memoir writing assignment rubric

Writing a Personal Memoir

How to Write an Essay about an Important Person, Place, or Thing in Your Life

TheCraftedWord.org

Tell Your Story

Writing a Personal Memoir

How To tell a Good Story about a Person, Place or Thing

The Power of Memory

We all have people, places or things in our lives that are really important to us. A “Memoir” is a story we tell about that person, place or thing.

The person could be a friend, a grandparent or parent, brother or sister, or aunt or uncle—anybody whom you know well and who helps you feel special and loved, or who has helped you through a hard time in life, or who is inspired and inspiring.

The place could be a vacation spot, a room in the house, a treefort in the backyard, or any place that you remember fondly and vividly as being different and special.

A thing could be a pet, a toy, a book, a gift or any “thing” that also has that special effect on you that makes “it” worth remembering.

There are many ways to write memoirs, but here is a simple and straightforward rubric to help you write a prose memoir quickly, and, with a bit of thought, effectively and poignantly.

Read Fitz’s Essays

Some more cool tips & tricks to help you write well…

Rubrics…

The Literary Analysis Paragraph Rubric

The literary analysis essay rubric, all quiet video essay rubric.

Personal Narrative Essay Rubric
Memoir Rubric
Narrative Paragraph Rubric Example

& Resources…

How To Write Opening Paragraphs

How to write essay conclusions.

How to Tell a Good Story

Henry David Thoreau

Write often, write upon a thousand themes, rather than long at a time, not trying to turn too many feeble somersets in the air–and so come down upon your head at last. Antaeus-like, be not long absent from the ground. Those sentences are good and well discharged which are like so many little resiliencies from the spring floor of our life–a distinct fruit and kernel itself, springing from terra firma . Let there be as many distinct plants as the soil and the light can sustain. Take as many bounds in a day as possible. Sentences uttered with your back to the wall. Those are the admirable bounds when the performer has lately touched the spring board. (November 12, 1851)

Kurt Vonneghut

Vonnegut offers eight essential tips on how to write a short story:

Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
Every sentence must do one of two things–reveal character or advance the action.
Start as close to the end as possible.
Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them–in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

James Joyce

Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you desire to arrest attention, to surprise, do not give me the facts in the order of cause and effect, but drop one or two links in the chain, and give me a cause and an effect two or three times removed.

Annie Dilliard

Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed? Can the writer isolate and vivify all in experience that most deeply engages our intellects and our hearts? Can the writer renew our hope for literary forms? Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so that we may feel again their majesty and power? What do we ever know that is higher than that power which, from time to time, seizes our lives, and reveals us startlingly to ourselves as creatures set down here bewildered? Why does death so catch us by surprise, and why love? We still and always want waking.

~The Writing Life

A Simple Memoir Rubric

1. Assignment Details:

It is always wise to format a writing piece exactly as your editor or teacher requires, so be sure that your final piece is presented in the proper style and format.

MAIN TITLE:

Your main title tries to capture the major theme or themes of your essay in a broad and interesting way
Your title and quote should help to attract readers and set the tone and style of the memoir you create.
The quote can be a quote from another person or piece of literature—or it can be a direct quote from the person you are writing about!
It should be centered on your page in size 18 font two double spaces down from your assignment information.
Consider inserting an image above your Main Title

SUBTITLE:

The subtitle points the reader in the direction of your memoir subject.
Make this as interesting and compelling as you can.
Use size 14 italic font centered directly below the main title.

Guiding Quote:

A good quote helps to set the tone and direction—and it serves to reinforce the major theme of a writing piece and prepares the reader for what is coming.
If you don’t have a quote in your head (and most of us don’t) simply think of a one-word quality of your person place or thing and find a quote online.
Put your Quote in italics (no quotation marks are need) beneath your title.
Be sure to note your source beneath the quote without italics.

The Opening Paragraph

Set the Scene & State the Theme

Set the Scene:

Drop your readers into the scene.
In this opening paragraph, start with a scene which describes you doing something memorable with your memoir person (or what you are doing in your “place” or or with your “thing”).
Show us what is happening by describing in vivid detail a single scene from the experience you are retelling.
Use plenty images and actions (and dialogue if you can) to paint with words a complete picture of the action taking place.
Describe everything about that scene using specific images and actions to “paint” a scene in reader’s imagination.Remember that your readers were not with you, so be sure to include who was there; what was happening; when it was happening; where it was happening, and why it was happening.

Feel free to use any of the other techniques listed in “How To Write an Essay Opening”

State the Theme:

End the opening paragraph by writing the one special attribute that you like most about that person, place or thing. That “thing” becomes the “theme” of your memoir.
stating the theme is a way of creatively and effectively capturing the main reason you are telling this story!
This is often called the main theme, premise, or thesis of a story.
Put this sentence (or sentences) right at the end of the first paragraph. It is a logical jumping off place for the any essay, narrative or otherwise.

The Body Paragraphs

Tell Your Story. Say What you mean. Write Well.

Now tell the whole story using as many paragraphs as you need.
Consider using the Narrative Paragraph Rubric to write most of your body paragraphs.
Be sure to include images and actions AND your thoughts and feelings about what is happening as you go along.
Dialogue is always good to include.
Remember that whenever a new person is speaking you need to create a new paragraph.

First Body Paragraph

In your first body paragraph write about why this person, place or thing is important to you.
Tell us your thoughts and feelings, and describe the specific “actions” this makes this memory so special.
Try and write at least five sentences–more if you can write more.
Use my Narrative Paragraph Rubric if it helps to keep you on target.
Reread “How To Tell a Good Story” and use the suggested storytelling techniques.

Second Body Paragraph:

You may always write more than three body paragraphs, so these point apply to all inner body paragraphs.
Copy and paste your second body paragraph you created.
You may need or want to revise the beginning broad theme of your second paragraph, so that you don’t lose the continuity of your main theme.
At the end of this paragraph (or series of paragraphs) you need to transition to your final body paragraph, so in your last sentence give your readers a clue that there is still more to come!

Third or Final Body Paragraph:

Copy and paste your third or final body paragraph you created using the narrative paragraph rubric.
Be a preacher, philosopher and wise person and “tell” your readers what you learned from this experience.
In this paragraph you will complete the “trinity of themes” that you explicate in your memoir.
This paragraph should have a “and not only that, but…” feel to it that helps to make your subject even more “memorable.”
This paragraph needs to “feel” like a final paragraph. By the end of this paragraph your readers should feel like you delivered on the promise of your thesis.
Since you are not transitioning to a new body paragraph, your final line of this paragraph should be conclusive, confident—and above all—clear and concise.

The Conclusion: Parting Words

Finish it Clean

Conclusion

Start your last paragraph by telling us why everyone should have a person like your memoir person, a place like your place, or a thing like your thing in his or her life.
End the paragraph with one short sentence that” captures” why your person, place or thing is so great—and maybe even use an exclamation point at the end. For example: “Uncle Tony really is the coolest guy in the world!”
Don’t introduce any new experiences in the conclusion–only reference what you have already written.
If you need more help, go to “How to Write an Essay Conclusion” for more tips and tricks.

Some examples of Memoirs…

Here is a memoir wrote for my sister. I used the rubric, but I added more body paragraphs to tell the story of my sister’s life.

Always remember that my rubrics are “guides,” not “rules.” The most important thing is to tell a good story to the best of your ability!

John Fitz Essay Writing Mr. Mean’s Class Memoir Assignment 3/30/2014

When Cool Was Really Cool

Remembering the Coolest Sister Ever

Life is not counted by the amount of breaths we take, but of the moments that leave us breathless.

W e were coming home from church one morning and Jimmy Glennon pulled up beside us as we approached the Sudbury road lights. He didn’t notice the well-dressed family of eight scrunched into our old Pontiac station wagon as he revved the engine of his yellow and black mustang fastback. I was crammed in the rearward facing back seat doling out peace signs and air horn salutes, but the scene unfolding in front of me was one of the coolest scenes ever: here was the guy Patty had a date with the night before seeming to challenge my father to a drag race, or at the very least humiliate, the infamous and fiery EJ—on a Sunday morning no less. When the light turned green, Jimmy pulled away in a squeal of burning rubber and glorious smoke, fishtailing his car as he laid down a patch—a testament etched like black marker into the road, and which would last several more months of my bragging to my friends that I had the coolest big sister in town, and I would retell that story to every new kid who sat next to me on the bus as we drove by that spot every weekday on the way to the Peabody Middle School. That moment sealed it for me: I really did have the coolest big sister in town—and now I could prove it in the hardscrabble myth-making of a crowded kid-filled neighborhood. I could now glow in the reflected light of her infinite coolness, and I still live in that light, but it is now deeper, richer, and more penetrating, with a lingering and haunting pain that still leaves me numb and lonely; but, through Patty we can all be cool; we can live with a richer understanding of our dreams, our struggles, and our potential to embrace the scope of the day, and we can simply share the patchwork mosaic that she wove with the divergent strands of our lives.

When I was young, Patty lived in another age. She moved as a phantom through the house because she was like eighteen when I was eleven; she had friends who would hoist me to the top of the basketball hoop bolted above the garage door; she had friends who played guitars in the basement and pierced each other’s ears, and she had friends in prison and friends who died in the Vietnam war, and she had friends that she kept for all of her shortened life—most of whom are here today. My other sisters were never as cool as Patty. Eileen, in her quest for perfection, would charge me a quarter if I didn’t make my bed right; Mary Ellen would lament that I was embarrassing the whole family because of my bad pitching in little league, and Annie, who was almost as young as Patty was old, was too little to be cool and did things like take our meal orders before supper on a stolen Friendlies waitress pad. My little brother Tom never seemed to feel the need to be cool.

So it all fell on me.

I really wanted to be cool. I wanted a different and clear slant on life like Patty, but I certainly did not want to work as hard as her; so, like so many other people, I used her as my mentor—my guide through the vagaries and vicissitudes of life. And she guided me well: she had a way of making your little adventure or undertaking be one of immense importance, but, equally important, she would put her life into your venture by helping to make it become real. She knew that anything worth trying was worth doing, and so any dream could be pounded into reality; any project could be finished, and any problem or struggle had a way through, and her hand was always there to help it happen.

