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Multi-genre Memoir

Multi-genre Memoir. A Teacher Workshop Presented by Anna Olson. background. Who do you think you are?. Online class for 5 th /6 th grade GT students (9 weeks) Autobiography only one of several projects Some choice already built in Prewriting: brainstorm more events than needed

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Multi-genre Memoir

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  1. Multi-genre Memoir A Teacher Workshop Presented by Anna Olson

  2. background

  3. Who do you think you are? • Online class for 5th/6th grade GT students (9 weeks) • Autobiography only one of several projects • Some choice already built in • Prewriting: brainstorm more events than needed • Prewriting: create a timeline of events chosen for inclusion • Organized around a theme • Project format • Family tree (choice of format completely up to student) • Students enjoyed project, but…

  4. I felt we could be doing much more with the autobiography idea. When I attended our orientation and heard about Romano’s work with multi-genre papers, something clicked and I realized that the next class I wanted to design would focus on multi-genre memoir writing. This decision has only been reinforced by the recent sharing of our “Ways of Seeing Me” work. The new class I envision will not only give students more choices in their writing, but will make them agents of their own learning.

  5. MY QUESTIONS • How can I use multi-genre memoir writing to enable students to experiment with new ideas and take responsibility for their own writing? • And how can I do this in an online environment?

  6. research

  7. HISTORY OF MEMOIR

  8. Primary resources

  9. Student Choice* • Creativity* • Authentic Work (professional writers) • High Level of Engagement~ • Regular Practice • Increased Production • Multiple Pieces • Unifying Thread* • Reflection & Revision

  10. Key ideas • Need for experimentation and exploration in writing. There needs to be a body of work from which to choose. • “Exercise increases the capacity for exercise. Breastfeeding stimulates the production of milk. Abundance makes for abundance. That’s how multi-genre works.” –Romano • Students as decision makers. What to include? • “No writing is wasted writing in the practice and experimentation stages, but not all writing will be worth publishing and including in a final memoir piece.” –Kirby & Kirby

  11. Experiment & explore (romano) • Think about these categories • Important things • Meaningful places • Crucial people • Central acts/processes • Memorable conversations • Identify indelible moments • Stick in your mind • Represent big emotion & complex meaning • Can be defining

  12. Experiment & explore (kirby & kirby) • Name piece • On the day I was born • Difficult times piece • Sibling or parent piece • Family love or perspectives • Epiphany or turning point • Home piece • Teachers or school worries • Ethnicity or culture piece • Futuristic piece (what I’ll be like in ___years) • Snapshot piece • Artifacts, treasured things • Dialect, unique speech • Conscious artist • Boundaries piece • Family trip piece • Grandparent piece • Pet piece • Mysteries piece • Holidays & celebrations • Personal portrait piece

  13. Multi-genre=more than one • Description (different POV) • Dictionary entry • Editorial • Eyewitness account • Fairy tale • How-to writing • Journal/diary entry • Infomercial (humorous) • Letter of complaint • Map with legend • Narrative • Newscast • Nursery rhyme • Obituary • Parody • Prezi • Photo with description • Poem, flash fiction • PSA • Recipe • Review (book, movie, etc.) • Script (TV, play) • Sermon • Short story • Song • State of the Union address • Stream of consciousness

  14. Let’s experiment! • Let’s try a place spider piece. • Think about a place that has special meaning for you. It could be a room in your home from any period of your life, a building, a place in nature, a city, etc. It should evoke emotion. • Now for the next 8-10 minutes, write about this significant place. • Save your writing for later.

  15. Key ideas • Organization of a work with multiple pieces will reveal itself (better not to begin with a preconceived plan). • Which pieces are most personally relevant? Look for patterns among them. • Pieces may be related through geography, time, feelings, characters, artifacts. • Repeat image, detail, exact language. • Repeat a pattern or quotations, pictures, titles. • Repeat a form, genre, style. • Repeat a scene from a different point of view. • Write a significant fragment of a scene, then later surprise readers with a fully rendered, vivid version of that scene.

  16. Key ideas • Teacher as model and coach. We need to write with our students and participate with them in revising work, but it is they who make the final choices. • Writing is fostered in a community which shares values, supports each others’ work & efforts, and projects genuine interest in each others’ writing.

