Memoir

Memoir

Writer’s Notebook

“ “ Best Place”Best Place”

My favorite/most My favorite/most important place in important place in the entire world is…the entire world is…

10/14/10

Content: Memoir

NEW POLICY: To help you focus, NEW POLICY: To help you focus, the prompt will disappear 3 the prompt will disappear 3 minutes after the bell rings.minutes after the bell rings.

Memoir

MemoirMemoir

Essential Focus: a Essential Focus: a significantsignificant relationships with a person, place, or thingrelationships with a person, place, or thing

KEY ELEMENTS: KEY ELEMENTS: RELATIONSHIPRELATIONSHIP SIGNIFICANTSIGNIFICANT

Show the reader Show the reader howhow the p/p/t had an the p/p/t had an impact on your life.impact on your life.

Multiple experiences (occurs over time)Multiple experiences (occurs over time)

Notes

Yesterday’s MemoirsYesterday’s Memoirs

Yesterday, you read Yesterday, you read ““Fraidy Cat”Fraidy Cat” ““Grandmama Edwina”Grandmama Edwina” ““Wrestling In A Cage”Wrestling In A Cage”

Each was a memoirEach was a memoirNot Notes

““Fraidy Cat”Fraidy Cat”

• The one about the guy who gets a cat; is not a cat person; the cat has stillborn kittens, bonds with the guy, then dies; “don’t know what you have until it’s gone”

• MEMOIR: focused on the significant relationship between the writer and the cat

• He liked the cat = IRRELEVANT• He learned something specific from the

relationship = significance

““Fraidy Cat”Fraidy Cat”What WorksWhat Works

• Specific significanceSpecific significance– all experiences support significanceall experiences support significance

• Dislike to like the catDislike to like the cat• Bonding over aftermath of stillbornsBonding over aftermath of stillborns• ““fool cat”fool cat”• Stayed with herStayed with her• Pulled over -> showed revelation in the Pulled over -> showed revelation in the

momentmoment

– SHOWSHOW• Doesn’t “tell” us about key experiencesDoesn’t “tell” us about key experiences• SHOWS us key experiencesSHOWS us key experiences

Writer’s Notebook

““Toy Talk”Toy Talk”

Today, my favorite Today, my favorite childhood toy childhood toy walked up to me walked up to me and said...and said...

10/15/10

Content: Memoir

NEW POLICY: To help you focus, NEW POLICY: To help you focus, the prompt will disappear 3 the prompt will disappear 3 minutes after the bell rings.minutes after the bell rings.

Today

• Students will identify qualities of “good writing” in sample memoirs.

• Students will begin prewriting for Memoirs.

““Fraidy Cat”Fraidy Cat”What WorksWhat Works

• Specific significanceSpecific significance– all experiences support significanceall experiences support significance

• Dislike to like the catDislike to like the cat– Not a cat personNot a cat person– Bonding over aftermath of stillbornsBonding over aftermath of stillborns– ““fool cat”fool cat”– Stayed with herStayed with her– Pulled over -> showed revelation in the momentPulled over -> showed revelation in the moment

– SHOWSHOW• Doesn’t “tell” us about key experiencesDoesn’t “tell” us about key experiences• SHOWS us key experiencesSHOWS us key experiences

Grandmama Edwina“What Works”

• Precise Details– Focus on eccentricity– Specific details illustrate personality

• “wears straw hats and white gloves, always has a basket of peaches in the summer time, calls the mayor “tubby” to his face, careens down the highway faster than her age, and gave up golf after she accidentally killed a duck with a long drive over a short water hazard.

Structure:

Starts out pretty normal, then gets crazy.


• Precise Details (cont.)– Tells you exactly what the writer is talking

about• “Miserable cook”• Proof normal = fresh vegetables, cured hams,

homemade jellies {mmm}• Grandmama Edwina’s fridge = pimiento cheese,

instant tea, readymade waffles, 6-ounce Cokes, ketchup, freezer-burnt ice cream sandwiches, and bacon {bleh} {also, nothing to “cook”}


• Interesting phrasing– “the fried-chicken dish of the culinary impaired”– “hide the tell-tale grease-soaked buckets”– “long drive over a short water hazard”– “for reasons unknown to the rational world”– “the woman behind the curtain”– “Mildred knows grandmother can’t cook. We know

grandmother can’t cook. Grandmother knows she can’t cook. It is a conspiracy that polite family members do not make light of in major magazines.”


