1. Autobiographical Genres
Memoir
Autobiography
Biography
Personal Narrative

2. Autobiography Who you are in life – Based on facts and research!
What life means to you – Your feelings, both past and present
What your outlook on the future is – Usually based on one event
Written by same person that it is about

3. Biography History of a lifetime – Must cover entire life
Most important facts and events of someone’s life
Contains anecdotes, memories, trips and cherished moments
Is about another person

4. Personal Narrative
Focus is on a particular event in a person/writer’s life
1st person
Uses diction and sensory details to express emotions that place the reader in the personal experience

5. Memoir Autobiographical writing
Captures certain highlights or meaningful moments in one’s past
Contemplation of the meaning of that event at the time of the writing of the memoir
Much more emotional and connects the writer to someone or something that had and impact on their life

6. Characteristics of the Memoir Form
Focus on a brief period of time or series of related events
Narrative structure (storytelling elements like setting, plot, imagery, characterization, foreshadowing/flashback, and irony and symbolism)
Retrospective
Fictional quality
Higher emotional level/more personal reconstruction of the events and their impact

7. Memoirs – Another perspective
Explores an event or series of related events that remain lodged in memory
Describes the events and then shows, either directly or indirectly why they are significant
WHY do you STILL remember them?
Focused in time (not long)
Focuses on problem/conflict and its resolution and why the resolution is significant in your life

8. Why we read memoirs… BECAUSE GOOD READERS… Make connections Question
Visualize
Infer
Synthesize
…and these things expose essential truths and help us evaluate our own lives and the world around us!

9. Good Readers Make connections to books or works they read by:
1. Connect books they read by connecting it to another book (text-to-text)
2. Connect to something in their own life (text to self)