Patty gave me faith in all that is infinite and eternal because that was the nature and source of her energy. Need a book typeset? Just drop it off. Need a sweater? Just drop a hint. How about a party or a place to stay? A weekend at the cape? A babysitter for the weekend? How about a car? Patty would hand down her cars like other people would their sweatshirts. Patty had that rare thing: a wisdom that was not proud of itself and a door that was always open.

The more you knew Patty, the richer you would become. The best part of going to U-Mass was the chance to live near Patty. I mistakenly thought that living near Patty would put us on equal footing. It was there where I lived, not only in the light of her coolness, but in light of her kitchen, where I would show up on a regular basis with a regular stream of spiritually and physically hungry friends, all of whom found that cool as she was, Patty was also warm and magnanimous beyond compare. It was in her kitchen where I first got to hang out with her as a friend, confidant, and cheerleader. My first night at U-Mass, we met for beer down at The Drake, a classic dive of a bar with smoke and pool tables and peanut strewn floors. It seemed strange and normal to be sitting down with her and Donald—her avowed Marxist, long-haired, archaeologist boyfriend who complimented her so perfectly and would soon become her perfect husband and partner and soul-mate until death parted their life together.

It may seem dumb, but it was like a first date for me. But, it was better than Jimmy Glennon burning rubber at the route two lights; it was better than her taking off with Tubby in an old Triumph Spitfire—and Mary and EJ panicked that she was eloping—with a Jewish boy at that. Better than when her and Mary Ellen got caught pinning up their catholic school skirts at the bus-stop; better than when one of her friends escaped from prison; better than hearing that her dorm in Southwest was the target of another drug raid; better than when her and a couple of friends hopped in the back of an old bakery truck and moved to Oregon—and EJ making me promise not to tell her mother that it wasn’t a real bus. It was better because it was finally real and not just my vision of some more exciting reality. We were in a smoky bar and laughing and talking and telling stories, and she was with a guy who made her laugh and made her incredibly happy. I could feel her knitting together the best fibers of our family and creating a tapestry that nothing can undo—a tapestry that has stood the test of time.

Patty showed that small gestures are huge, and that huge actions are always doable. She would call and be as excited about her student Rodney’s wrestling match as she would winning teacher of the year. She would drive five hours to have dinner with my mother, or to bring a swimming list to Alba, or to drop off a present for one of your kids. She showed how simple it is for giving to be a gift for everyone involved.

In the perfect memory of love, Patty will always live on. And we will always be amazed, humbled, and for me, sometimes simply awestruck … and breathless.

What is a Memoir?

Memoir vs Autobiography

Memoir Examples

Short memoir examples.

How to Write a Memoir: A Step-by-Step Guide

A memoir is a branch of creative nonfiction , a genre defined by the writer Lee Gutkind as “true stories, well told.” The etymology of the word “memoir,” which comes to us from the French, tells us of the human urge to put experience to paper, to remember. Indeed, a memoir is “ something written to be kept in mind .”

A memoir is defined by Lee Gutkind as “true stories, well told.”

For a piece of writing to be called a memoir, it has to be:

Nonfictional
Based on the raw material of your life and your memories
Written from your personal perspective

At this point, memoirs are beginning to sound an awful lot like autobiographies. However, a quick comparison of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love , and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin , for example, tells us that memoirs and autobiographies could not be more distinct.

Next, let’s look at the characteristics of a memoir and what sets memoirs and autobiographies apart. Discussing memoir vs. autobiography will not only reveal crucial insights into the process of writing a memoir, but also help us to refine our answer to the question, “What is a memoir?”

Memoir vs. Autobiography

While both use personal life as writing material, there are five key differences between memoir and autobiography:

1. Structure

Since autobiographies tell the comprehensive story of one’s life, they are more or less chronological. writing a memoir, however, involves carefully curating a list of personal experiences to serve a larger idea or story, such as grief, coming-of-age, and self-discovery. As such, memoirs do not have to unfold in chronological order.

While autobiographies attempt to provide a comprehensive account, memoirs focus only on specific periods in the writer’s life. The difference between autobiographies and memoirs can be likened to that between a CV and a one-page resume, which includes only select experiences.

The difference between autobiographies and memoirs can be likened to that between a CV and a one-page resume, which includes only select experiences.

Autobiographies prioritize events; memoirs prioritize the writer’s personal experience of those events. Experience includes not just the event you might have undergone, but also your feelings, thoughts, and reflections. Memoir’s insistence on experience allows the writer to go beyond the expectations of formal writing. This means that memoirists can also use fiction-writing techniques , such as scene-setting and dialogue , to capture their stories with flair.

4. Philosophy

Another key difference between the two genres stems from the autobiography’s emphasis on facts and the memoir’s reliance on memory. Due to memory’s unreliability, memoirs ask the reader to focus less on facts and more on emotional truth. In addition, memoir writers often work the fallibility of memory into the narrative itself by directly questioning the accuracy of their own memories.

Memoirs ask the reader to focus less on facts and more on emotional truth.

5. Audience

While readers pick up autobiographies to learn about prominent individuals, they read memoirs to experience a story built around specific themes . Memoirs, as such, tend to be more relatable, personal, and intimate. Really, what this means is that memoirs can be written by anybody!

Ready to be inspired yet? Let’s now turn to some memoir examples that have received widespread recognition and captured our imaginations!

If you’re looking to lose yourself in a book, the following memoir examples are great places to begin:

The Year of Magical Thinking , which chronicles Joan Didion’s year of mourning her husband’s death, is certainly one of the most powerful books on grief. Written in two short months, Didion’s prose is urgent yet lucid, compelling from the first page to the last. A few years later, the writer would publish Blue Nights , another devastating account of grief, only this time she would be mourning her daughter.
Patti Smith’s Just Kids is a classic coming-of-age memoir that follows the author’s move to New York and her romance and friendship with the artist Robert Maplethorpe. In its pages, Smith captures the energy of downtown New York in the late sixties and seventies effortlessly.
When Breath Becomes Air begins when Paul Kalanithi, a young neurosurgeon, is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Exquisite and poignant, this memoir grapples with some of the most difficult human experiences, including fatherhood, mortality, and the search for meaning.
A memoir of relationship abuse, Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House is candid and innovative in form. Machado writes about thorny and turbulent subjects with clarity, even wit. While intensely personal, In the Dream House is also one of most insightful pieces of cultural criticism.
Twenty-five years after leaving for Canada, Michael Ondaatje returns to his native Sri Lanka to sort out his family’s past. The result is Running in the Family , the writer’s dazzling attempt to reconstruct fragments of experiences and family legends into a portrait of his parents’ and grandparents’ lives. (Importantly, Running in the Family was sold to readers as a fictional memoir; its explicit acknowledgement of fictionalization prevented it from encountering the kind of backlash that James Frey would receive for fabricating key facts in A Million Little Pieces , which he had sold as a memoir . )
Of the many memoirs published in recent years, Tara Westover’s Educated is perhaps one of the most internationally-recognized. A story about the struggle for self-determination, Educated recounts the writer’s childhood in a survivalist family and her subsequent attempts to make a life for herself. All in all, powerful, thought-provoking, and near impossible to put down.

While book-length memoirs are engaging reads, the prospect of writing a whole book can be intimidating. Fortunately, there are plenty of short, essay-length memoir examples that are just as compelling.

While memoirists often write book-length works, you might also consider writing a memoir that’s essay-length. Here are some short memoir examples that tell complete, lived stories, in far fewer words:

“ The Book of My Life ” offers a portrait of a professor that the writer, Aleksandar Hemon, once had as a child in communist Sarajevo. This memoir was collected into Hemon’s The Book of My Lives , a collection of essays about the writer’s personal history in wartime Yugoslavia and subsequent move to the US.
“The first time I cheated on my husband, my mother had been dead for exactly one week.” So begins Cheryl Strayed’s “ The Love of My Life ,” an essay that the writer eventually expanded into the best-selling memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail .
In “ What We Hunger For ,” Roxane Gay weaves personal experience and a discussion of The Hunger Games into a powerful meditation on strength, trauma, and hope. “What We Hunger For” can also be found in Gay’s essay collection, Bad Feminist .
A humorous memoir structured around David Sedaris and his family’s memories of pets, “ The Youth in Asia ” is ultimately a story about grief, mortality and loss. This essay is excerpted from the memoir Me Talk Pretty One Day , and a recorded version can be found here .

So far, we’ve 1) answered the question “What is a memoir?” 2) discussed differences between memoirs vs. autobiographies, 3) taken a closer look at book- and essay-length memoir examples. Next, we’ll turn the question of how to write a memoir.

How to Write a Memoir: A-Step-by-Step Guide

1. how to write a memoir: generate memoir ideas.

how to start a memoir? As with anything, starting is the hardest. If you’ve yet to decide what to write about, check out the “ I Remember ” writing prompt. Inspired by Joe Brainard’s memoir I Remember , this prompt is a great way to generate a list of memories. From there, choose one memory that feels the most emotionally charged and begin writing your memoir. It’s that simple! If you’re in need of more prompts, our Facebook group is also a great resource.

2. How to Write a Memoir: Begin drafting

My most effective advice is to resist the urge to start from “the beginning.” Instead, begin with the event that you can’t stop thinking about, or with the detail that, for some reason, just sticks. The key to drafting is gaining momentum . Beginning with an emotionally charged event or detail gives us the drive we need to start writing.

3. How to Write a Memoir: Aim for a “ shitty first draft ”

Now that you have momentum, maintain it. Attempting to perfect your language as you draft makes it difficult to maintain our impulses to write. It can also create self-doubt and writers’ block. Remember that most, if not all, writers, no matter how famous, write shitty first drafts.

Attempting to perfect your language as you draft makes it difficult to maintain our impulses to write.

4. How to Write a Memoir: Set your draft aside

Once you have a first draft, set it aside and fight the urge to read it for at least a week. Stephen King recommends sticking first drafts in your drawer for at least six weeks. This period allows writers to develop the critical distance we need to revise and edit the draft that we’ve worked so hard to write.

