A Trip Down Memory Lane- Memoir Lesson Plans

We take pictures of the prom. We take photos of weddings, birthday celebrations, newborn babies, class pictures, and graduations. Why? We want to capture a special moment in time so that we can remember it. Memoirs serve the same purpose. Authors create memoirs so that readers can experience events that occurred. Maybe the memoir was written during a specific time period. If so, students will get a chance to experience the inner emotional life of the main protagonist, while also learning about their culture, historical period, and relationships.The memoir lets students experience people, places, and states of mind that they may have never explored before.

As a warm up activity, write the title of a memoir on the board. Have students take a few minutes to brainstorm what they think the memoir is going to be about. As a class, discuss the possibilities. Discussions may lead students to talk about social issues, history, health issues, etc. As a homework assignment, you could have your students do research about any of these topics to enhance their knowledge, and expand their awareness of the setting of the memoir.

The lesson plans that follow allow students to analyze the characteristics of  a memoir, learn about new cultures, better understand characterization, and improve their knowledge of geography. Through the process of reading, and the medium of writing, students will analyze figurative language, develop vocabulary from more than one language, and interact with each other to enhance interpersonal relationships between classmates and peers.

Remember That Time? That Place? Memoir Lesson Plans in Review

Sri Lankan Journey  In this lesson students investigate the multiple meanings of the story “Help! My Father is Coming!” by participating in carousel brainstorming. Five quotations from the story, along with questions, are posted around the room on chart paper. Students work in small groups, and stop by each of the chart paper postings to discuss and analyze the multiple meanings of the story, and to record their group’s answers and analysis with markers. When each group has gotten the chance to write on all five charts, the whole class discusses the answers. I like this lesson because any class activity that allows students the freedom to move about the room is beneficial - students become bored sitting in desks all day.  As a warm up activity, I would model for the students what a finished group’s carousel brainstorming session looks like, and that sample would be displayed as the students embarked upon their own carousel brainstorming session.

Imagery and the Ukraine After reading “Mr. John and the Day of Knowledge” students will be able to understand Eastern European cultures and customs by dissecting and analyzing the metaphors and descriptive imagery that the author used throughout this work. Students are given a simile from the opening page of the story and asked to elaborate on its meaning. They are then asked to find descriptive, and figurative language throughout the story, and discuss why these specific examples bring meaning to the overall reading experience. I think this lesson is a wonderful vehicle for teaching Eastern European culture, while simultaneously letting students discover the power of similes, metaphors, and other types of figurative language. Prior to this lesson, I would make certain that you have a discussion about the historical, geographic, and cultural aspects of the Ukraine so that students can better appreciate the rich imagery that the author employs. Activating prior knowledge is a good way to ensure that a lesson plan runs smoothly. As teachers we never want to take any student’s knowledge base, or lack of knowledge, for granted. 

Impressions and Reminders Students will explore the power of symbols and images, how the historic 9/11 event impacted our perception of various images, and how these perceptions affect us on a physiological and emotional level. Students create two columns and view images. In one column they write what the image meant to them prior to 911, and in the other column they write what the image means to them post 9/11. Additionally, students get into groups and are asked to write a description of a symbol that represents how they were feeling during the 9/11 event. They pass their descriptions to their class mates, and they write something about the description- either a comment, words of encouragement, or a question. I like that this activity requires students to evaluate their emotions, and gives them permission to express these emotions and evaluations through writing. Because the 9/11 event was such an emotional event, I would also consider using images that conjures up happy, uplifting feelings immediately following this exercise to balance out the heaviness that this lesson may provoke.

Refugees and Reluctant Immigrants Through a video memoir, students receive the up close and personal account of two families. They discuss the obstacles they faced when forced out of their Nigerian homeland. and dropped into a new one - America. Students learn new vocabulary by investigating the word “refugee”, they conduct Internet research to discuss the unsettling political landscape that affected the uprooting of certain Nigerian tribes, and end the lesson with a project of their choice that reflects their latest discoveries. This lesson is powerful because it exposes the human struggle that accompanies the hardship accompanying being in a new environment. I think that because there are so many different layers embedded in this one lesson (personal struggle, political struggle, economic struggle, etc.) that the lesson would be better absorbed if broken down into a few mini lessons. I would start out by having students look at a map of Nigeria and discussing the land and its agriculture. Having students create sentences that describe the agricultural aspects of the land reinforces their knowledge of geography. The next lesson would then begin with investigating how this geography impacts the people who live there. Without this background knowledge, I don’t think students would be able to fully appreciate the video memoir that the following lessons will include.