Memoir

I explain Memoir to kids like this:  Narrative and Essay get married and they have a baby. The baby is Memoir.  I think memoir is a story from your past that is so important you have realized something bigger about yourself or the world.  I used eleven by sandra cisneros to show how she begins with a hint at the "essay/idea" that she has about age. Then she tells the "narrative/story" about her sweater at school.Then she develops the essay/idea again at the end.  I had a difficult time finding good memoirs that showed this writing patterns. Many "memoirs" I found were, to me, more narrative with no big ideas.  I had the kids use the same language we used in essay to go deeper into an idea. They were:  And that makes me think... and What I mean by that is...I thought it was very exciting to have kids tell an important story and then realize something.  Some examples are:

Dimitri:  Wrote a story about getting a shot...realized that everyone is afraid of something.

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