5. How to Write a Memoir: Reread your draft

While reading your draft, note what works and what doesn’t, then make a revision plan. While rereading, ask yourself:

What’s underdeveloped, and what’s superfluous.
Does the structure work?
What story are you telling?

6. How to Write a Memoir: Revise your memoir and repeat steps 4 & 5 until satisfied

Every piece of good writing is the product of a series of rigorous revisions. Depending on what kind of writer you are and how you define a draft,” you may need three, seven, or perhaps even ten drafts. There’s no “magic number” of drafts to aim for, so trust your intuition. Many writers say that a story is never, truly done; there only comes a point when they’re finished with it. If you find yourself stuck in the revision process, get a fresh pair of eyes to look at your writing.

7. How to Write a Memoir: Edit, edit, edit!

Once you’re satisfied with the story, begin to edit the finer things (e.g. language, metaphor , and details). Clean up your word choice and omit needless words , and check to make sure you haven’t made any of these common writing mistakes . Be sure to also know the difference between revising and editing —you’ll be doing both. Then, once your memoir is ready, send it out !

Learn How to Write a Memoir at Writers.com

Writing a memoir for the first time can be intimidating. But, keep in mind that anyone can learn how to write a memoir. Trust the value of your own experiences: it’s not about the stories you tell, but how you tell them. Most importantly, don’t give up!

Anyone can learn how to write a memoir.

If you’re looking for additional feedback, as well as additional instruction on how to write a memoir, check out our schedule of nonfiction classes . Now, get started writing your memoir!

25 Comments

Thank you for this website. It’s very engaging. I have been writing a memoir for over three years, somewhat haphazardly, based on the first half of my life and its encounters with ignorance (religious restrictions, alcohol, and inability to reach out for help). Three cities were involved: Boston as a youngster growing up and going to college, then Washington DC and Chicago North Shore as a married woman with four children. I am satisfied with some chapters and not with others. Editing exposes repetition and hopefully discards boring excess. Reaching for something better is always worth the struggle. I am 90, continue to be a recital pianist, a portrait painter, and a writer. Hubby has been dead for nine years. Together we lept a few of life’s chasms and I still miss him. But so far, my occupations keep my brain working fairly well, especially since I don’t smoke or drink (for the past 50 years).

Hi Mary Ellen,

It sounds like a fantastic life for a memoir! Thank you for sharing, and best of luck finishing your book. Let us know when it’s published!

Best, The writers.com Team

Hello Mary Ellen,

I am contacting you because your last name (Lavelle) is my middle name!

Being interested in genealogy I have learned that this was my great grandfathers wife’s name (Mary Lavelle), and that her family emigrated here about 1850 from County Mayo, Ireland. That is also where my fathers family came from.

Is your family background similar?

Hope to hear back from you.

Richard Lavelle Bourke

Hi Mary Ellen: Have you finished your memoir yet? I just came across your post and am seriously impressed that you are still writing. I discovered it again at age 77 and don’t know what I would do with myself if I couldn’t write. All the best to you!! Sharon [email protected]

I am up to my eyeballs with a research project and report for a non-profit. And some paid research for an international organization. But as today is my 90th birthday, it is time to retire and write a memoir.

So I would like to join a list to keep track of future courses related to memoir / creative non-fiction writing.

Hi Frederick,

Happy birthday! And happy retirement as well. I’ve added your name and email to our reminder list for memoir courses–when we post one on our calendar, we’ll send you an email.

We’ll be posting more memoir courses in the near future, likely for the months of January and February 2022. We hope to see you in one!

Very interesting and informative, I am writing memoirs from my long often adventurous and well travelled life, have had one very short story published. Your advice on several topics will be extremely helpful. I write under my schoolboy nickname Barnaby Rudge.

[…] How to Write a Memoir: Examples and a Step-by-Step Guide […]

I am writing my memoir from my memory when I was 5 years old and now having left my birthplace I left after graduation as a doctor I moved to UK where I have been living. In between I have spent 1 year in Canada during my training year as paediatrician. I also spent nearly 2 years with British Army in the hospital as paediatrician in Germany. I moved back to UK to work as specialist paediatrician in a very busy general hospital outside London for the next 22 years. Then I retired from NHS in 2012. I worked another 5 years in Canada until 2018. I am fully retired now

I have the whole convoluted story of my loss and horrid aftermath in my head (and heart) but have no clue WHERE, in my story to begin. In the middle of the tragedy? What led up to it? Where my life is now, post-loss, and then write back and forth? Any suggestions?

My friend Laura who referred me to this site said “Start”! I say to you “Start”!

Hi Dee, that has been a challenge for me.i dont know where to start?

What was the most painful? Embarrassing? Delicious? Unexpected? Who helped you? Who hurt you? Pick one story and let that lead you to others.

I really enjoyed this writing about memoir. I ve just finished my own about my journey out of my city then out of my country to Egypt to study, Never Say Can’t, God Can Do It. Infact memoir writing helps to live the life you are writing about again and to appreciate good people you came across during the journey. Many thanks for sharing what memoir is about.

I am a survivor of gun violence, having witnessed my adult son being shot 13 times by police in 2014. I have struggled with writing my memoir because I have a grandson who was 18-months old at the time of the tragedy and was also present, as was his biological mother and other family members. We all struggle with PTSD because of this atrocity. My grandson’s biological mother was instrumental in what happened and I am struggling to write the story in such a way as to not cast blame – thus my dilemma in writing the memoir. My grandson was later adopted by a local family in an open adoption and is still a big part of my life. I have considered just writing it and waiting until my grandson is old enough to understand all the family dynamics that were involved. Any advice on how I might handle this challenge in writing would be much appreciated.

I decided to use a ghost writer, and I’m only part way in the process and it’s worth every penny!

Hi. I am 44 years old and have had a roller coaster life .. right as a young kid seeing his father struggle to financial hassles, facing legal battles at a young age and then health issues leading to a recent kidney transplant. I have been working on writing a memoir sharing my life story and titled it “A memoir of growth and gratitude” Is it a good idea to write a memoir and share my story with the world?

Thank you… this was very helpful. I’m writing about the troubling issues of my mental health, and how my life was seriously impacted by that. I am 68 years old.

[…] Writers.com: How to Write a Memoir […]

[…] Writers.com: “How to Write a Memoir” […]

I am so grateful that I found this site! I am inspired and encouraged to start my memoir because of the site’s content and the brave people that have posted in the comments.

Finding this site is going into my gratitude journey 🙂

We’re grateful you found us too, Nichol! 🙂

Firstly, I would like to thank you for all the info pertaining to memoirs. I believe am on the right track, am at the editing stage and really have to use an extra pair of eyes. I’m more motivated now to push it out and complete it. Thanks for the tips it was very helpful, I have a little more confidence it seeing the completion.

Well, I’m super excited to begin my memoir. It’s hard trying to rely on memories alone, but I’m going to give it a shot!

Thanks to everyone who posted comments, all of which have inspired me to get on it.

Best of luck to everyone! Jody V.

I was thrilled to find this material on How to Write A Memoir. When I briefly told someone about some of my past experiences and how I came to the United States in the company of my younger brother in a program with a curious name, I was encouraged by that person and others to write my life history.

Based on the name of that curious program through which our parents sent us to the United States so we could leave the place of our birth, and be away from potentially difficult situations in our country.

As I began to write my history I took as much time as possible to describe all the different steps that were taken. At this time – I have been working on this project for 5 years and am still moving ahead. The information I received through your material has further encouraged me to move along. I am very pleased to have found this important material. Thank you!

iRubric: Writing a Memoir rubric

Freshman English

Memoir General Information

Characteristics of the Memoir Form

Focus on a brief period of time or series of related events
Narrative structure, including many of the usual elements of storytelling such as setting, plot development, imagery, conflict, characterization, foreshadowing and flashback, and irony and symbolism
The writer's contemplation of the meaning of these events in retrospect
A fictional quality even though the story is true
Higher emotional level
More personal reconstruction of the events and their impact
Therapeutic experience for the memoirist, especially when the memoir is of the crisis or survival type of memoir

Writing the Memoir

To write a memoir, begin by brainstorming on paper all the events you can remember from your life that were either very important to you in a positive way, or very important to you in a negative way.
Talk to other members of your family to get ideas, help you remember events from when you were small, and to help fill in the details that might have been forgotten.
Select the event, or series of related events, that seems most interesting to you right now. Brainstorm again but in more detail, trying to recall names, places, descriptions, voices, conversations, things, and all the other details that will make this turn into an interesting memoir.
Work at this note taking stage for a few days, until you feel you've got it all down on paper. Then begin to write.
You will be surprised to see that even more details begin to appear once you start to write.
For your first draft, write quickly to get all your ideas down from beginning to end. Don't worry about editing.
Before you revise, share your first draft with someone in the family.
Consider their response, but go with what feels right. Rewrite, and then start editing as needed. Good memoirs are about everyday things, but they are interesting, sometimes just as interesting to read as a good novel.
But remember, a memoir is supposed to be true, so be careful not to exaggerate or embellish the truth.

Step 8: Formative Assessment Freedom Writers Memoir and Website

Go to the Freedom Writers web site below and read about how a group of high school students from Los Angeles made the decision to change their life story. Coming from a crime and gang ridden environment, they began to use reading and writing to change their lives. Read this short memoir about them and in your Readers Notebook write a paragraph describing who the Freedom Writers are, what their lives were like before and what they are doing now? What happened to them for them to believe not only in themselves but also in how they had control over their future?

http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/site/c.kqIXL2PFJtH/b.2286937/k.5487/About_Freedom_Writers.htm

Step 9: Formative Assessment Art and Craft of a Memoir

Below is a hyperlink for the Art and Craft of a Memoir. Read the information in this selection and in your Readers Notebook answer the three questions.

art and craft of memoir.pdf

Step 10: Formative Assessment Definition of a Memoir

Below is a hyperlink for the Definition of a Memoir. In your Readers Notebook complete the column below including information about how the Memoir and Autobiography are the same and different.

