While six-word memoirs and all of the applications are exciting, this is a particular favorite of mine. The choice within the structure is theirs and theirs alone. They can share their favorite book, the number of siblings they have, or the fact they miss someone who is no longer here. When using six-word memoirs as a method of introduction, students can pick content and decide how much of themselves to share. The beauty of six-word memoirs is that structure is built into the fabric of this writing, but so is choice. Writer’s workshop is a model emphasizing both structure and choice. Older students might want to watch the version of the six-word memoir project compiled by in order to find inspiration and mentor texts. Six-word memoirs offer students a safe way to share a small piece of who they are and what matters to them. As teachers, regardless of where we teach, we never know who is joining our community or what they bring with them. Others have summers filled with taking care of younger siblings, staying indoors and watching television, angry adults, and unhealthy food. Some have summers filled with camp, vacations, books, and wonder. Students come to a class with different life experiences. Here are our top five ways to use six-word memoirs in a classroom:Īs a Form of Introduction. Together, we came up with a list of how they might use six-word memoirs with the students they came to know and care about over the course of the semester, and how they imagine using six-word memoirs with students they have not yet encountered. Then we get to the point where we need to move beyond reflection and ask “So what? What does this have to do with teaching kids? How might we use this in a classroom?” This is an important question in a methods class, where the line between theory and practice shifts, and students start to own what it means to be teachers. ![]() Their six-word memoirs run the gamut from funny to moving to irreverent, as you can see from the memoirs my created this semester. I show them the funny, moving, irreverent YouTube video created by SMITH Magazine and Harper Perennial called “Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure,” and, after watching, I give them some time to write. See for yourself, how they turned out.Photo credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin ccĮvery semester, on the last day of the literacy methods course I teach, I ask my pre-service teachers to write a six-word memoir as a form of reflection. While certainly there were many that spoke of sports, dogs, and other seemingly small-ish parts of their lives, every single one spoke of something they found important or showed a sliver of their personality.Ī small lesson that showed so much about their identity once again. Kids played with words, drew, and then handed them in. I told the kids that they would be displayed so to put their names on the back for privacy unless they wanted it to be known that they made it. One side was for them to illustrate either as a collage or as an abstract image of of their words. I printed one out and drew a line down the middle, then made enough copies with directions on this handout. Then they illustrated them using these free blank face printables. A few spelling errors were missed, which happens. When they felt satisfied with their chosen words, they had someone spell check their final sentence. ![]() Then the kids brainstormed for a bit it their writers’ notebooks, playing around with sentences, words, and punctuation. Then we discussed the perimeters of the challenge: Exactly 6 words, it cannot be a list of adjectives, should reveal some part of your life that you feel comfortable with. I introduced them by showing them examples of other 6-word memoirs, some serious, some not so much. They are exactly what they sound like 6 word stories about our lives. A great place to read more about them can be found here. ![]() This ingenious little foray into writing has a long history. Now we inch closer to writing personal essays on topics centered on our own lives and so we used the 6-word memoirs. All this work is centered in learning who each other are and developing a feeling of safety and community as we grow into this year together. ![]() We have written directions, we have discussed the rules of writing, we have read great writing, and we have set up our writing circles. We continue to work on developing our writing communities, slowly settling into what it means to write together, to be writers, and to feel free to write.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |