Teaching Autobiographies and Memoirs

Elizabeth Flaschberger and Steve Markey

 

 

 

 

Enduring Understandings

 

1.    Students will read autobiographies/memoirs and will recognize importance of point of view.

2.    Students will be exposed to different media forms of autobiography/memoir.

3.    Students will create their own autobiography.

 

 

Objectives

 

I.D.4. Evaluate the impact of an author’s decisions regarding word choice, point of view, style           and literary elements.

 

I.D.15. Read from and respond to a variety of fiction, poetic and nonfiction texts of increasing     complexity for personal enjoyment.

 

2.A.1.  Plan, organize, and compose narrative, expository, descriptive, persuasive critical, and     research writing to address a specific audience and purpose.

 

Introduction

Memoirs are a genre of writing that has recently exploded in mainstream literature.  With Frank McCourt, David Sedaris, and Augusten Burroughs topping the best seller lists, it is a genre that is no longer possible to ignore.  They can be fun to read and also offer students the opportunity to comprehend the importance (and possible benefit) of point of view.

 

 

 

 

Lesson 1 - Memoirs v. Autobiography: What’s the Difference?  Who cares anyway?

(adapted from readwritethink.org)

 

 

1.    Students come to class having finished The Giver by Lois Lowry. 

2.    Perform an Interrupted summary of the plot of the story.

3.    Discuss the importance of memories in the book – and in real life.

4.    Perhaps beginning a KWL chart, assess what students already know about memoirs and autobiographies.  Address the differences between the two genres.

5.    Free-write activity having students list their two favorite memories

 

Homework:  Flesh out your two favorite memories.  Write them in narrative style, adding detail.  Bring to next class.

 

 

 

Lesson 2 – Read Some Memoirs/Autobiographies

 

1.    Teacher comes to class with excerpts and examples of autobiographies and memoirs. These copies will not have a title or other identifying information on them. Example memoirs from students can be found at http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/readwork.asp?Page=5&genre=Memoir&sortBy=.  Take excerpts from autobiographies.  Some examples include:

 

-    Reaching for the Moon by Buzz Aldrin.

-    Through My Eyes: the Autobiography of Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges.

-    I am Rosa Parks by Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins.

 

 

2.    Split students into groups of 3-4 and hand out 4 sample autobiography/memoirs.  Students read piece aloud in group and discuss whether it is an autobiography/memoir.  Bring students back to large group and have them present their findings and give rationale for their choices.

3.    Alphabetical Autobiography.  (adapted from webenglishteacher.com)  To get students’ minds warmed up in remembering memories and aspects of themselves, students will perform this activity.  This will be in the form of a children’s book.  They will start with the letter, and a word that starts with this letter to represent them.  Then they will do a brief 1-3 sentence summary of this aspect of their lives.  Ex: “A is for Ahi Tuna.  My grandfather was a tuna fisherman for 50 years.  I used to go out on the boats with him” 

 

Homework:  Finish Alphabetical Autobiography and bring to class the following day.

 

 

 

Lesson 3 – Tell Me About this Picture and the Unreliable Narrator

 

 

1.    Students bring in a photograph from home.  It can be any picture they wish.  Either a photograph that depicts something substantial in their lives, or is a good example of their family.

2.    Activity:  Do the brief write-up about this photograph.  What do you notice?  What is there?  What isn’t there?  Is this symbolic of you or your family?  Now switch photographs with your neighbor.  Write about what you think is going on in this picture.

3.    One of the benefits of writing a memoir is that you get to tell stories from your own perspective.  This means that things happen however you choose to see them.  Consider this point in creating your memoir.  What is important?  What isn’t?  If I choose to tell a story about something that happened to me when I was four years old, am I being the most unreliable narrator?  Is that okay?

4.    A Million Little Pieces ¬– an activity.  Have students read article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Million_Little_Pieces#Controversy.  There are signs at the left and right side of the classroom – “This is okay”  “This is not okay.”  Any student who is truly unsure can remain in the center of the room.  Then have class discussion about this book.  Is it ethical?  Would you buy it?  Would it be okay if it was marked as fiction?