Definition of Memoir.pdf

Step 11: Formative Assessment Six Word Memoir

Go to the web site below and view the examples of Six Word Memoirs created by high school students. As you are viewing the Memoirs, select two that you really like and in your Readers Notebook explain why you like these. In the six words that the author uses, what is he or she telling you about his or her life?

Six Word Memoirs for Teens

Step 12: Formative Assessment Memorable Events in Your Life Timeline

In your Readers Notebook create a time line of seven stories or memorable events in your life.

Step 13: Formative Assessment Seven Headlines of Your Life

Using the timeline you created for the seven stories or memorable events in your life, in your Readers Notebook write seven headlines for those stories.

Step 14: Formative Assessment Six Word Story of Your Life

Using the headlines from the memorable events in your life, create your own Six Word Story of your life. Use active, precise verbs, concrete nouns, adjectives and adverbs in your Six Word Stories.

Memoir Rubric

memoir rubric.pdf

Rubric Best Practices, Examples, and Templates

A rubric is a scoring tool that identifies the different criteria relevant to an assignment, assessment, or learning outcome and states the possible levels of achievement in a specific, clear, and objective way. Use rubrics to assess project-based student work including essays, group projects, creative endeavors, and oral presentations.

Rubrics can help instructors communicate expectations to students and assess student work fairly, consistently and efficiently. Rubrics can provide students with informative feedback on their strengths and weaknesses so that they can reflect on their performance and work on areas that need improvement.

How to Get Started

Best practices, moodle how-to guides.

Workshop Recording (Fall 2022)
Workshop Registration

Step 1: Analyze the assignment

The first step in the rubric creation process is to analyze the assignment or assessment for which you are creating a rubric. To do this, consider the following questions:

What is the purpose of the assignment and your feedback? What do you want students to demonstrate through the completion of this assignment (i.e. what are the learning objectives measured by it)? Is it a summative assessment, or will students use the feedback to create an improved product?
Does the assignment break down into different or smaller tasks? Are these tasks equally important as the main assignment?
What would an “excellent” assignment look like? An “acceptable” assignment? One that still needs major work?
How detailed do you want the feedback you give students to be? Do you want/need to give them a grade?

Step 2: Decide what kind of rubric you will use

Types of rubrics: holistic, analytic/descriptive, single-point

Holistic Rubric. A holistic rubric includes all the criteria (such as clarity, organization, mechanics, etc.) to be considered together and included in a single evaluation. With a holistic rubric, the rater or grader assigns a single score based on an overall judgment of the student’s work, using descriptions of each performance level to assign the score.

Advantages of holistic rubrics:

Can p lace an emphasis on what learners can demonstrate rather than what they cannot
Save grader time by minimizing the number of evaluations to be made for each student
Can be used consistently across raters, provided they have all been trained

Disadvantages of holistic rubrics:

Provide less specific feedback than analytic/descriptive rubrics
Can be difficult to choose a score when a student’s work is at varying levels across the criteria
Any weighting of c riteria cannot be indicated in the rubric

Analytic/Descriptive Rubric . An analytic or descriptive rubric often takes the form of a table with the criteria listed in the left column and with levels of performance listed across the top row. Each cell contains a description of what the specified criterion looks like at a given level of performance. Each of the criteria is scored individually.

Advantages of analytic rubrics:

Provide detailed feedback on areas of strength or weakness
Each criterion can be weighted to reflect its relative importance

Disadvantages of analytic rubrics:

More time-consuming to create and use than a holistic rubric
May not be used consistently across raters unless the cells are well defined
May result in giving less personalized feedback

Single-Point Rubric . A single-point rubric is breaks down the components of an assignment into different criteria, but instead of describing different levels of performance, only the “proficient” level is described. Feedback space is provided for instructors to give individualized comments to help students improve and/or show where they excelled beyond the proficiency descriptors.

Advantages of single-point rubrics:

Easier to create than an analytic/descriptive rubric
Perhaps more likely that students will read the descriptors
Areas of concern and excellence are open-ended
May removes a focus on the grade/points
May increase student creativity in project-based assignments

Disadvantage of analytic rubrics: Requires more work for instructors writing feedback

Step 3 (Optional): Look for templates and examples.

You might Google, “Rubric for persuasive essay at the college level” and see if there are any publicly available examples to start from. Ask your colleagues if they have used a rubric for a similar assignment. Some examples are also available at the end of this article. These rubrics can be a great starting point for you, but consider steps 3, 4, and 5 below to ensure that the rubric matches your assignment description, learning objectives and expectations.

Step 4: Define the assignment criteria

Make a list of the knowledge and skills are you measuring with the assignment/assessment Refer to your stated learning objectives, the assignment instructions, past examples of student work, etc. for help.

Helpful strategies for defining grading criteria:

Collaborate with co-instructors, teaching assistants, and other colleagues
Brainstorm and discuss with students
Can they be observed and measured?
Are they important and essential?
Are they distinct from other criteria?
Are they phrased in precise, unambiguous language?
Revise the criteria as needed
Consider whether some are more important than others, and how you will weight them.

Step 5: Design the rating scale

Most ratings scales include between 3 and 5 levels. Consider the following questions when designing your rating scale:

Given what students are able to demonstrate in this assignment/assessment, what are the possible levels of achievement?
How many levels would you like to include (more levels means more detailed descriptions)
Will you use numbers and/or descriptive labels for each level of performance? (for example 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and/or Exceeds expectations, Accomplished, Proficient, Developing, Beginning, etc.)
Don’t use too many columns, and recognize that some criteria can have more columns that others . The rubric needs to be comprehensible and organized. Pick the right amount of columns so that the criteria flow logically and naturally across levels.

Step 6: Write descriptions for each level of the rating scale

Artificial Intelligence tools like Chat GPT have proven to be useful tools for creating a rubric. You will want to engineer your prompt that you provide the AI assistant to ensure you get what you want. For example, you might provide the assignment description, the criteria you feel are important, and the number of levels of performance you want in your prompt. Use the results as a starting point, and adjust the descriptions as needed.

Building a rubric from scratch

For a single-point rubric , describe what would be considered “proficient,” i.e. B-level work, and provide that description. You might also include suggestions for students outside of the actual rubric about how they might surpass proficient-level work.

For analytic and holistic rubrics , c reate statements of expected performance at each level of the rubric.

Consider what descriptor is appropriate for each criteria, e.g., presence vs absence, complete vs incomplete, many vs none, major vs minor, consistent vs inconsistent, always vs never. If you have an indicator described in one level, it will need to be described in each level.
You might start with the top/exemplary level. What does it look like when a student has achieved excellence for each/every criterion? Then, look at the “bottom” level. What does it look like when a student has not achieved the learning goals in any way? Then, complete the in-between levels.
For an analytic rubric , do this for each particular criterion of the rubric so that every cell in the table is filled. These descriptions help students understand your expectations and their performance in regard to those expectations.

Well-written descriptions:

Describe observable and measurable behavior
Use parallel language across the scale
Indicate the degree to which the standards are met

Step 7: Create your rubric

Create your rubric in a table or spreadsheet in Word, Google Docs, Sheets, etc., and then transfer it by typing it into Moodle. You can also use online tools to create the rubric, but you will still have to type the criteria, indicators, levels, etc., into Moodle. Rubric creators: Rubistar , iRubric

Step 8: Pilot-test your rubric

Prior to implementing your rubric on a live course, obtain feedback from:

Teacher assistants

Try out your new rubric on a sample of student work. After you pilot-test your rubric, analyze the results to consider its effectiveness and revise accordingly.

Limit the rubric to a single page for reading and grading ease
Use parallel language . Use similar language and syntax/wording from column to column. Make sure that the rubric can be easily read from left to right or vice versa.
Use student-friendly language . Make sure the language is learning-level appropriate. If you use academic language or concepts, you will need to teach those concepts.
Share and discuss the rubric with your students . Students should understand that the rubric is there to help them learn, reflect, and self-assess. If students use a rubric, they will understand the expectations and their relevance to learning.
Consider scalability and reusability of rubrics. Create rubric templates that you can alter as needed for multiple assignments.
Maximize the descriptiveness of your language. Avoid words like “good” and “excellent.” For example, instead of saying, “uses excellent sources,” you might describe what makes a resource excellent so that students will know. You might also consider reducing the reliance on quantity, such as a number of allowable misspelled words. Focus instead, for example, on how distracting any spelling errors are.

Example of an analytic rubric for a final paper

Example of a holistic rubric for a final paper, single-point rubric, more examples:.

Single Point Rubric Template ( variation )
Analytic Rubric Template make a copy to edit
A Rubric for Rubrics
Bank of Online Discussion Rubrics in different formats
Mathematical Presentations Descriptive Rubric
Math Proof Assessment Rubric
Kansas State Sample Rubrics
Design Single Point Rubric

Technology Tools: Rubrics in Moodle

Moodle Docs: Rubrics
Moodle Docs: Grading Guide (use for single-point rubrics)

Tools with rubrics (other than Moodle)

Google Assignments
Turnitin Assignments: Rubric or Grading Form

Other resources

DePaul University (n.d.). Rubrics .
Gonzalez, J. (2014). Know your terms: Holistic, Analytic, and Single-Point Rubrics . Cult of Pedagogy.
Goodrich, H. (1996). Understanding rubrics . Teaching for Authentic Student Performance, 54 (4), 14-17. Retrieved from
Miller, A. (2012). Tame the beast: tips for designing and using rubrics.
Ragupathi, K., Lee, A. (2020). Beyond Fairness and Consistency in Grading: The Role of Rubrics in Higher Education. In: Sanger, C., Gleason, N. (eds) Diversity and Inclusion in Global Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.

Family Memoir: Getting Acquainted With Generations Before Us

Resources & Preparation
Instructional Plan
Related Resources

After reading a short memoir and reviewing the genre, students choose how to create a memoir of a family member who is at least a generation older. Students first select a family member to interview, and then craft a set of interview. Students create written memoirs, focusing on one or two unifying themes, and can be presented as a photographic collage, a series of panels telling a story, a painting, a video, a musical composition, a sculpture, or another creative way. Students accompany their work with an artist's journal, explaining why they have chosen the particular method of presentation and analyzing their own successes and shortcomings.

