1. Memoir Unit
Week Four
2013

2. Welcome!! Peninsula Writers Special Guests Ms. Lee Bradley
Mr. Rick Guilford
Ms. Sue Guilford
Ms. Shirley Neitzel
Ms. Marcie Woods
Ms. Cerise Fuhrman
Special Guests
Dr. Paskewicz, Mr. Thomas, Mrs. Steelman

3. Stephen Dunning Small-Groups
Select a timer (12 minutes per person)
While each person reads his/her piece, group members read along silently and annotate text
After listening, wait a few minutes to formulate thoughts about the piece
Discuss the piece as though the writer is not there (authors should be taking notes)
Focus discussion on ideas and language
Author may “explain” or comment about raised suggestions
Thank group members

4. Homework
Minimum 3 pages
TWO COPIES!

5. AGENDA Poetry Announcement Rhetorical Vocab (Comparison)
Partner Feedback Session
Choice Reading

6. Debriefing What did you learn from small-group?
What will change in your piece?

7. Final-Copy Questions MLA format Attention to rubric Heading Title
Double spacing
Page numbers
Attention to rubric
Diction, syntax
Ideas
Final copy of memoir
due next class: October 9
Bring rough drafts:
YOUR copy from
Stephen Dunning (Mon.)
2. Your partner’s copy (Tues.)
Bring The Glass Castle
to return to IMC

8. Sentence Patterning
On graph paper, make a graph that represents the number of words included in each sentence of two paragraphs.
We want a “heartbeat!”

9. Pair/Share
With your partner, read your revised piece “Stephen Dunning” style

10. Read-Around Choose a section of your piece you would like to read
to the whole group
Preface your
reading with a
one-sentence
synopsis of your
piece

11. Rubric for Memoir Assignment
Item Description Total Points Earned Points
Writing Process
Produces multiple revisions, making
thoughtful changes to original draft _____
Prepares for small-group sessions with ample
copies of a finished rough draft _____
Participates in revision activities with a focus
on writing improvement _____
Genre Characteristics
Focuses on unifying theme of one slice of
subject’s life _____
Includes relevant, genuine, and vivid details
of experience _____
Demonstrates empathy through a balance
of detailed accounts and privacy
issues _____

12. AGENDA
Rhetorical Vocab (Balance)
Précis Summaries

13. Précis Summaries Highly structured four-sentence paragraph
Assertion/Claim
Development
Purpose
Audience
4 parts
Check out the funny You Tube video on precis summaries – students will love this. Also – there are several example handouts to make the explanation clearer.

14. Rhetorical Précis Intended audience Relationship with audience
Assertion/Claim (who, what, when)
Name of author (phrase describing)
Genre + title of work + date (2012)
Rhetorically accurate verb
“THAT” clause containing the thesis
Development (how)
How the author “develops and/or supports”
Chronological Order
Purpose (why)
The “author’s purpose”
Infinitive ( “ is to” + verb)
Audience (to whom)
Intended audience
Relationship with audience

15. Rhetorically Accurate Verbs
argues
suggests
states
proposes
declares
maintains
advocates
asserts
denies
refutes
proves
disproves
explains
a strong action verb that reports the author's thesis

16. The Glass Castle
In her poignant memoir The Glass Castle (2005) Jeannette Walls suggests that even though her upbringing was unstable at best, the end result was hopeful.
She makes her claim by describing in great detail the poverty in which she lived, the lies from which she ran, the other kids from whom she hid, and the parents on whom she relied.

17. The Glass Castle
3. Her sole purpose is to capture her own story by writing it down in a way that is both brave and haunting; she wants people to finally know her without judging her parents too harshly.
4. Walls reaches out to an empathetic audience, one who understands the complex mix of a family who somehow withstands the fierce storms of living together but still learns to forgive and love in spite of the judgment of others and even of themselves.

18. Précis Summaries Gradual Release of Responsibility
Model: The Glass Castle
Partner: “Us and Them” by Sedaris (pg. 16)
Individual: Personal Memoir (pg. 17)

19. AGENDA Turn in memoir Return TGC to IMC Rhetorical Vocab (balance)
Group discussions
Didion: “On Keeping a Notebook”
HOMEWORK: Precis Summary (typed)

20. Memoir ORDER: TOP to BOTTOM Yellow Rubric (ADD NAME on scoring side)
Final copy
Tuesday’s draft
Monday’s draft
Reminder: Write Michigan Contest!! Win MONEY!!

21. Rhetorical Précis Intended audience Relationship with audience
Assertion/Claim (who, what, when)
Name of author (phrase describing)
Genre + title of work + date (2013)
Rhetorically accurate verb
“THAT” clause containing the thesis
Development (how)
How the author “develops and/or supports”
Chronological Order
Purpose (why)
The “author’s purpose”
Infinitive ( “ is to” + verb)
Audience (to whom)
Intended audience
Relationship with audience

22. Joan Didion
American author best known for her novels and her literary journalism. Her novels and essays explore the disintegration of American morals and cultural chaos, where the overriding theme is individual and social fragmentation. A sense of anxiety or dread permeates much of her work.[ wikipedia]

23. “On Keeping a Notebook”
Read and annotate thoughts
Keep in mind that you will be writing a precis summary on this piece
Summative:
typed, double spaced due TOMORROW!

24. AGENDA Announcements: Finish “Currently” Journal
Scotland/England trip
Catching Fire movie trip
3rd Hour: Fill out Employability skills self-assessment
Finish “Currently” Journal
“Non-Fiction” Friday! On iPads OR
Choice Reading outside