• FOCUS– It’s all about Edwina being a horrid cook

1. Intro = all southern g’mas cook, but some different

2. How Edwina is different her eccentricities keep people from paying attention to her cooking

3. Proof that Edwina is not a good cook

4. Explanation of how she gets away with it

5. Example of Edwina “cooking”

6. How the family handles the issue

7. Make it current. Edwina is trying

8. There’s hope

9. Fun clincher with call-back

Karma at the PandaWhat Works

• CONTRAST– How she is at Pandamonium vs. how she is outside of

Pandamonium• “The acceptance that eluded me at home and at school I

took for granted at the Panda. The real me came out there.”

• “I could boogie and bop. I could step out of the self-contained shell that was the only way my parents and [...] people at school knew me”

• “In my non-Panda life I was a pacifist, a peacemaker [wrestling “match”] No one but my Panda crew celebrates that crazy, impulsive side of me.”

• “when I got into trouble, my Panda-mates were there for me. [fight, support]... My mom doesn’t even offer me a Band-Aid any more. And when I lose my keys, I’m on my own. But my family at the Panda made up for that. They kissed my boo-boos and watched out for me.”

Memoir Prewriting

• We need to begin generating ideas

• Complete the front page of the prewriting sheet

• REMEMBER THE MEMOIR RULE:– NO BOYFRIENDS/GIRLFRIENDS

Writer’s NotebookWriter’s Notebook““WW_D”WW_D”

A few years ago, there was a religious A few years ago, there was a religious trend focused on asking oneself trend focused on asking oneself “WWJD?” or “What Would Jesus Do?” “WWJD?” or “What Would Jesus Do?” Create your own WW_D? using someone Create your own WW_D? using someone from your life to fill in the blank. No, you from your life to fill in the blank. No, you cannot use Jesus. No, this is not cannot use Jesus. No, this is not blasphemous (trust me, I asked a priest.)blasphemous (trust me, I asked a priest.)

10/18/10

Content: Memoir

NEW POLICY: To help you focus, the NEW POLICY: To help you focus, the prompt will disappear 3 minutes after prompt will disappear 3 minutes after the bell rings.the bell rings.

Today

• Students will analyze the use of precise details to support the writer’s message in sample memoirs.

• Students will begin prewriting for Memoirs.

• In a memoir, it is essential that the In a memoir, it is essential that the reader knows who your subject isreader knows who your subject is

• YOU must YOU must show show the reader the reader character traitscharacter traits of the p/p/t of the p/p/t

• These traits must help the audience These traits must help the audience understand who/what the p/p/t is, understand who/what the p/p/t is, especially as relates to your purposeespecially as relates to your purpose

• Read the sample memoir

• Complete the Subject Chart

• In your In your WRITER’S NOTEBOOKWRITER’S NOTEBOOK• Complete a Subject Chart for Complete a Subject Chart for two two (2)(2) potential subjects for your potential subjects for your memoirmemoir

• Title = Memoir Subject ChartsTitle = Memoir Subject Charts• Content = MemoirContent = Memoir

Writer’s NotebookWriter’s Notebook

““Monster Under My Bed”Monster Under My Bed”

When I finally met the When I finally met the monster under my monster under my bed...bed...

10/19/10

Content: Memoir


Today

• Students will analyze the use of structure to support/enhance meaning in a memoir.

• Students will continue prewriting for their Memoirs.

• Finish Prewriting Sheet Step 2

Memoir Structure

• Extended Metaphor starts with an analogy, a comparison between two things (usually very unlike) and carries that comparison through the piece—e.g., “my mom is my guardian angel…” The comparison usually identifies one thing as another (though comparative language like “like” may be used). Often the corresponding points are outlined in the lead (“…she knows everything without me telling her, she offers good counsel, and she puts herself between me and harm…”).

