National Constitution Center
Address America: Your Six-Word Stump Speech
Stump speeches are the focus of this exercise that combines politics and language arts. After learning about this type of speech, the class listens to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign stump speech and answers a series of questions that...
Curated OER
Kid Lit Crit
Students explore different types of student literature; they then write their own fiction pieces, in either fantasy/adventure or memoir/realism style.
Curated OER
Three Part Dialogue
Eighth graders write a three part dialogue as part of an effective memoir. In this three part dialogue lesson, 8th graders are given two parts of a dialogue and emotions that accompany the words. Students then create the third part of...
Curated OER
www.Me.Com
Create a graphic autobiography integrating images and text. Working within the structure of the programs Comic Life and Photoshop, pupils integrate the Principles of Design. They focus on balance, rhythm, proportion, and text structure....
Curated OER
Travels With Charley
Fifth graders engage in a literature study that uses a variety of texts in order to maximize their exposure to different reading situations. They examine each book in order to practice skills of reading comprehension. They recognize the...