  17. It takes a community! • With your place spider piece in hand, find your number partner. • Take turns reading your work, then using the Checklist of Revision Options for the Place Spider Piece identify two ways that your writing could be revised. • You and your partner should discuss what kind of revisions would make the piece more vivid and memorable for the reader.

  18. Key ideasProofreading revising • Hierarchy of revision behaviors • Editing & proofreading are lower order behaviors. • Revising, elaborating, translating, and forming/finding are higher order behaviors. • Students need to engage in both levels just like professional writers. • Adding (elaboration) and cutting (revision) are both important. • Checklist of options will vary depending on type of writing piece.

  19. My plans • Design 9 week online course on multi-genre memoir writing • Gifted/talented students in grades 5-8 • Reading • One memoir of student’s choice (recommendations provided) • Excerpts from memoirs to serve as models for writing explorations • Writing response groups will change throughout course • Write a spider piece Mon.-Thurs. then use Fri. to respond • Choose 1 piece each week to revise and submit to teacher for feedback • F2F#1 (week 1) • Overview processes, types of genres, various writing explorations • Examine professional texts that will serve as models for explorations/spider pieces • Try a couple of spider pieces, then practice giving feedback in response groups

  20. My plans continued • F2F#2 (midterm) • Students bring writing pieces to use in mini-lessons on revision behaviors (high order and low order) • Discussion: ways to achieve unity • Discussion: presentation ideas • Explore additional kinds of genre writing • Final weeks of course • Students select pieces from their writing collections for the final memoir • Revise, edit, polish final work • Assemble memoir • F2F#3 • Present work • Reflect on the process they used and on the course

  21. Assessment: Help! • A big question I have is how to assess multi-genre student memoirs in a meaningful way. Although the authors I have read present some options, I would like to solicit YOUR thoughts. • Now that you have an idea of what my proposed class will be like, please find your COLOR GROUP and spend a few minutes discussing approaches to assessment.

  22. Acknowledgements • Thanks to my writing response group (Bailey, Claire and Deborah) for being a sounding board and for gently steering me back on course when I veered from my own voice. You have helped me grow as a writer and boosted my confidence more than you know. • Thanks to everyone in our cohort for being amazing sources of inspiration. By going last, I have benefitted from each one of you. • Thanks to 2 Marks + 1 Beth for your nurturing leadership styles and constant encouragement.

  23. Questions? Feedback?

  24. resources • Edelman, Marian Wright. 2003. Dream Me Home Safely: Writers on Growing Up in America. 2003. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company • Kirby, Dawn Latta and Kirby, Dan. 2007. New Directions in Teaching Memoir: A Studio Workshop Approach. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. • Mendelsohn, Daniel. “But Enough About Me. What Does the Popularity of Memoirs Tell Us About Ourselves?” New Yorker. January 25, 2010. [http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2010/01/25/100125crbo_books_mendelsohn] • “On Memoir, Truth and Writing Well” (interview with William Zinsser). NPR All Things Considered. April 13, 2006. [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5340618] • Romano, Tom. 2013. Fearless Writing: Multigenre to Motivate and Inspire. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. • _______1995. Writing with Passion: Life Stories, Multiple Genres. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers.

  25. Sample timeline • 1/1/99  I am born prematurely at Parkview Hospital in River Falls, WI and spend my first month in the hospital. • 3/5/01  I unbuckle my high chair seat belt and do a swan dive on to my head (first trip to ER). • 5/1/02  We move to Milwaukee.  I get my head stuck in the stair railing of our new house and the firemen come to help me get out. • 7/21/4 I fell out of my crib and broke my left arm. • 12/5/4 The doctors cut my arm open trying to take off my cast. • THEME • A Series of Unfortunate Events: My Life in the Emergency Room back

  26. back

  27. Autobiography themes • Family trips • Places I have lived • Injuries and illnesses • Pets • Sports • Life in Scouts • Friendships • Achievements • Books • Horse riding competitions • Cow showing competitions • Car racing • A musical life • Farm life • Living in two cultures • My life as a gamer back

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