This lesson was developed as a companion for The Mystery of Love , a PBS documentary featured in the lesson. For additional information on the documentary and those who made it possible see The Mystery of Love Website.

Featured Resources

ReadWriteThink Notetaker : Using this online tool, students can organize, revise, and plan their writing, as well as take notes as they read and research.

From Theory to Practice

Speaking of using memoir in the classroom, Katie Van Sluys states: "Through exploring personal histories and rendering these histories public through writing, memoir further connects the lived experiences of writers with their readers. In a classroom context, readers are often members of the writer's class; hence these shared experiences speak to who the writer is and possibly wants to be in the classroom community." (179) In The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative , Vivian Gornick, a gifted writer of personal narrative, discusses how important it is for a writer to create a persona. "The creation of such a persona," she notes, "is vital in an essay or memoir. It is the instrument of illumination. Without it there is neither subject nor story. To achieve it, the writer of memoir or essay undergoes an apprenticeship as soul-searching as any undergone by novelist or poet; the twin struggle to know not only why one is speaking but who is speaking." In this lesson students participate in such a journey as they identifying the unifying themes in their family interviews and compose their own memoirs. Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

Additional memoirs selected for study

The Art and Craft of Memoir Writing
Memoir Assignment
Two Possible Definitions for Memoir
Discussion Questions for “Coming Home, Again”
Discussion Questions for the “Love and Friendship” Vignette from The Mystery of Love
Multiple Ownership of the Past
Memoir Peer Review
Memoir Rubric
Writing with Love
Coming Home Again
Annotated List of Memoirs
Sample Screenshot from ReadWriteThink Notetaker

Note: This site opens with a request for donation page, but then takes you to the actual site.

Preparation

Make copies of the handouts for the lesson: Memoir Assignment , Memoir Rubric , “ Coming Home, Again ” by Chang-rae Lee, Discussion Questions for “Coming Home, Again,” Art and Craft of Memoir Writing discussion questions, Multiple Ownership of the Same Past discussion questions, Writing with Love discussion questions, and Memoir Peer Review .
If you plan on completing the first extension, make copies of the Discussion Questions for “Love and Friendship” from The Mystery of Love and arrange for equipment to project the video excerpt.
Make an overhead transparency of the Memoir Definition or copy the details on the board or chart paper. You may also want to make transparencies of the other handouts for reference during class discussion.
Test the ReadWriteThink Notetaker on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tool and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page.

Student Objectives

Students will

understand, from reading and from writing, the nature of memoir.
learn how to develop interview questions to elicit stories from the subject of their memoir.
explore different ways of presenting their memoirs.
reflect analytically and critically on their work.

Session One

Explain that as preparation to write memoirs of their own, the class will examine some of the characteristics of memoir during the next few class sessions.
Pass out the Memoir Assignment and the Memoir Rubric , and review the information so that students are aware of the expectations for this unit. The details will be explored more specifically in later sessions, so a comprehensive discussion is not necessary.
Review the Memoir Definition , and answer any general questions that students have about the genre.
Distribute the essay “ Coming Home, Again ” by Chang-rae Lee and explain that the author of the essay is a Korean-American immigrant who is using his recollection of his parents driving him to school as a way to remember them and his relationship with them.
Read the first three paragraphs of the essay aloud to the students.
Return to the Memoir Definition , and ask students to identify the focus of the essay, and the time that prompted this essay—what Zinsser describes as the “time in the writer’s life that was unusually vivid” in the quotation on the definition sheet .
Ask students to point out words and/or details that they find powerful. Record their response on the board or on chart paper.
Once the list is compiled, conduct a discussion about why the words are powerful. Note the qualities of powerful words on the board or chart paper as well.
Distribute the Discussion Questions for “Coming Home, Again,” and read the questions aloud with students to familiarize them with what they will be doing for homework.
Ask students to brainstorm other ways Chang-rae Lee might have told this story. Some suggestions they might make include a photographic collage, a short play, a song, and a painting.
Remind students about the difference between subject (what the essay is about) and tone (the author’s attitude toward the subject).
Allow students to use the remaining time to continue reading the essay in preparation for answering the discussion questions at home.
Remind students to have the Discussion Questions for “Coming Home, Again” completed by the beginning of the next session.

Session Two

Invite students to share general reactions to Lee’s essay, which they read as homework.
Review students’ responses to questions 1–5 on the Discussion Questions for “Coming Home, Again” handout as a class. Encourage conversation and discussion of the responses.
Share the powerful sentences that they recorded from their reading (Question 6 on Discussion Questions for “Coming Home, Again” ).
After everyone has shared, choose the most powerful sentence of all those they have compiled.
Write its sentence on the board or on chart paper.
Choose a presenter who will read the sentence to the class and explain the choice.
Prepare notes that explain your choice for the speaker to refer to.
As students work, circulate through the room providing feedback and support. Allow fifteen to twenty minutes for groups to complete this work.
Gather the groups together, and ask each group to read their sentence to the class and explain their choice.
As groups share, highlight items on the list from the previous session that indicated reasons why the paragraphs in the passage were powerful.
After all groups have shared, review the items you have highlighted and ask students how they work as criteria for powerful writing.
Ask students to suggest any additional criteria for powerful sentences, and add responses to the board or chart paper to create a working list of criteria for the class.
Return to the Discussion Questions for “Coming Home, Again” and ask students to share their responses to the final question. Refer to the Memoir Definition as you discuss responses. Add class criteria for memoir to the sheet to develop a more student-centered definition of the genre.
Ask students to consider the answers to all the Discussion Questions for “Coming Home, Again” and describe the role and presence of the storyteller in a memoir. Note their response on the board or chart paper for students to return to in later sessions.
Before the end of the session, review all the information about memoir that the class has gathered: criteria for powerful writing, role of the storyteller, and definitions of memoir.

Session Three

Review the definitions of memoir from previous sessions. Ask students to add any criteria they think are missing.
Write the words art and craft on the board or chart paper, as headers to two columns.
If students are familiar with the terms from previous work in writers workshop, ask them to share their understandings of the two words and record their thoughts under the relevant columns.

The difference between art and craft is essentially the difference between having an idea and making a representation of that idea.

Work through a class example together. Ask students to volunteer a few examples of a beautiful moment, and choose one of their examples to work with.
Explain that art is defined as seeing and appreciating the moment.
Next, ask students to offer ideas for different ways of representing the beautiful moment you have chosen from their suggestions. If students need additional context, explain that they should share ways to express the moment’s importance to someone else or for themselves. Students might respond with possibilities such as writing a poem, painting a painting, writing a song, creating a photographic collage, or writing a description.
Explain that craft is defined as ways of representing the moment.
Pass out the Art and Craft of Memoir discussion questions, and read the passage from William Zinsser’s Inventing the Truth aloud to the class.
Have students jot down their first reactions to the passage, in light of your discussion of art and craft, in their journals or notebooks.
After students have had two or three minutes to write, ask volunteers to share their reactions to the passage. Emphasize any connections that students make to the definitions from the previous sessions as well as to the definitions of art and craft .
Ask students to identify ways that Zinsser defines art and craft , and add the details to the lists on the board or chart paper.
Arrange the class in small groups, and ask each group to work through the questions on the sheet. Ask students to rotate the job of recording the responses, so that a different student in the group acts as the recorder for each question. Ask students to be prepared to share the group’s responses with the class.
As students work, circulate through the room providing feedback and support.
Gather the groups together, and work through the questions as a class, asking group members to share their responses with the entire class. Encourage expansion of the ideas as students talk as well as connections to previous sessions on memoir.
Return to the lists for art and craft that the class has gathered, and ask students to add any details on how Zinsser is defining the terms and their role in memoir. Add the details to the list.
Ask students to reflect on the discussion of Chang-rae Lee’s essay in the previous sessions, and then identify aspects of art and craft from the exploration of his writing. Add these elements to the board or chart paper as well.
At the end of the discussion, review all the information that has been gathered for each term and ask the class to compose a class definition of the words as they relate to memoir.

Session Four

Freewrite a journal entry describing what happened during the previous class session. Focus on your ideas, and don’t worry about spelling or grammar.

When class is ready to begin, ask students follow the instructions in the prompt. Give students approximately five minutes to complete their writing.
After students have completed their writing, arrange the class in small groups.
Explain that people remember different things, even if they all participated in the same events. Forecast that though students probably share common ideas about the outline of events, the details they remember may well be different, and some students might not remember either the broad outline or details.
Highlight portions of the journal entries that appear in only one member’s writing. The point is to identify the unique information that only one person remembered about the previous session.
As a group, look at the information that every member included in the writing, and create a group sentence that describes the previous session.
Emphasize that groups should focus on what members wrote in the journal entries only. Explain that they are now analyzing what they wrote.
After groups have completed the task, gather the class and first ask groups to share their general statements of what happened during the previous session. Note their observations on the board or chart paper.
Once all groups have shared, highlight differences in the memories shown in the groups’ statements.
Next, ask groups to share the unique information that was included in members’ journal entries. Note their responses on the board or on chart paper.
After everyone has shared details, review the lists briefly.
Ask students to imagine that they are historians writing about the previous session. From this perspective, discuss the following question: Given that people remember events differently or not at all, how would you as a historian decide what is “true”?
If time and resources allow, play the Drawing the Line Between Facts and Fiction in Memoirs radio interview from NPR. Note that the piece does begin with a brief advertisement for an NPR CD. If the advertisement would be problematic in your classroom, cue the piece to begin after the advertisement.
As they listen, ask students to jot down key characteristics of memoirs that are shared in the interview.
Once the interview finishes, ask the class to share the characteristics of memoir that were mentioned in the recording.
As a bridge to the next session, read this sentence, referring to James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces , from the interview to the class: “As Frey noted to Larry King, each person's truth is filtered through an individual sensibility, and sometimes what’s recalled is painful to others as well as to one’s self.”
For homework, ask students to freewrite on the first idea expressed in the quotation—how is truth filtered through an individual's sensibility? How did their experiences recalling what happened in the previous class session support the idea of a filtered truth?

Session Five

Begin the session by repeating the quotation from the NPR recording: “As Frey noted to Larry King, each person's truth is filtered through an individual sensibility, and sometimes what’s recalled is painful to others as well as to one’s self.”
Using their homework writing, ask students to share their reflections on the notion of filtered truth.
Arrange students in small groups, and pass out copies of the Multiple Ownership of the Past discussion questions and Writing with Love dDiscussion questions handouts.
Assign half of the groups to work on one handout, and the remainder to work on the other handout. Depending on class size, more than one group will likely work on each handout.
Ask groups to prepare to summarize and present the information on the assigned handout to the rest of the class. Students will probably need ten to fifteen minutes to gather ideas.
Gather the class, and draw attention to the Multiple Ownership of the Past handout.
Read the excerpt from Zinsser’s text to the class, and write “manufacture a text,” “jumble of half-remembered events,” and “manipulation” on the board or underline the phrases on an overhead transparency of the passage.
Ask groups that focused on the Multiple Ownership of the Past handout to act as leaders/experts and discuss the nature of “truth” and memory with the class.
Again with groups that focused on the Multiple Ownership of the Past handout acting as leaders/experts, ask the class who owns the past in Chang-rae Lee’s essay.
Turn attention to the Writing With Love handout.
Read the excerpts from the handout to the class.
Draw two columns on the board or chart paper, and write “sins,” “fallible,” prisoners,” “destructive,” pain,” “brokenness,” “whining,” “revenge,” and “victims” in the first column. In the second column, write “love” and “forgiveness.”
Ask groups that focused on the Writing With Love handout to act as leaders/experts and discuss the relationship between the ideas in the two columns in constructing a memoir.
Again with groups that focused on the Writing With Love handout acting as leaders/experts, ask students to assess whether Chang-rae Lee’s essay was “written with love.”
As a follow-up, ask the class whether a memoir must or should be written with love.
Return to the quotation from the NPR recording: “As Frey noted to Larry King, each person's truth is filtered through an individual sensibility, and sometimes what’s recalled is painful to others as well as to one’s self.”
Using the information from their worksheets, ask students how the ideas of multiple ownership of the past and writing with love are communicated in the quotation.
Review the Memoir Assignment and the Memoir Rubric , distributed during the first session, and explain that in the following sessions the class will work concretely on the assignment. Make specific connections to the ideas explored in the class sessions and the requirements on the rubric.
For homework, ask students to choose the family member who will be the subject of their memoirs. Review the one guideline for their choice: The family member must be at least one generation older than they. As an alternative, students may write a memoir on someone in their community, a religious elder, or another teacher —just ask that the person be at least a generation older than they are.
In addition to choosing the person, students should begin their artist's journals. Ask students to follow the instructions included on the Memoir Assignment handout: talk about their choice, both why they have chosen whom they have and forecasting issues they want to discuss with the person.

Session Six

Review the Memoir Assignment and Memoir Rubric , and ask student volunteers to briefly share who they will focus on and why they have chosen whom they have.
Open-ended questions (“Could you tell me about your family?”) usually evoke more interesting answers than close-ended questions ( “How many people are in your family?”).
Interview questions should invite people to answer more expansively. For example, an open-ended question like “Could you tell me about your family?” might well result in an answer like, “Well I can’t begin without telling you about the time my sister . . . .” This kind of response can lead to a series of anecdotes and connections.
Interview questions are just a rough guide for the actual conversation between an interviewer and the person being interviewed. Be prepared to follow the conversation rather than to keep to a set list of questions. After all, with open-ended questions, the interview might go anywhere!
Arrange students in small groups, and ask them to brainstorm together, generating the open-ended questions that they would like to ask the people whom they will interview. Ask groups to record their questions on the board or on chart paper.
If computers are available, groups might also visit the Get Nosy with Aunt Rosie Website for ideas for their interview questions. If computers are not available, you might print examples from the site before the session and make a copy for each group to use as reference while they work.
After the groups have finished choosing questions, ask them to hang their questions around the room.
Read through the lists as a class. Ask students to compare the questions that have been generated as well as to add or revise the questions that have been suggested.
If students need practice in order to hone interviewing skills and gain confidence, arrange students in pairs and ask them to use the open-ended questions they have generated to interview each other.
As students practice their interview skills, circulate through the room, dropping in on and listening to interviews. Make suggestions and offer feedback as appropriate.
To prepare for their own interviews, ask students to choose the particular questions that they will use with the people whom they have chosen.
Demonstrate how to use the ReadWriteThink Notetaker , and ask students to write their primary questions as “Main Sections” in the tool. Under each Main Section, ask students to add a subsection and freewrite about what they hope to learn from the questions as well as to think of possible follow-ups. If desired, show the sample screen from the Notetaker to give students an example.
Ask students to spend the remainder of the session choosing their questions. Remind them to print their work once they have entered the questions in the Notetaker.
Arrange for students to make appointments to interview the people whom they have chosen. Be sure that students explain the project and how the information from the interview will be used. Stress that students should schedule time for a formal interview. Even if they are writing about a relative with whom they live, setting aside an hour or so for a formal interview makes both the interview subject and the interviewer take the activity more seriously.
Review the expectations for during and after the interview (see below).
For homework, in addition to conducting the interview, remind students to follow the instructions for recording their reflections in their artist’s journals. Point the class to the Memoir Assignment handout for more details.
Use the details below to explain the work that students are to complete before the next class session.

During the Interview

Encourage students to arrive on time for their interviews and to be ready to begin. They should have paper and a reliable pen or pencil for taking notes. If possible and if the interview subject gives permission, students should tape the interview so that they can return to the information easily to fill in any gaps in their memory and/or notes.
As students interview the people whom they have chosen, ask that they take time to remind the person of the purpose of the interview, (if appropriate) to ask if the person is comfortable with taping the interview, and to spend some time visiting and talking before moving through the list of questions.
If appropriate for an illustration or other uses, students can take photographs of the person and the location of the interview. Remind students to ask the person for permission before taking and using photographs.

After the Interview

If students have tape recorded the interview, have them return to the tape and take notes on significant details that can be used in their memoirs. If students took notes, have them return to the notes and look for significant details.
Remind students that their task at this point is harvesting details and ideas from the interview. It is unlikely that they will use every detail in their final drafts. They are simply gathering ideas.
Whether they have taped or taken notes during the interview, students should write two pages about what they learned, including some anecdotes and incidents they might want to include. This writing assignment is not meant to be submitted at this time, but students will submit it with the final version of their memoirs.
Remind students also to include reflections on the interview in their artist’s journals.
If appropriate for their memoirs, ask students to take several minutes to write a description of the person who was interviewed and the location where the interview took place. For instance, if students visit a religious elder at their place of worship, descriptive details about that place might be useful in the final draft.

Session Seven

Invite any student volunteers to share reactions to the interviews as the class gets under way.
After everyone is ready to work, ask students how their interviews related to the Multiple Ownership of the Past and Writing with Love handouts. Specifically ask students how their interviews made them think about “truth” and memory as well as the idea of writing with love.
Remind students that memoirs do not simply capture a series of events but are unified by their focus on a specific theme or themes. Ask the class to recall the themes from Chang-rae Lee’s essay as an example.
explain who they interviewed and what they found, including any confusions or contradictions
ask for feedback and advice from other group members about possible threads they might follow
offer feedback to other group members threads they might follow
discuss the format in which they will present their memoirs, referring to the Memoir Assignment for examples.
As groups work, circulate through the room, providing feedback and support.
During the last five to ten minutes of class, ask students to share any potential challenges they have identified for their work.
Together with other class members, work to suggest solutions and alternatives to the challenges that students share.
For homework, explain that students should complete their memoir presentation and artist’s journals. Explain how many days students will have to complete this work before the next session, during which groups will complete peer review of the projects. Allow several days for students to complete this work.
If preferred, include additional work sessions at this point in the lesson so that students can work on their presentations during class time.

Session Eight

Pass out copies of the Memoir Peer Review and read through the questions.
Draw connections between the Peer Review and the Memoir Rubric as well as to the information that has been discussed in previous class sessions.
Arrange students in pairs or groups of threes, and ask students to examine one another’s work, and use the Peer Review form to comment on the projects.
Once students have completed the Memoir Peer Review , gather the class and discuss how to use the feedback to revise the projects. For instance, if the reviewers found few details that made the events or facts seem truthful, students might review their interview notes for information that they omitted and add more specifics as they revise.
Allow time for students to ask questions individually if possible.
If they have written a memoir, ask that they choose a paragraph to read to the class.
If they have chosen another option, ask that they prepare to show their work and choose a paragraph from their artist’s journals to read to the class.
For homework, ask students to revise their memoirs and artist’s journals with the help of the feedback they received during the session. Allow several days for students to complete this work.
If preferred, include additional work sessions at this point in the lesson so that students can revise their presentations during class time.

Session Nine

If desired, create an “Art Opening” ambiance for Session Six, serving refreshments as a part of the sharing.
Allow a few minutes at the beginning of the session for students to make last minute preparations for their presentations.
If they have written a memoir, they will read a paragraph to read to the class.
If they have chosen another option, they will show their work and choose a paragraph from their artist’s journal to read to the class.
Encourage positive and supportive comments from the class as students present.
After everyone has presented, if desired, ask students to reflect on the process of creating memoirs, especially as it relates to the issues that the class has covered (e.g., balancing truth and faulty memories, writing with love).
At the end of the session, collect students’ memoirs and artist’s journals so that you can provide assessment.
Pass out copies of the Discussion Questions for “Love and Friendship” from The Mystery of Love , and review the questions before you show the excerpt.
Show the vignette from the film.
Discuss the segment, using the Discussion Questions to guide conversation.
Encourage connections to the other aspects of memoir that the class has explored (e.g., multiple ownership of the past, writing with love).
Give students time to write the first sentences of Boris’ and Camilla’s memoirs and then ask students to share their sentences with the rest of the class.
Select a longer memoir from the annotated bibliography to use with the above strategies.

