New Directions in Teaching Memoir

by Kirby, Dawn Latta

• ISBN13: 9780325006680
• ISBN10: 0325006687
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-07-06
• Publisher: Heinemann

Summary

  Students want to do work that's meaningful to them. As their teacher, you can support secondary writers as they learn about the writing process, but you can also offer them something greater: an opportunity to tell their own story and to mold it into an artful work of memory. When students read and write memoir, they explore their lives with pen and paper, make connections to the lives of others, and often discover something deeply personal and surprisingly universal in their writing and their lives.   New Directions in Teaching Memoir demonstrates how to teach this evocative genre and shows you the power it holds for students and for instruction. More than merely personal narrative or family stories, memoir engages students because it emphasizes the importance of students own stories, feelings, and ideas. It also provides numerous opportunities for instruction in revision, editing, and craft.   Dan and Dawn Latta Kirby present a unique way to introduce students to memoir and an in-depth instructional approach they have developed over time - the studio workshop. The studio approach takes the key attributes of fine-arts studio classrooms, and applies them to writing instruction to help transform your classroom into a more disciplined, guided, interactive, and authentic environment that supports risk taking for writers and gives you opportunities to coach students one-on-one.      New Directions in Teaching Memoir also contains all the important tools you'll need to succeed with memoir, including: what the process of composing a memoir looks like extensive suggestions for responding to and evaluating student work, including reproducible rubrics and handouts ideas for supporting students' efforts by incorporating memoir into your literature curriculum numerous examples of student work the artistic importance of presentational features, including style and format new versions of memoir especially designed for student writers.   Read New Directions in Teaching Memoir and make memoir a meaningful part of your curriculum today.

Author Biography

Dawn Latta Kirby is currently Professor of English and English Education at Kennesaw State University

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Memoir as Genre	p. 1
Contemporary Memoir	p. 1
Types of Memoir	p. 4
Teaching Memoir	p. 5
Final Thoughts on Memoir	p. 8
Studio-style Teaching	p. 11
Tenets for Teaching Contemporary Memoir	p. 11
Our Journey to the Concept of the Studio Classroom	p. 13
Applying Studio Methodology to Memoir	p. 18
Theoretical Grounding of Work Within the Studio Classroom	p. 18
Establishing Studio Classroom Values	p. 21
Final Thoughts on the Studio Classroom	p. 26
Explorations in Memoir Writing	p. 28
Exploring the Territory of Memoir as Genre	p. 28
Exploring the Memoir Framework	p. 29
Getting Started with the Memoir Framework: The Pieces	p. 34
Further Explorations in Memoir Writing	p. 46
The Snapshot Piece	p. 46
The Boundaries (or Map) Piece	p. 51
Adding to the Pieces on Your Own	p. 56
Principles for Reading like a Writer	p. 56
Writing Memoir Pieces	p. 59
First Steps: Establishing Routines and Rituals in the Studio Classroom	p. 60
Drafting the Memoir Pieces	p. 62
Revising the Memoir Pieces	p. 63
Using Effective Writer's Groups	p. 75
Finding a Scheme	p. 80
What Is a Scheme?	p. 81
Answering the "So What?" Question	p. 82
Determining a Personally Relevant Scheme	p. 84
Sample Schemes	p. 91
Exploring Forms and Formats	p. 92
The Role and Message of Format in Writing	p. 93
Considering Stylistic Elements	p. 93
Final Thoughts	p. 97
Assembling the Memoir	p. 98
Presentational Aspects of Finished Memoirs	p. 99
Layout Options for the Final Memoir	p. 102
Alternate Forms of Memoir and How to Write Them	p. 105
Triptych	p. 106
"So What?" Stories to Illustrate a Personal Theme	p. 117
Multigenre Memoirs	p. 117
Memoir Blends	p. 120
Final Thoughts	p. 121
Tracking Memoir-writing Processes	p. 123
Collecting the Invisible Information: Writers' Reflections	p. 124
Reflections Before Writing	p. 124
Reflections During Writing	p. 129
Reflections After Writing	p. 134
Final Thoughts	p. 138
Evaluating Memoir Writing	p. 140
What Testing Is Not	p. 141
What Evaluation Can Become	p. 142
A Word About Grading	p. 142
A Bit of Terminology	p. 143
Mapping the Assessment Territory	p. 144
Tracking the Visible Information; Assessing, Evaluating, and Grading Work	p. 146
Grading and Evaluating the Final Memoir Product	p. 149
A Word About Portfolios	p. 152
A Teacher's Reflective Log	p. 154
Bibliographies in Memoir	p. 158
Bibliography of Suggested Memoirs	p. 159
Themed Memoirs and Memoir Pairings	p. 165
Author Studies: Memoirs Plus	p. 174
Memoir Blends	p. 177
Memoiresque Books for Use with Younger Writers	p. 179
Index	p. 181
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