• Central Image paints a picture that comes up again and again (an empty swing swaying as if recently vacated that the writer returns to after stories –which all mention the swings– about the playground, the writer’s old haunt).

Structure• Chronology follows a sequence determined by order in which

things happened. When this is the only method of organization, it is sometimes a good idea to pull one event—an important event, or the end of the “story”—out of the sequence and put it up front. Transitional phrases like “Another time…” “Second…” “Finally…” often help the reader follow the writer’s time line.

• Contrast sets descriptions of two places, people, etc., side by side highlighting differences (the treatment of Karma at Pandamonium versus the treatment of C--- by her mother). If the contrast is systematic (i.e. is an organizational pattern followed throughout the piece), it is a good idea to keep the pattern the same—e.g., in every paragraph the writer describes Karma’s treatment at Pandamonium first and then describes her treatment by her mother.

Structure• Framing Event leads with an important story

that seems to “sum up” the essence of person/place/object. Body of memoir gives further examples of that same quality or essence and may make occasional explicit references to framing event. Conclusion circles back to the framing event.

• Repetition repeats a line or phrase again and again at strategic moments in the text (“I should have listened to my mother” repeated after stories that illustrate writer not following mother’s advice).

Structure• Third-Party Connection uses something else

—another person, an activity, a cause, an animal, etc.—to link writer to the subject of her/his memoir (i.e. writer and mother both staunch Republicans).

• Photo Album based on evidence presented in vignettes, what aspect of her/his relationship with the person/place/object the writer is trying to highlight. It is critical in such an approach to use “frozen moments” that clearly illustrate the writer’s angle (the father’s willingness to sacrifice himself for his daughter should be clear in the selected vignettes).

• Finish Prewriting Sheet Step 3


““FREE”FREE”

Write

10/20/10

Content: Freebie


Memoir Structure Strategies

• Use these strategies to create cohesion in your memoir• Extended Metaphor• Central Image• Chronology• Contrast• Framing Event• Repetition• Third-Party Connection

In your CLASS NOTES

• Create this chart

Title Structure Choice How the choice is effective

Structure Choices Analysis• In pairs

• Read the supplied texts• (If any of them are texts we’ve already read, you

can skim them)• Identify the Structure Choices the writer made• Analyze the effectiveness of the choice• Record your findings on the Structure Strategies

chart

Basic Structure - Memoir• Introduction

• Attention Grabber• Context (the theme/significance/subject in general terms• Thesis

• First Experience• Highlight the connection to the significance• Can be:

• First glimpse of significance• One aspect of significance• Beginning of relationship (if connected to personal growth/change)

• Second Experience• Highlight the connection to the significance• Can be:

• Second glimpse of significance• Second aspect of significance• Change in relationship (if connected to personal growth/change)

• Third Experience• Highlight the connection to the significance• Can be:

• Final glimpse of significance• Third aspect of significance• End/current state of relationship (if connected to personal

growth/change)• Conclusion

Memoir Rubric


““What Happened”What Happened”

You see, what happened was…

10/21/10

Content: Fun


Details, Details, Details

Memoirs use brief versions of events

Less time to develop the story

Need to use precise details– The most important/relevant– More bang for your buck

Basic Structure - Memoir• Introduction

• Attention Grabber• Context (the theme/significance/subject in general terms• Thesis

• First Experience• Highlight the connection to the significance• Can be:

• First glimpse of significance• One aspect of significance• Beginning of relationship (if connected to personal growth/change)

• Second Experience• Highlight the connection to the significance• Can be:

• Second glimpse of significance• Second aspect of significance• Change in relationship (if connected to personal growth/change)

• Third Experience• Highlight the connection to the significance• Can be:

• Final glimpse of significance• Third aspect of significance• End/current state of relationship (if connected to personal

growth/change)• Conclusion

Memoir

Education

cat bonding

cat person bonding

memoir essential focus

key experiences

memoir rule

gone memoir

memoir new policy

specific significance