 

 

 

Lesson 4 – The Memoir Documentary

 

 

1.    In class, watch a memoir documentary.  Some examples of these include:

 

51 Birch Street

 

Summary: Documentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parent’s 54-year marriage was a good one. So he isn’t prepared when, just a few months after his mothers’ unexpected death, his 83-year old father, Mike, phones to announce that he’s moving to Florida to live with “Kitty”, his secretary from 40 years before.  Always close to his mother and equally distant from his father, he’s stunned and suspicious.

When Mike and Kitty marry and sell the longtime family home, Doug returns to suburban Long Island with camera in hand for one last visit.  And there, among the lifetime of memories being packed away forever, he discovers 3 large boxes filled with his moms’ daily diaries going back 35 years.

Realizing he has only a few short weeks before the movers come and his dad will be gone for good, the veteran documentarian sticks around, determined to investigate the mystery of his parents’ marriage.  Through increasingly candid conversations with family members and friends, and constantly surprising diary revelations, Doug finally comes to peace with two parents who are far more complex and troubled than he ever imagined.

Both unexpectedly funny and heartbreaking, 51 Birch Street is the first-person account of Block’s unpredictable journey through a whirlwind of dramatic life-changing events: the death of his mother, the uncovering of decades of family secrets, and the ensuing reconciliation with his father. What begins as his own intimate, autobiographical story, soon evolves into a broader meditation on the universal themes of love, marriage, fidelity and the mystery of family.

51 Birch Street spans 60 years and 3 generations, and weaves together hundreds of faded snapshots, 8mm home movies and two decades of verité footage. The result is a timeless tale of what can happen when our most fundamental assumptions about family are suddenly called into question.

 

 

Sherman’s March

 

In 1981, armed with a camera and a grant, Ross McElwee set out to make documentary about Sherman's violent march through the South during the end of the Civil War. But when McElwee was about to leave to create his film, his girlfriend broke up with him, bringing ladles full of depression along with his new project. Irrevocably changed by the experience, his film too changed, and became some kind of bastardized autobiography. In Sherman's March we experience Ross behind the camera and his interactions with various Southern ladies.

Like so many people, Ross has the experience of meeting young woman who at first glance appear to be great catches, smart and beautiful, but by some unfortunate turn, end up being either unavailable or completely crazed. I have no experience in that. Nope. No way. Sherman's March was not only revolutionary about the way that the subject was approached, it really heralded a new style of documentary, in which the creator is front and center in the action. Sherman's March was one of the first, if not the first movie in which the creator takes a central role in the documentary, making way for people like Michael Moore and Nick Broomfield.

Filmed in 1981, the movie is definitely a product of it's time, yet its themes and elements speak as loudly today as they ever did. Love, longing and the neverending pursuit of happiness. Sherman's March does have a disarming way into lulling you into anticipating Ross's next catch. The film is also a document of the old South, or what remained of it at least. We see the southern fashion shows hear the tall tales and even get quick glimpses into some rather disturbing territory, as we hear one southern woman claim that we should allow slavery again "because some people want to be slaves."

But despite such idiocy (or maybe because of it), Sherman's March is an interesting, if sometimes slow, journey through the South and love. (lightsoutfilms.com)

 

 

Rabbit in the Moon

 

Not all Japanese Americans endured their World War II internment with quiet stoicism. Not all second generation (Nisei) young men welcomed the chance to prove their patriotism by serving in the armed forces of the very government that was holding their families captive. A more complex, turbulent and intimate story of the internment camps is revealed through the stories shared by those interviewed in Emiko Omori's new film, "Rabbit in the Moon."

 

"Rabbit in the Moon" uncovers a buried history of political tensions, social and generational divisions, and resistance and collaboration in the camps. With fascinating archival and recently recovered home movies, Omori and her older sister Chizuko, who were children when they went to the camps, also confront their own family secrets – especially the silence surrounding the death of their mother only a year after the family's release. They correspondingly confront the collective silence among Japanese Americans about the social antagonisms and insecurities that were born in the camps and that still haunt community life 50 years later. (pbs.org)

 

 

Final Project and Assessment:

 

For the final project, students will create their own memoir.  For their medium, they have some creative freedom.  This can be a written memoir, a documentary memoir, a scrapbook, a wiki or blog.  This project will culminate in a final project, which will be handed in and graded.  Also, students will give a presentation of their product.  Please find the rubric attached below.

 

 

 

Final Project and Rubric.doc