Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: A Small Moment With an Important Person

For Teachers 1st - 9th Standards
A writer's workshop idea where students brainstorm a list of people who are important to them as well as one or two times they remember being with each person. Students then use these ideas to write about a small moment with someone who...
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Suggestions for Memoirs: Christmas Memories With a Relative

For Teachers 9th - 10th
After reading A Christmas Memory, by Truman Capote, teachers are provided with a list writing activities to choose from to use with their students such as brainstorm and write about a Christmas memory with an elderly relative.
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Suggestions for Writing Memoirs: Memories of a Pet or Object

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson plan, inspired by Gary Paulsen's My Life in Dog Years, helps students write memoirs or narratives about their lives through the eyes of a pet, a favorite pair of jeans, or their shoes. Students choose one item that is very...
Primary
University of Florida

Baldwin Library: Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

For Students 5th - 9th
This is an online photocopy of the original text of the children's book Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1888). This is the children's classic Robinson Crusoe plus a memoir of the author and an essay on his writings.
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Suggestions for Writing Memoirs: Visualizing Memorable Details

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Using the memoir The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros as a model, students focus on the details of their lives like their name and where they are from to write memoirs.
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Suggestions for Writing Memoirs: Memoirs Inspired by Whimpy Diary

For Teachers 9th - 10th
After reading journal entries from The Diary of a Whimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, students brainstorm and share their own ideas with a partner. Once they have a few ideas, they choose one idea to transform into a narrative writing. The...
Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Suggestions for Memoirs: Learning Social Vocabulary in a Menoir

For Teachers 9th - 10th
After discussing the picture book Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, young scholars brainstorm the meaning of teacher-selected words. Once the students have a clear understanding of the words, they create a...
eBook
Blackdog Media

Classic Reader: "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog" by O. Henry

For Students 9th - 10th
Text of the short story "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog" by O. Henry. (Free site registration offers some additional features, e.g., the ability to insert annotations.)
Website
Brigham Young University

Ambulance No. 10: Personal Letters From the Front

For Students 9th - 10th
Read the actual writings of a member of the ambulance corps during WWI. Includes a number of interesting photos and drawings.
Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Digital Senior Memory Book

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will design a digital story that will consist of their memories and thoughts from their whole life. After the students finish the digital book, the book will be combined into a digital presentation to be shared at a senior...
Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Introducing Each Other: Interviews, Memoirs, Photos, Internet

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
This lesson plan is designed to teach various methods middle schoolers can use when researching background information on one another in order to introduce each other in written and oral form.
Professional Doc
AdLit

Ad lit.org: Reading Discussion Guide: Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In Cures for Heartbreak, Margo Rabb writes a fictional account of a 15-year old girl whose mother dies just days after being diagnosed with melanoma; then her father falls ill, too. Using vignettes - many appeared elsewhere as short...
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Search for Identity: Maxine Hong Kingston

For Students 9th - 10th
Maxine Hong Kingston is featured in this biography for her literary contributions which explore her personal heritage as a Chinese American woman. See "Maxine Hong Kingston Activities" for related materials.
Unknown Type
EL Education

El Education: Blanca Rosenberg

For Teachers 5th - 8th
This memoir-style book was created by a 5th/6th grade student in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, and tells the life story of a Holocaust survivor. Blanca Rosenberg is the biography of Blanca written in first person narrative, as told to the...
Unit Plan
McGraw Hill

Glencoe Literature Library: "Night" Study Guide [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
A great resource for students reading Elie Wiesel's memoir, "Night," complete with an author biography, vocabulary lists, brainstorming activities, and thought-provoking writing prompts linked to specific chapters. After reading "Night,"...
Website
Authors Calendar

Author's Calendar: Sherwood Anderson

For Students 9th - 10th
This site, compiled by a public library in Finland, contains a brief biography of Anderson and a discussion of his major works. It also has a chronological list of his works.
Website
Washington State University

Washington State University: Literary Movements: The Slave Narrative

For Students 9th - 10th
In addition to defining "Slave Narrative," this website includes information on the styles and influences associated with slave narratives. Also provided, are links to several examples of nineteenth- and twentieth-century slave narratives.
Primary
Other

The War Times Journal: The Grand Fleet

For Students 9th - 10th
Selections from the war time memoirs of Admiral Jellicoe who was the British naval commander at the Battle of Jutland. These writings provide a glimpse into the use of British naval tactics at the naval battle.
Handout
First World War

First World war.com: Prose & Poetry Siegfried Sassoon

For Students 9th - 10th
This brief biography of Sassoon (1886-1967 CE) includes some thoughts about his work and his connection to other writers of the time.