Snapshots of Our Lives: Memoirs & Memories

Running head: SNAPSHOTS OFOUR LIVES: MEMOIRS & MEMORIES

Final Exam Project

Samara Frank

KennesawStateUniversity
Snapshots of Our Lives: Memoirs & Memories

Unit Overview

This unit is intended for an eighth grade language arts class of about twenty to twenty-five students with varying abilities. The classroom is a writing – literature workshop environment. See Appendix A for daily class routines and assignments. The unit explores memories and their role in our lives. The theme of memories is important because without our memories we could not hold on to and learn from the past, which would negatively affect our present and future lives. The memoir genre is an opportunity for students to define memorable experiences in their own lives and reflect on why these experiences are memorable. A sub-theme included is the struggle to become an individual. All students can relate to the struggle with individuality; most students at this age just want to fit in. It is important to see the value in being an individual. Students will consider the following questions: What role does memory play in my life? Why is it important to have memories? How can I write an effective memoir in prose? How can I write an effective memoir in free-verse? How does prose differ from free-verse? How does memory affect Jonas? How does Jonas struggle with individuality? How do I struggle with individuality?

Literature Overview

Students will explore the memoir genre, the theme of memories, and the theme of individuality through a variety of literature including picture books, memoirs, poetry, and a novel. The theme will be introduced with the following literature: My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco, When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant, “Snowball” from My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen, and “The Jacket” by Gary Soto. These forms of memoir were chosen because they illustrate possible sources of memories (animals, people, objects, or places) and will provide students with an overview of the memoir genre and theme of memories.

Read-alouds will occur on a regular basis. I believe read-alouds are an effective way to introduce students to different genres and apply reading strategies. Laura Robb (2000) considers read-alouds the anchor of her successful reading workshop classroom.My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother will be read aloud on the first day of the unit. On chart paper, I will write “Memoir”, and generate a class discussion about the genre. We will begin a list of possible characteristics of memoirs that we will add to or eliminate based on the memoirs we read. After reading My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, discuss connections students made with the text and explain that this is a true memory from Patricia Polacco’s childhood. Many students will make connections between prior knowledge and the text considering many of them have an older or younger sibling. Making connections between prior knowledge and the text is one of the strategies used by proficient readers, which is outlined in Strategies that work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis. I will ask students to consider what relationship the writer is writing about, and add a student generated version of “can be about a relationship with a person” to the Memoir Characteristics chart. Students will complete an entry in their Writer’s Notebook that deals with a relationship with a person that they may want to write about. Author share will take place at the end of the class period. The Writer’s Notebook is a section in the students’ three-ring binder and is influenced by the notebook described in Teaching Powerful Writing by Bob Sizoo and the notebook described by Nancie Atwell in In the Middle. The Writer’s Notebook is a place where students will generate ideas that they can use for future pieces. The same procedure will follow for When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant, “Snowball” from My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen, and “The Jacket” by Gary Soto. At that point the list of Memoir Characteristics will also include a student generated version of “can be about a relationship with an animal, can be about a relationship with a place, or can be about a relationship with an object” in addition to other characteristics. Entries in the Writer’s Notebook will be completed following each read-aloud and discussion. When students finish their entries in the Writer’s Notebook, they will read independently until Author Share time. Additionally, two other memoirs will be read during the unit. “The Party” by Pam Munoz Ryan was selected because it illustrates many of the characteristics of a memoir that students need to incorporate into their own writing and it illustrates the sub-theme of the unit, individuality. ”The Snapping Turtle” by Joseph Bruchac was selected because it beautifully illustrates the importance of reflecting on the value of the memory the writer addresses in his memoir.

The novel to be read in this unit is The Giver by Lois Lowry, which explores the theme of memory to document the past, display the present, and predict the future. Students will explore how memory can affect and has affected them personally through the reading of The Giver and other memoirs. They will also explore the sub-theme of Individuality through readings of The Giver. Because my school is limited to a class set of all novels, the reading of The Giver will be done during class. The reading will be completed through several methods including teacher read-alouds, silent reading, and whole-class reading. Teacher read-alouds are a key component in my classroom, because this provides me with an opportunity to illustrate the seven key reading strategies described by Laura Robb (2000) and to share think-alouds illustrating my thought process as a successful reader. Students will perform various literature circle roles modeled after those in Literature Circles published by Teacher Created Materials and those I participated in during my course work with Dr. Jim Cope at KennesawStateUniversity. I have come to apply Rebekah Caplan’s (1984) writing strategy of “Show, Not Tell” to my personal teaching philosophy. I realize that telling students what to do and how to do it is not enough. Modeling is the only effective way to demonstrate what you expect from students, so I “Show, Not Tell” students how to approach a new activity. I will model how to complete each literature circle role and my students will complete the role with me, so they have a true understanding. Performing literature circle roles provides students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge of literature to real discussions. In assigning literature circles,I hope to create the type of conversations that would take place amongst real readers and writers. Since reading time is provided during class, literature circle roles can be started during class and completed for homework. The roles that will be assigned in the rotation include: illustrator, passage keeper, connector, and discussion director. All of the roles correspond with the reading strategies discussed in Strategies that work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis. The students’ understanding of The Giver and the concept of theme and conflict will be assessed through the literature circles and daily response journals that will be completed in the Writer’s Notebook. The entries in the Writer’s Notebook will be the basis for student written memoirs.

