Before students can write their own memoirs, they need to be exposed to interesting memoirs written by important people or by kids their own age. Many elementary and middle school students enjoy the Diary of Wimpy Kid book series by Jeff Kinney, and discussing memoirs in terms of these books is a good way to connect with students' existing knowledge. Explain that the difference between a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and most memoirs is that Diary of Wimpy Kid is fiction written in memoir style. Memoirs are autobiographical. They are about a certain time in a person's life. Although a memoir is written in full paragraphs and has a beginning, middle and end, it typically does not include illustrations.
Introduce students to memoirs that are appropriate for their age and reading level. Read interesting excerpts from memoirs aloud to students and have them discuss the positive attributes of the writing and the story being told. Have students select memoirs to read on their own as independent reading. Ask students to evaluate the memoirs they read to prepare them to think critically about their own writing.
The purpose of a memoir is to tell a story about a specific time in the child's life. The significance of this time could be a relationship with an important person in the child's life, an important experience the child had, or a special relationship the child has with a place or animal. The memoir can be about a fun, exciting, humorous, scary or difficult time in the child's life, or an object that has special meaning.
Teach students to brainstorm and free-write to help them come up with interesting ideas. Model this process for them and then ask them to do it themselves with memoir topics in mind. Then help them evaluate these ideas and narrow them down to approximately three workable topics. Have students fill out a graphic organizer with supporting ideas about each topic, and then teach them to create a loose outline for the memoir. If students have enough information in the graphic organizer or outline to write a complete memoir, then the topic is viable. If all three ideas are viable, ask the student to select the topic that seems most interesting to her.
Have students organize the memoir in a five-paragraph essay style. Model the process of writing an introduction paragraph, three middle paragraphs and a closing paragraph. The introduction paragraph should include a "hook" -- something that draws the reader in and convinces her to read the rest of the memoir. The hook can be a shocking statement, a question or teaser about the main topic of the memoir.
Teach students to write in first-person for this assignment. Typically students are asked to avoid first person pronouns such as "I" or "we" when completing writing assignments. Explain that in a memoir, the author is the narrator, and that first-person pronouns are encouraged. They are telling the story from their own point-of-view.
Students will need to select sub-topics for each of the three middle paragraphs. For example, if the student is writing about a family vacation, one paragraph can be about the trip to the vacation spot, one can be about what the family did while on vacation and one can be about the trip home. Or the same family vacation topic can include paragraphs about three different adventures the family had while on vacation. Encourage students to explore different ways to organize their memoir. This helps them focus their topic and make the memoir more interesting.
Peer review can play a significant role in the editing and revising process. Have students read their memoirs aloud to a partner, and ask the partner to provide feedback. Provide students with parameters or rules for giving feedback. Make sure the exchange is productive and not critical. Hearing their story aloud will help the student notice where to make edits or revisions. The feedback from their peers will help students enhance their writing. Encourage students to vary their sentence structure and to select interesting words and active verbs.
Students might need help with transitions from paragraph to paragraph, or sub-topic to sub-topic. They might need help fleshing out their ideas. Encourage students to include more supporting details by asking them open-ended questions about their topics. Then help them craft their answers into additional sentences for their paragraphs.
Continue the individual and peer review until students have finished memoirs. When a student has a finished piece, she can select a format for publication. Some schools and teachers will create classroom web sites and publish the students' work in a blog style, others might encourage students to read their memoirs aloud to family and friends at parent-teacher night. Some simply have students write or type a clean, final draft and turn it in for the teacher's review.