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...

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...

Get your writers composing their own short stories by following some or all of the ideas included here. You'll find short lessons and activities, handouts and assignment pages, sample paragraphs and sentences, and all sorts of great...

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...

Looking for suggestions on how to organize a creating writing workshop? For topic suggestions appropriate for various grade levels? Check out a resource packet, designed for English language arts instructors, that is packed with ideas...

What is it that makes people keep going when they face challenges in life? Ask your class to consider this question in relation to their own experiences and as they read material from The New York Times. Using personal experiences and...

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...

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...

Take your middle schoolers back to the first Thanksgiving with an engaging cross-curricular unit that ties together topics in social studies and ELA. While learning about he settlement at Plymouth young scholars participate in a series...

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...