1. Memoir
Lesson Design by
Eva Arce

2. What is a memoir?
A subcategory of an autobiography (part of a life story)
A personal narrative
A record of events based on the author’s recollection
A memory (From French mémoire)
A retrospective account of a memorable event
A composition about a personal experience that focuses on the relationship of the memory to the author.

3. Books For Example? David Sedaris Me Talk Pretty One Day
Lance Armstrong It’s Not About the Bike
Joan Didion The Year of Magical Thinking
Anne Frank The Diary of a Young Girl
Frank McCourt Angela’s Ashes
Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Barack Obama Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Ernest Hemingway A Moveable Feast
Henry David Thoreau Walden

4. Essays for Example? Brent Staples “Black Men in Public Spaces”
Joan Didion “On Keeping a Notebook”
David Quamman “The Same River Twice”
Adam Gopnik “Bumping into Mr. Ravioli”
David Sedaris “Me Talk Pretty One Day”
Judith Cofer “Myth of the Latin Woman…”
Saskia Verlaan “Perspectives on Fear”
Mark Twain “Two Ways of Seeing a River”

5. Activity 1 What Color is your Voice?
What is voice in writing? author’s tone or style; reflection of author’s personality
What is Synesthesia? Mixed sensations in which a stimulus in one sense elicits an experience in another (For example an unusual blending of senses such as to see color in music or sound, to taste a name, to touch a smell, to taste a smell, to sense a shape triggered by a taste, or to see color when feeling pain. )
Identify the color of your voice.
Explain why this color reflects your voice.
Share your findings/recollections with your housemates.

6. Activity 2 Conversation Starters
Develop a question that would stimulate a discussion of memories.
Share your answer with your housemates.
As a group, choose the best conversation starter and best answer(s) with the class.

7. Activity 3
Tone Tune
Listen to this selection “In My Life” by The Beatles from Rubber Soul
Identify the tone or feeling of the song.
Create a Basic Tone Cluster using that tone.
Use the Tone Cluster to write a memory.

8. Tone Tune Mini Memoir I’m the Speaker. What’s my Subject?
How do I feel about it?
Why?

9. Example of my Tone Tune Mini Memoir
Lacho,
Every day, I remember. Although you’ve been physically dead since 1989, you live in me.
In that other realm where you now exist, do you remember when you bought me the Rubber Soul Album. You were the only adult who understood I had fallen in love for the first time with boys whom I would never meet. We sat and listened to the album together, analyzing the songs the same way we did books, paintings, movies, musicals, and life.
If I’m crying now, it’s because I miss your physical guidance and your verbal wisdom. Even more, I regret that you are not here to see the person you created - not biologically but ethically and intellectually. You would be so proud of me. You are the teacher on whose shoulders I stand every day of my life.
Evie

10. Essential Questions
How are aspects of identity expressed in various situations?
How do language and culture influence identity?
How does one’s identity develop over time?
How do memoirs help us to make meaning of our lives? Consider assimilation, perseverance, and/or adversity,
How do writers use reflection to make sense of prior experience?
How does memoir enhance self reflection?
Why is someone compelled to write a memoir?

11. Common Core Lesson
Teaching%20Resources/11th/Required%20Units/L aunching%20the%20Writers%20Notebook%20Me moir.pdf

12. Jodarski Lesson
mePage/TeachingUnits/MemoirUnit.htm
University of Minnesota Duluth
by Nicole Jodarski

13. Graphic Memoir
Persepolis by
Marjane Satrapi
(2000)

14. Memoirs in Art

15. Vincent Van Gogh Self Portrait 1889
Courtauld Institute Galleries
London, England

16. The Lovers in the Countryside (1844) Gustave Courbet
Musée des Beaux-Arts
Lyon, France

17. The Desperate Man (1843-45) Gustave Courbet
Private Collection

18. The Wounded Man (1844-1854) Gustave Courbet
Musée d’Orsay
Paris, France

19. Memoirs in Music

20. “Get Her Back” Robin Thicke
Reflections on his lost love

21. The Ballad of John and Yoko John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Context eature=kp
Song dOHias8

22. “Live Like You Were Dying” Tim McGraw
Reflections about his father death
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23. “Piano Man” Billy Joel Reflection on his career
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24. “Family Portrait” Pink and Scott Storch
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Reflections on family relationships and conflicts as seen through a child’s point of view

25. Your Memoir Prompt
Prompt: In pursuit of the Socratic Quest “Know thyself - gnothi seauton,” consider the philosopher’s famous line: “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
In a well developed essay, reflect on one aspect of your life.

26. Readings to Inform Your Memoir Writing
“Perspectives on Fear” by Saskia Verlaan
“Black Men in Public Spaces” by Brent Staples
From Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
“Myth of the Latin Woman” by Judith Ortiz Cofer
“Open Letter to a Young Negro” by Jesse Owens

27. Planning Your Memoir
Writer’s Journal Entry 1: After reading the selections, identify elements of an effective memoir.
Writer’s Journal Entry 2: List 10 vivid memories on which you would like to reflect. Consider the events in your life that have shaped who you are.
Writer’s Journal Entries 3, 4, and 5: Draft three memories with reflections. Consider how these events define you. How did you react in these situations and how were you affected by the events?What did you learn about yourself? about others? about humanity in general? What will you do with what you’ve learned?

28. Draft Your Memoir Be Prepared for Peer Editing
Heading: Student #, AP English III. Period, Date
Title
words
Typed
Double spaced
12 pt font

29. Object d’Art Your Visual Connection
Symbolic of your memoir
Not more than 5” in height, length or depth.
A ring or hook on the top (from which to tie a ribbon)
Your name on the bottom
Light enough to hang from the ceiling (think Christmas ornament)

30. Polish Essay and Submit Final Project
Essay and Object d’Art Due Dates:
A DAY :
B DAY:

31. Optional Composition Grade
Graphic Memoir: Using graphics in the style of a comic book, frame one aspect of your life.
Musical Memoir: Using an original music composition or a musical score, explain how this musical selection reveals one aspect of your life.
Propose a creative memoir option: Get teacher’s approval before beginning this task.