“We've modeled StoryCorps—in spirit and in scope—after the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the 1930s, through which oral-history interviews with everyday Americans across the country were recorded. These recordings remain the single most important collection of American voices gathered to date. We hope that StoryCorps will build and expand on that work, becoming a WPA for the 21st Century. To us, StoryCorps celebrates our shared humanity and collective identity. It captures and defines the stories that bond us. We've found that the process of interviewing a friend, neighbor, or family member can have a profound impact on both the interviewer and interviewee. We've seen people change, friendships grow, families walk away feeling closer, understanding each other better. Listening, after all, is an act of love .” (source: http://www.storycorps.net/about/ )

Student Assessment / Reflections

Review the work that students complete during this lesson on an on-going basis for the thoroughness and completeness. In particular check for completed artifacts: handouts, project drafts, interview questions, peer review feedback, and so forth. While students are working on these projects, talk to the students and observe their work and the connections they make to the memoir characteristics and the criteria for the project. Grade finished projects and the artist’s journals with the Memoir Rubric .

Calendar Activities
Student Interactives
Lesson Plans

Students imagine they have been asked to participate in a museum exhibit, take photos/videos of a significant location, and write or record reflections. Students can also create an exhibit from something they have read.

Students consider the portrayal of Asians in popular culture by exploring images from classic and contemporary films and comparing them to historical and cultural reference materials.

Useful for a wide variety of reading and writing activities, this outlining tool allows students to organize up to five levels of information.

What do the words we write really have to say about us? In this lesson, students examine the power of word choice as they write six-word memoirs of their lives.

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Open Letters: Our New Opinion-Writing Contest

We invite students to write public-facing letters to people or groups about issues that matter to them. Contest dates: March 13 to May 1.

By The Learning Network

What’s bothering you? Who could do something about it? What could you say to them that would persuade them to care, or to make change?

And … what if we all read your letter? How could you make us care too?

These are some of the questions we’re asking you to ponder for our new Open Letter Contest. An open letter is a published letter of protest or appeal usually addressed to an individual, group or institution but intended for the general public. Think of the many “Dear Taylor Swift” open letters you can find online and on social media: Sure, they’re addressed to Ms. Swift, but they’re really a way for the writer to share opinions and feelings on feminism, or ticket sales, or the music industry, or … the list goes on.

As you might already know if you’ve read Martin Luther King’s famous Letter From Birmingham Jail , an open letter is a literary device. Though it seems on the surface to be intended for just one individual or group, and therefore usually reads like a personal letter (and can make readers feel they are somehow “listening in” on private thoughts), it is really a persuasive essay addressed to the public. This recent letter signed by over 1,000 tech leaders about the dangers of A.I. , this funny 2020 letter addressed to Harry and Meghan , and this video letter from young Asian Americans to their families about Black Lives Matter are all examples of the tradition.

Now we’re inviting you to try it yourself. Write your own open letter, to anyone you like on any issue you care about, as long as it is also appropriate and meaningful for a general Times audience.

Whom should you write to? What should you say? How do open letters work?

The rules and FAQ below, along with our Student Opinion forum and related how-to guide , can walk you through ways to get started.

This is a new contest and we expect questions. Please ask any you have in the comments and we’ll answer you there, or write to us at [email protected]. And, consider hanging this PDF one-page announcement on your class bulletin board.

Here’s what you need to know:

The challenge, a few rules, resources for students and teachers, frequently asked questions, submission form.

Write an open letter to a specific audience that calls attention to an issue or problem and prompts reflection or action on it.

Whether you choose to write to your parents, teachers, school board members or mayor; a member of Congress; the head of a corporation; an artist or entertainer; or a metonym like “Silicon Valley” or “The Kremlin,” ask yourself, What do I care about? Who can make changes, big or small, local or global, to address my issue or problem? What specifically do I want my audience to understand or do? And how can I write this as an “open letter,” compelling not just to me and the recipient, but to the general audience who will be reading my words?

The Times has published numerous open letters over the years, to both famous and ordinary people. You can find a long list of free examples in our related guide .

This contest invites students to express themselves and imagine that their words can lead to real change.

Your open letter MUST:

Focus on an issue you care about and with which you have some experience. You can write about almost anything you like, whether it’s a serious issue like bullying , or something more lighthearted like why bugs deserve respect , but we have found over the years that the most interesting student writing grows out of personal experience. Our related Student Opinion forum and how-to guide can help you come up with ideas.

Address a specific audience relevant to the issue. Choose an individual, group, organization or institution who is in a position to make change or promote understanding about your topic.

Call for action, whether the change you seek is something tangible , like asking Congress to enact a law or demanding a company stop a harmful practice, or something more abstract, like inviting your audience to reflect on something they may have never considered.

Be suitable and compelling for a wide general audience . An open letter simultaneously addresses an explicit recipient — whether Joe Biden or your gym teacher — as well as us, the general public, your implicit audience. Though your letter might seem to be meant just for one person, it is really trying to persuade all readers. Make sure you write it in such a way that it is relevant, understandable, appropriate and meaningful for anyone who might come across it in The New York Times. (Again, our related guide can help.)

Be written as a letter, in a voice and tone that is appropriate for both your audience and purpose. Are you simply taking an argumentative essay you’ve written for school already and slapping a “Dear X” on top of it and a “Sincerely, Y” on the bottom? No. A letter — even an open letter — is different from a formal essay, and your writing should reflect that. Can you be informal? Funny? If that makes sense for your purpose and audience, then yes, please.

Our related guide, and the many examples we link to, can help you think about this, but we hope the format of a letter will let you loosen up a bit and express yourself in your natural voice. (For example, you’ll be writing as “I” or “we,” and addressing your letter’s recipient as “you.”)

Also attempt to persuade a general audience. Though it is written in the form of a letter, it is an opinion piece, and you are trying to make a case and support it with evidence, as you would any argument. Remember that you are trying to change hearts and minds, so you’ll be drawing on the same rhetorical strategies as you might have for our long-running editorial contest . (Again, more on this in the related guide .)

Make your case in 460 words or fewer. Your title and sources are not part of the word count.

Inform with evidence from at least two sources, including one from The Times and one from outside The Times. We hope this contest encourages you to deepen your understanding of your topic by using multiple sources, ideally ones that offer a range of perspectives. Just make sure those sources are trustworthy .

Because this is a letter, not a formal essay, we are not asking you to provide in-text citations, but we will be asking you to list the sources you used — as many as you like — in a separate field that does not contribute to your word count. Keep in mind, however, that if you include evidence from those sources, our readers (and judges) should always be able to tell where it came from. Be careful to put quotations around any direct quotes you use, and cite the source of anything you paraphrase.

In addition to the guidelines above, here are a few more details:

You must be a student ages 13 to 19 in middle school or high school to participate , and all students must have parent or guardian permission to enter. Please see the F.A.Q. section for additional eligibility details.

The writing you submit should be fundamentally your own — it should not be plagiarized, created by someone else or generated by artificial intelligence.

Your open letter should be original for this contest. That means it should not already have been published at the time of submission, whether in a school newspaper, for another contest or anywhere else.

Keep in mind that the work you send in should be appropriate for a Times audience — that is, something that could be published in a family newspaper (so, please, no curse words).

You may work alone or in groups , but students should submit only one entry each.

You must also submit a short, informal “artist’s statement” as part of your submission, that describes your writing and research process. These statements, which will not be used to choose finalists, help us to design and refine our contests. See the F.A.Q. to learn more.

All entries must be submitted by May 1, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time using the electronic form at the bottom of this page.

Use these resources to help you write your open letter:

Our step-by-step guide : To be used by students or teachers, this guide walks you through the process of writing an open letter.

A list of free examples of open letters published both in and outside The New York Times, which you can find in our step-by-step guide .

A writing prompt: To Whom Would You Write an Open Letter? This prompt offers students a “rehearsal space” for thinking about to whom they’d like to write, the reason they’re writing and why they think that issue is important — not only for the recipient but also for a wider audience.

Argumentative writing prompts: We publish new argumentative writing prompts for students each week in our Student Opinion and Picture Prompt columns. You can find them all, as they publish, here , or many of them, organized by topic, in our new collection of over 300 prompts .

Argumentative writing unit: This unit includes writing prompts, lesson plans, webinars and mentor texts. While it was originally written to support our Student Editorial Contest , the resources can help students make compelling arguments, cite reliable evidence and use rhetorical strategies for their open letters as well.

Our contest rubric : This is the rubric judges will use as they read submissions to this contest.

Below are answers to your questions about writing, judging, the rules and teaching with this contest. Please read these thoroughly and, if you still can’t find what you’re looking for, post your query in the comments or write to us at [email protected].

Questions About Writing

How is this contest different from your long-running Editorial Contest? Can we still use those materials?

For a decade we ran an editorial contest , and the students who participated wrote passionately about all kinds of things — A.I. , fast fashion , race , trans rights , college admissions , parental incarceration , fan fiction , snow days , memes , being messy and so much more . You can still write about the issues and ideas that fire you up — it’s just that this time around you’ll be framing your work as a letter to a person who has the power to make change on or bring understanding to that issue.

Our related guide has more about the differences between a traditional opinion essay and an open letter, but the many materials we developed for that earlier contest are also woven into the guide, as concepts like ethos, logos and pathos are still very much relevant to this challenge.

I have no idea what to write about. Where should I start?

Our Student Opinion forum can help via its many questions that encourage you to brainstorm both the audience you might write to and the topics you’d like to address.

Can I actually send my open letter?

You can! Just wait until after you have submitted your work to us to do so. (As always for our contests, you retain the copyright to the piece you submit, and can do whatever you like with it.)

Questions About Judging

How will my open letter be judged?

Your work will be read by New York Times journalists, as well as by Learning Network staff members and educators from around the United States. We will use this rubric to judge entries.

What’s the “prize”?

Having your work published on The Learning Network and being eligible to have your work published in the print New York Times.

When will the winners be announced?

About 8-10 weeks after the contest has closed.

My piece wasn’t selected as a winner. Can you tell me why?

We typically receive thousands of entries for our contests, so unfortunately, our team does not have the capacity to provide individual feedback on each student’s work.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RULES

Who is eligible to participate in this contest?

This contest is open to students ages 13 to 19 who are in middle school or high school around the world. College students cannot submit an entry. However, high school students (including high school postgraduate students) who are taking one or more college classes can participate. Students attending their first year of a two-year CEGEP in Quebec Province can also participate. In addition, students age 19 or under who have completed high school but are taking a gap year or are otherwise not enrolled in college can participate.

The children and stepchildren of New York Times employees are not eligible to enter this contest. Nor are students who live in the same household as those employees.

Can I have someone else check my work?

We understand that students will often revise their work based on feedback from teachers and peers. That is allowed for this contest. However, be sure that the final submission reflects the ideas, voice and writing ability of the student, not someone else.

Do I need a Works Cited page?

Yes. We provide you with a separate field to list the sources you used to inform or write your open letter. You’re allowed to format your list however you want; we will not judge your entry based on formatting in this section. Internal citations in your letter are not necessary.

Why are you asking for an Artist’s Statement about our process? What will you do with it?

All of us who work on The Learning Network are former teachers. One of the many things we miss, now that we work in a newsroom rather than a classroom, is being able to see how students are reacting to our “assignments” in real time — and to offer help, or tweaks, to make those assignments better. We’re asking you to reflect on what you did and why, and what was hard or easy about it, in large part so that we can improve our contests and the curriculum we create to support them. This is especially important for new contests, like this one.

Another reason? We have heard from many teachers that writing these statements is immensely helpful to students. Stepping back from a piece and trying to put into words what you wanted to express, and why and how you made artistic choices to do that, can help you see your piece anew and figure out how to make it stronger. For our staff, they offer important context that help us understand individual students and submissions, and learn more about the conditions under which students around the world create.

Whom can I contact if I have questions about this contest or am having issues submitting my entry?

Leave a comment on this post or write to us at [email protected].

QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHING WITH THIS CONTEST

Do my students need a New York Times subscription to access these resources?

No. All of the resources on The Learning Network are free.

If your students don’t have a subscription to The New York Times, they can also get access to Times pieces through The Learning Network . All the activities for students on our site, including mentor texts and writing prompts, plus the Times articles they link to, are free. Students can search for articles using the search tool on our home page.

How do my students prove to me that they entered this contest?

After they press “Submit” on the form below, they will see a “Thank you for your submission.” line appear. They can take a screenshot of this message. Please note: Our system does not currently send confirmation emails.

Please read the following carefully before you submit:

Students who are 13 and older in the United States or the United Kingdom, or 16 and older elsewhere in the world, can submit their own entries. Those who are 13 to 15 and live outside the United States or the United Kingdom must have an adult submit on their behalf.

All students who are under 18 must provide a parent or guardian’s permission to enter.

You will not receive email confirmation of your submission. After you submit, you will see the message “Thank you for your submission.” That means we received your entry. If you need proof of entry for your teacher, please screenshot that message.

If you have questions about your submission, please write to us at [email protected] and provide the email address you used for submission.

IMAGES

Memoir Writing Rubric by Stop Collaborate and Lesson
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Memoir: Memoir Writing Rubric by Teacher Tricks
Free Printable Writing Rubrics
Memoir Grading Rubric Structure 12 13 14 15 16 17 Overall ____/10
Writing Prompts With Rubrics And Sample Answers Pdf: Tips For Better

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Reviewing Writing Essay Rubric Up Dated Sp 2024
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Memoir Writing Assignment || Abdul Majid
Week 2 Discussion PCD206 How to Locate and Read the Discussion Assignment Rubrics
Workshop on Memoir Writing
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PDF Memoir Rubric Created by Rebecca Addleman
Memoir Rubric Created by Rebecca Addleman Lead Lead grabs attention through action, dialogue, or thoughts Lead introduces story but doesn't grab attention Lead does not introduce story or grab attention A lead is not included So What? Definite conclusion that explains the story's purpose The conclusion finishes the
PDF Writing a Memoir
Writing a Memoir . SOL 7.8 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and paragraphing. SOL 7.7 The student will write in a variety of forms with an emphasis on exposition, narration, and persuasion. Overview: For this writing assignment, you will be the author of a highly ...
PDF PERSONAL MEMOIR RUBRIC
of the assignment and subject matter Include relevant sensory detail, action verbs in the present tense, and figurative language, in a manner that indicates synthesis of the assignment and subject matter, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between The Giver and the memoir writing project Writing Process (x2) No rough or
Personal Memoir Rubric
Here is a memoir wrote for my sister. I used the rubric, but I added more body paragraphs to tell the story of my sister's life. Always remember that my rubrics are "guides," not "rules." The most important thing is to tell a good story to the best of your ability! John Fitz Essay Writing Mr. Mean's Class Memoir Assignment 3/30/2014
PDF Memoir Peer Review
Memoir Rubric 4 3 2 1 Genre Characteristics The project meets the characteristics of a memoir. There is a clear unifying theme that focuses the details on the subject's life. The project meets most of the characteristics of a memoir, but the unifying theme needs to be stronger and more explicit. The project simply catalogues events from the
Memories Matter: The Giver and Descriptive Writing Memoirs
Explain to students that this paragraph is an example of the type of writing they will be doing in their upcoming memoir assignment. Distribute and discuss the Memories Matter: A Descriptive Memoir Project handout. Stress the ways that memoir differs from other personal narrative writing such as biography and autobiography.
How to Write a Memoir: Examples and a Step-by-Step Guide
7. How to Write a Memoir: Edit, edit, edit! Once you're satisfied with the story, begin to edit the finer things (e.g. language, metaphor, and details). Clean up your word choice and omit needless words, and check to make sure you haven't made any of these common writing mistakes.
DOC Memoir Writing Assignment
Memoir Writing Assignment, 2010 -2011 Total Points: 100 Points. Directions: You will be creating a memoir of your life stages. Each chapter will chronicle a different stage in your life. There will not be a length requirement; however, your chapters should paint a clear image of that time period. Enjoy! ( Grading Rubric. 100 84 69
iRubric: Writing a Memoir rubric
Writing a MemoirWriting a Memoir. Students will be writing their own personal memoirs based on a meaningful experience, person, or other event that has happened in his or her life. Rubric Code: T2X3XW9. By elliefa. Ready to use.
9th Grade: Writing the Memoir
Writing the Memoir . To write a memoir, begin by brainstorming on paper all the events you can remember from your life that were either very important to you in a positive way, or very important to you in a negative way. ... Memoir Rubric. memoir rubric.pdf. Last modified: Tuesday, 21 June 2011, 12:25 PM Summative Assessment and Rubric.
PDF Writing Assessment and Evaluation Rubrics
Guide to Writing Assignments and Corresponding Rubrics Writer's ChoiceAssignments Rubrics Writer 's ChoiceAssignments Rubrics p. 11 Write About a Personal Episode 10, 14, 17 p. 15 Write a Journal Entry 10, 14, 17 p. 15 Cross-Curricular Activity 10, 14, 17
Holistic Rubric
This rubric assesses student performance on the first major assignment of my creative writing course, a 4-6 page "snapshot" memoir in which students describe a time in their lives in which something strange became suddenly familiar, or vice versa. Purpose, organization, mechanics, and style are equ...
Memoir Rubric
Rubric: (scored plus, check, minus) Writing. Creates an extended (minimum two-page), non-fiction piece . Explores a memory from the "sea of experience" using show not tell, sensory details. Explores a memory from the "mountain of perception", showing reflective thinking. Uses one true sentence principle including specific verbs and minimal "be ...
PDF Writing Assessment and Evaluation Rubrics
Guide to Writing Assignments and Corresponding Rubrics Writer's ChoiceAssignments Rubrics Writer 's ChoiceAssignments Rubrics p. 11 Write a News Feature 10, 14, 17 p. 11 Listening and Speaking 10, 14, 17 p. 15 Write a Contract 10, 14, 17 p. 15 Cross-Curricular Activity 10, 14, 17
DOCX Loudoun County Public Schools / Overview
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PDF Six-Word Memoir Grading Rubric
English Period: _____ Section: Writing Six-Word Memoir Grading Rubric 4 3 2 1 0 Your Score Tone of Memoir (meaningful) Topic is very important, meaningful and serious; appropriate tone Topic is somewhat important, meaningful and serious; appropriate tone Topic is not meaningful and serious; appropriate
Memoir Assignment Teaching Resources
This memoir writing assignment guides students to a place of reflection on the importance of a moment and how that moment helps to define who they are and how they will be remembered. ... analysis, and drawing connections. There is no rubric for this assignment. Subjects: Close Reading, English Language Arts, Literature. Grades: 9 th - 12 th ...
PDF Descriptive Memoir Rubric
Descriptive Memoir Rubric. Key: 4 = Memoir is fully developed in this regard; very little need for revision in this area. 3 = Memoir is mostly developed; some revision in this area would improve the overall effect of the piece. 2 = Memoir somewhat developed in this regard; this is an area to consider for significant revision. 1 = Memoir ...
Rubric Best Practices, Examples, and Templates
A rubric is a scoring tool that identifies the different criteria relevant to an assignment, assessment, or learning outcome and states the possible levels of achievement in a specific, clear, and objective way. Use rubrics to assess project-based student work including essays, group projects, creative endeavors, and oral presentations.
Family Memoir: Getting Acquainted With Generations Before Us
Pass out the Memoir Assignment and the Memoir Rubric, and review the information so that students are aware of the expectations for this unit. The details will be explored more specifically in later sessions, so a comprehensive discussion is not necessary. ... This writing assignment is not meant to be submitted at this time, but students will ...
Results for memoir writing assignment
A Page from History. . . A Memoir Writing Assignment includes a full description of the assignment and a rubric in Spanish. It allows for student choice and encourages self-assessment. The learning scale is perfect for use in a growth model.
Writing an Assignment Prompt and Rubric
A rubric will indicate what the instructor will look for in the submitted assignment to assess if students have met the assignment expectations and learning outcomes. This may include application of course concepts, addressing parts of the prompt, use of sources, writing skills, formatting, etc.
Open Letters: Our New Opinion-Writing Contest
Our contest rubric: This is the rubric judges will use as they read submissions to this contest. Frequently Asked Questions Below are answers to your questions about writing, judging, the rules ...