UNIT GOALS:
We will practice strategies for accessing memories and generating ideas, explore a variety of story structures, practice the use of specific and sense detail, and further develop our abilities to write in scenes. We will introduce the concept of voice. We will refine our skills in giving and receiving meaningful feedback.
• To inspire your 'Here I . . . ' poem to go with your place map, read this poem by Galway Kinnell, The Road Between Here and There.
RECENT WONDERFUL STUFF (Fall 2015):
• From This American Life, a moving story about a Chinese-American boy, who doesn't speak Chinese, finally connecting with his Chinese father, who doesn't speak English, from Show 567.
• Listen to an interview with famous memoir writing Mary Carr, about her writing and new book The Art of Memoir.
• On The Moth, listen to a child soldier from Sierra Leone tell stories about trying to adjust to his new life as a teenager in New York City - powerful story!
IN CLASS READINGS
• A Litany by Gregory Orr
• Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolff. Or listen to the author read it: click on Act 6.
MEMOIR EXAMPLES:
• Read samples of memoirs or submit your own to Hippocampus.
• Listen to true stories, shared, live at the Moth.
INNOVATIVE FORMS FOR MEMOIRS:
• Lists. Read an example of a memoir in the form of a list: The Things I've Lost.
• Six Words. Write and submit six word memoirs: Six Words.
• Digital Essays. For examples of digital essays, visit the Center for Digital Storytelling and watch some student videos. And here is a model of a digital essay by your teacher.
MEMOIR IDEAS AND ADVICE:
• Inspiration and ideas for writing your memoir by writer Abigail Thomas: How to Write Your Memoir.
• Advice for memoir writing by writer and professor Susan Shapiro: Make me Worry You are Not Okay.
MOVIES:
• Watch the documentary Stories We Tell (streaming on Netflix), an example of innovative structure with reflection on the difficulty of finding truth, as the filmmaker tries to solve mysteries about her mother.
PUBLICATION (See more under our 'Publications Opportunities' link):
• Publish your memoir and essays in the new high school non-fiction literary magazine sponsored by the well-known journal Riverteeth: Tributary.
• Submit to Real Simple magazine's 'Your Words' column.
• Submit to Real Simple magazine's yearly 'Life Lessons' contest.
• Write an essay for the radio show This I Believe.
• Submit a short non-fiction piece about an experience on an airplane: Airplane Reading.
• Submit memoir to Hippocampus.
• Submit your non-fiction, on themes, to The Sun's Reader's Write column.
