Shelkey 1

KariShelkey
ENT441HeatherBruce
Unit#2
4December2014

ReadingandWritingMemoir:FindingVoice

UnitOverviewandRationale:
Throughavarietyofdifferenttextsinthisunit,alongwithmultipleactivitiesand
assignmentsforwriting,studentswillbeexploringthegenreofmemoir.Myrationaleforcreating
thisunitencompassesboththeideaofexploringmultipleperspectivesfromavarietyofauthorsof
memoir,aswellastheideaofencouragingstudentstowritethroughfamiliar,chosenmemoriesand
images.ThetextsthatIhavechosenreflecttheintendedgradelevelofgradesnineandten.
First,studentswillbeselectingfromeitherIKnowWhytheCagedBirdSingsbyMaya
Angelo,TheHouseonMangoStreetbySandraCisneros,orNightbyElieWieselfortheirchoice
texts.Iwillhaveprobablyhavetoaskforfirstandsecondchoicestoevenoutthegroups,butthe
intentforthischoiceistohavestudentsactivelyparticipatinginatypeofreadingworkshopcalled
LiteratureCircles.Intheseliteraturecircles,studentswillhaveassignedrolesinreading
critically,suchasthequestionasker,connectionmaker,storymapper,etc.Theseroleswillchange
witheachworkshopmeetingasstudentsdigthroughthesetoughtexts.Throughtheseworkshops
studentswilllearntoleadandorchestratediscussioninameaningfulmanner,andingivingeach
studentarole,studentswillfindafocusinreadingandafocusinlisteningtoandlearningfrom
peers.Breakingdowntheelementsofcarefulandcriticalreadingalsogivesstudentsthefoundation
thattheyneedtoreadwithintentindependently.
Thenextpartoftheunitwillincludethewritingassignment,inwhichstudentsworktowrite
outaliterarymemoironanypersonal,chosentopic.Thewritingassignmentshouldbecomprisedof
simple,descriptivememorieslinkedtocreateagreaterthemeorpurposeandameaningfulvoice
fromthewriterthroughthestronglanguagethatthememoirgenrecallsfor.Asstudentswork
throughthebrainstormingandwritingworkshops,theclasswillsimultaneouslybereadingTheKite
Runner,byKhaledHosseini.Althoughnotentirelyautobiographical,thenarratorofthisbook
reflectsonhischildhoodthroughstrongimageryandcomplexlanguage.Inreadingthistext,
studentsarenotonlyexposedtoaperspectiveentirelydifferentfromtheirown,buttheycanalso
findstrongvoiceandimagerythroughHosseinissuccessfulwriting.Weencourageourstudentsto
readsothatthesemodelscanimpactthoughtfulstudentwriting.Byshowingtheintentinwhich
Hosseiniwrites,studentswillbeinspiredtowritewithintentaswell.Thesamecouldbesaidabout
eachofthechoicetextsfortheLiteratureCircles.
Finally,thisunitwillendwithadiscussiononthedocumentaryfilmgenre,sothatstudents
canlinkthisreadingandwritingmaterialtoanewmediumforexpressionandmemoir.The
documentarygivesthevieweraglimpseintothelifeofanotherthroughviewedimages,selected
sound,andthetellingofastory.Byexploringthedifferentmodesofexpression,thelinkbetween
imageryinwritingandthecarefuleditingofimagesinfilm,Ihopetomotivatemystudentsto
independentlyexpresstheirvoiceswithintentinwhatevermeanstheysochoose.

Shelkey 2
UnitObjectives:
Studentswillbeabletodefinememoirasaliterarygenre.
Studentswillbeabletopointoutelementsthatmakeapieceofwritingreflectthememoir
genre.
Studentswillbeabletowriteandpresenttheirownmemoirthroughbrainstormingactivities
andwritingworkshops.
Studentswillbeabletodefinevoiceasaliterarydevice.
Studentswillbeabletoprovidetextualexamplesofanauthorsvoiceintheassigned
readingsandintheirownwriting.
Studentswillbeabletoprovidehelpfulfeedbacktopeerswritingthroughthepraise,
question,suggestmodel.
Studentswillbeabletomakeconnectionsbetweenmemoirliteratureandfilm.
Texts:
IKnowWhytheCagedBirdSingsbyMayaAngelo

TheHouseonMangoStreetbySandraCisneros

NightbyElieWiesel

TheKiteRunnerbyKhaledHosseini

Shelkey 3
SupplementaryMaterials:
BigSkyDocumentaryFilmFestival2014Promo<https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=MyzzRuySdI>
DannyMacaskill:TheRidgeMountainBikingDocumentary
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_IQS3VKjA>
BozemanSummerEdit2014:studentcreateddocumentary/memoir
<http://vimeo.com/104689070>
Otherdocumentaryshortsfromvimeo.comStudentsuggestions!
TentativeSchedule:
Weekone
Memoirasagenreisintroduced.Studentschoosechoicetextsandworkthrough
LiteratureCirclesactivities.Rolesareexplainedandmodeledinthefirstclass
periodoftheweek,andthenextfourclassperiodsconsistofLiteratureCircle
discussions.
Weekstwo Classperiodsalternatebetweenwritingworkshopsonbrainstorming/prewriting/
andthree
organizingthought/voice,anddiscussionsonTheKiteRunner.Thediscussion
dayswillincludejournalingandwarmupwritingactivitiestospursharingof
studentthoughtandresponsestothetext.Therewillbeafewclassperiodsfor
studentstoreadindependently,andacompleted,workingdraftwillbedueatthe
endofthetwoweeks.
Weekfour Discussiononthedocumentarygenreinfilmanditslinkstomemoirthrough
voice,images,experience,audience,andpurpose.Studentswillviewsample
documentariesinclassfromsupplementarymaterials,oneworkdayinawriting
labtorevise,andduringthistimeIwilltrytogetaroundtoeachstudentforsome
conferencingtoask,Canyoutellmeaboutwhatyoureworkingon?Finaldrafts
willbedothenextMonday.
Assessment:
StudentswillbeassessedformativelyonactiveparticipationinbothLiteratureCirclesand
fullclassdiscussionsandactivitiesrelatedtoTheKiteRunneranddocumentaryfilm.Iwill
constantlybecheckinginwithstudentsontheideaofvoiceinauthorstudies,writing,andfilm,
withregardstomemoir,aswellaswithstudentunderstandingoftheideaofmemoiringeneral.The
assessmentofstudentunderstandingofmemoirwillbebasedoffoftheabilitytopointtoelements
inatextandtheirownwritingthatmakeitamemoir.Thesamewillbetruewithfindingtextual
examplesinwritingandinfilmthatreflectanauthororcreatorsvoice,purpose,audienceandtone.
Intermsofsummativeassessment,thefinalwritingassignment,throughcarefulformativework
withpeerrevisingworkshops,mustdemonstrateconceptualknowledgeofthepurposeofmemoiras
agenreandeffortinwritingwithintent.
Reflection:
Ienjoyedthecomingupwiththewrittenworksanddocumentarytitlesthatreachtowardmy
objectivesforthislesson.Myminorisinmediaarts,andIfeelthatthereissomuchpotentialin
linkingliteraturetofilm.Ilovetheideaofliteraturecirclesforthereasonsstatedinmyrationale,
butImcuriousastohowstudentleadconversationsworkthroughthetoughtalksbroughtupin
thesetexts.Imstillwonderinghowexactlytowordthewritingassignmentaswell,sothatthereis
bothchoiceandsomedirectionforstudents.