Memoir style poems will be integrated throughout the unit and include poems from Waiting to Waltz: A Childhood by Cynthia Rylant and Been to Yesterdays: Poems of a Life by Lee Bennett Hopkins. These works were chosen because they demonstrate the characteristics of memoirs, which are snapshots of our lives, in the form of free-verse. Students can often be intimidated by poetry, particularly when it is labeled a “Poetry Unit”. The integration of poetry into thematic units can ease some of the anxiety. I chose “Mad Dog”, “Mr. Dill”, and “PTA”, from Waiting to Waltz: A Childhood and “Mama”, “Grades”, and “Since” from Been to Yesterdays: Poems of a Life. . Students will be able to make connections with these poems, because they deal with feelings and issues that many teens face such as divorce, family, school, and neighbors. The poems will also be copied into the writer’s notebooks with accompanying student response journal entries to be used as a resource when students are composing their own free-verse memoirs.

Writing Overview

The culminating project for this literature-based writing unit will be a collection of student written memoirs based on information recorded in their Writer’s Notebook throughout the unit. Students will be required to have completed a minimum of one piece in prose and one piece in free-verse. Grades will be based on the class-generated characteristics of memoir writing. The Authors’ Showcase at the end of the unit will provide students with an opportunity to publish their work in addition to the daily, brief author/reader shares that take place at the end of class. Parents will be invited to attend the Authors’ Showcase.

Independent Reading

In the writing - literature workshop classroom, students are required to read a book of their choice independently. In Teaching Reading in Middle School Laura Robb states, “For students to develop a personal reading life and become lifelong readers, it’s crucial to provide opportunities for them to select books that relate to their interests” (197). Students will have regular SSR time during class and will also be required to read a minimum of 1 ½ hours per week at home. At the start of the school year, I will conduct a mini-lesson based on the five-finger method described by Robb. Students will maintain a student reading record that details independent reading in school and at home. The student reading record will be signed by a parent or guardian on a weekly basis. In addition, students will complete one literature response journal per week based upon the prompts provided by Laura Robb in Teaching Reading in Middle School (39). At the start of the school year, a rubric will be distributed to all students and kept in their notebooks for future reference. Additional mini-lessons will allow me to demonstrate my expectations of the students by drafting model responses to all journal entries based on literature read by the whole class and using the rubric to score them with the students.

During each nine-week grading period, students are required to complete one Alternative Book Report or ABR (Cope) based on an independently read book. I have assigned ABR’s, because they appeal to a variety of learning styles. The ABR options enable all students to be successful in presenting a book to the class.

Students also complete a weekly independent vocabulary study of five words. Jim Burke (2003) states the most effective way for increasing vocabulary is through reading. Burke offers several strategies for vocabulary instruction. Students will be required to turn in a vocabulary log influenced by the one Burke describes. During the course of their independent reading, students will collect five unfamiliar words and record the sentence the word was found in, the title of the work, a guess definition using context clues, a dictionary definition, a symbol or picture to represent the word, and an original sentence in which the word is correctly used in context.

Georgia Performance Standards Addressed

Reading and Literature

The student demonstrates comprehension and shows evidence of a warranted and responsible explanation for a variety of literary and informational texts. The texts are of the quality and complexity illustrated by the Grade Eight reading list.

For literary texts, the student identifies characteristics of various genres and produces evidence of reading that:

Identifies the difference between the concepts of theme in a literary work and author’s purpose in an expository text.
Compares and contrasts genre characteristics from two or more selections of literature.
Analyzes a character’s traits, emotions, or motivations and gives supporting evidence from the text(s).

The student understands and acquires new vocabulary and uses it correctly in reading and writing; the student

b. Determines the meaning of unfamiliar words in content and context specific reading and writing.

The student reads aloud, accurately (in the range of 95%), familiar material in a variety of genres of the quality and complexity illustrated in the sample reading list, in a way that makes meaning clear to listeners, by
Using letter-sound knowledge to decode written English and using a range of cueing systems.
Using self correction when subsequent reading indicates and earlier miscue (self-monitoring and self-correcting strategies).
Reading with a rhythm, flow, and meter that sounds like everyday speech.

Reading Across the Curriculum

2. The student participates in discussions related to curricular learning in all subject areas; the student

Identifies messages and themes from books in all subject areas.
Responds to a variety of texts in multiple modes of discourse.

Writing

1. The student produces writing that established an appropriate organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a coherent focus throughout, and signals a satisfying closure; the student

Selects a focus, organizational structure, and a point of view based on purpose, genre expectations, audience, length and format requirements.
Writes texts of a length appropriate to address the topic or tell the story.

2. The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres:

The student produces a narrative (fictional, personal, experimental) that:

Engages readers by establishing and developing a plot, setting, and a point of view appropriate to the story.
Creates an organizing structure appropriate to purpose, audience, and context.
Relates a clear coherent incident, event, or situation by using well-chosen details.
Reveals the significance of the writer’s attitude about the subject.

Includes sensory details and concrete language to develop plot, setting and character( e.g., vivid verbs, descriptive adjectives, varied sentence structures, and specific narratives action).

Provides a sense of closure appropriate to writing.

The student produces a response to literature that:

Supports a judgment through references to the text and personal knowledge.
Justifies interpretations through sustained use of examples and textual evidence from the literary work.

Anticipates and answers a reader’s questions.

Conventions

1. The student demonstrates understanding and control of the rules of the English language, realizing that usage involves the appropriate application of conventions and grammar in both written and spoken formats; the student:

d. Revises sentences by correcting errors in usage.

g. Produces final drafts/presentations that demonstrate accurate spelling, and the correct use of punctuation and capitalization.

Listening, Speaking, and Viewing

1. The student participates in student-to-teacher, student-to-student, and group verbal interactions, in which the student:

a. Initiates new topics in addition to responding to adult-initiatedtopics.

b. Asks relevant questions.

c. Responds to questions with appropriate information.

e. Displays appropriate turn-taking behaviors.

k. Clarifies, illustrates, or expands on a response when asked to do so.
References

Atwell, N. (1998). In the middle: New understandings about writing, reading, and learning.Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Atwell, N. (2002). Lessons that change writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Burke, J. (2003). The English teacher’s companion: A complete guide to classroom, curriculum, and the profession. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Caplan, R. (1984). Writers in training. Palo Alto, CA: Dale Seymour Publications.

Farrell, E.J., & Squire, J.R. (Eds.). (1990). Transactions with Literature: A fifty-year perspective. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English.

Ray, K.W. (1999). Wondrous words: Writers and writing in the elementary classroom. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Robb, L. (2000). Teaching reading in middle school.New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Snapshots of Our Lives: Memoirs & Memories

6 Week Unit Calendar

8th Grade Language Arts

Unit Techniques: Theme, Conflict, Constructing a Memoir (prose and free-verse)

1.
*My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by P. Polacco
*Independent Reading / 2.
*When I Was Young in the Mountains
By C. Rylant
*Independent Reading / 3.
* “The Jacket” by Gary Soto
* Independent Reading / 4.
* “Snowball” from My Life in Dog Yearsby G. Paulsen
*Independent Reading / 5.
*Excerpt from The Giver– (80 – 82) Lois Lowry
*Independent Reading
6.
* The Giver
(Ch: 1 -2)
*Independent Reading / 7.“
* The GiverRead –aloud (Ch: 3)
*Literature Circles
(Ch 1 & 2)
*Independent Reading / 8.
* “Mr. Dill” by Cynthia Rylant
* The Giver
(Ch: 4 & 5)
*Independent Reading / 9.
The GiverRead –aloud (Ch: 6)
*Literature Circles
(Ch 4 & 5)
*Independent Reading / 10.
* “Since” by L. Hopkins
* The Giver
(Ch: 7 & 8)
*Independent Reading
11.
The GiverRead-aloud
(Ch: 10)
*Literature Circles (Ch: 7 & 8)
Independent Reading / 12.
*Looking Back by L. Lowry(Excerpt pg. 172)
* The Giver(Ch: 11 & 12)
*Independent Reading / 13.
*The Giver Read –aloud (Ch:13)
*Literature Circles
(Ch 11 & 12)
*Independent Reading / 14.
* “The Party” by Pam Munoz Ryan
* The Giver
(Ch: 14 & 15)
*Independent Reading / 15.
The GiverRead-aloud (Ch: 16)
*Literature Circles
(Ch:14& 15)
*Independent Reading
16.
* “Mad Dog” by C. Rylant
*The Giver(Ch: 17 & 18)
*Independent Reading / 17.
*The Giver Read-aloud (Ch: 19)
*Literature Circles
(Ch: 17 & 18)
*Independent Reading / 18.
* “P.T.A.” by C. Rylant
*The Giver (Ch: 20 – 23)
*Independent Reading / 19.
*Literature Circles
(Ch: 20 – 23)
Independent Reading / 20.
*Finish The Giver
*Independent Reading
21.
*”Grades” by L. Hopkins
*Memoir Writing
*Independent Reading / 22.
*”The Snapping Turtle” by Joseph Bruchac
*Memoir Writing *Independent Reading / 23.
*ABR’s
*Memoir Writing
*Independent Reading / 24.
*ABR’s
*Memoir Writing
*Independent Reading / 25.
*ABR’s
*Memoir Writing
*Independent Reading
26.
*Memoir Writing
*Independent Reading / 27.
* “Mama” by L. Hopkins
*Memoir Writing Independent Reading / 28.
*Memoir Writing
Independent Reading / 29.
*Authors” Showcase
*Independent Reading / 30.
*Authors’ Showcase
*Independent Reading