Note: All quotes and page numbers correlate to Nancie Atwell’s Second Edition of In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading and Learning.
“They get bored telling what happened to them and bored listening to stories about other kid’s experience” (370). The solution is a memoir. “Memoir is how writers look for the past and make sense of it. We figure out who we are, who we have become, and what it means to us and to the lives of others: a memoir puts the events of a life in perspective for the writer and for those who read it. It is a way to validate to others the events of our lives¬–out choices, perspectives, decisions, responses” (372). The memoir not only includes a detailed account of the event, but it reflects on the importance of the event. Why it was significant in the writer’s life and how it shaped them or changed them.
In order to teach this, Atwell suggests modeling and studying specific memoirs while having students analyze what the author does and how the memoir works in mini lessons. She also gives a non example in which student are to create a list of “what doesn’t work.” Below is her non-example which could be adapted for your classroom:
MS. A’s BAAAAAAD MEMOIR
We were going ice-skating at Dieners’ pond.
“Will you wait for me?” Mom said.
“How come?” we asked.
“I want to go skating with you.”
“But you never go skating,” we replied.
“I have borrowed Rose’s skates,” she said.
Then we walked down to Dieners’ Pond. When we got there, we changed into our skates. When Mom skated, she was really good. She did figure eights backwards. We have never seen our mother skate before. It was a big surprise.
After about two hours we went home and had hot chocolate. It was a great day.
Once students are given a bad example, they will make a list of why the above memoir is a bad example. Students should be able to recognize the following:
The memoir only gives the facts
There are no thoughts or feelings
The tense is not first person singular
A lot of the characters do not have names or what they are like
Description is missing
The setting isn’t clear
There is no reflection for the reader or writer. The story seems pointless.
Once studying a series of memoirs, students can come up with another list of “Qualities of Memoirs That Work For Us.”
Some Memoir to use for these lessons are listed below:
