Writing: Memoirs

Sixth graders read, revise, and then write a friendly letter. Start by reading a sample letter you've written to your class. Then have each writer reminisce on the first day of school. Point out how different letters offer different...

Writing is a process, and lesson planning is, too! A personal narrative unit stresses the writing process to pupils, who first examine various stories and poems as a model of autobiographical writing and then write their own stories....

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...

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...

Binoculars are used as a metaphor for good descriptive writing. Class members first view a small picture and then an enlarged view of the same image in which the details come into focus. Next, learners examine a paragraph lacking sensory...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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