UNIT 3
Shaping Texts: From Essay and Narrative to Memoir

BEND I ♦ Generating Ideas about Our Lives and Finding Depth in the Moments We Choose

Session 1 – What Makes a Memoir?
Chart: What We Notice About Memoir
Essay: "Quietly Struggling"
Homework: Studying Published Memoir and then Revising Your Own Entry

Session 2 – Interpreting the Comings and Goings of Life
Homework: Exploring Patterns in Our Lives

Session 3 – Writing Small about Big Topics
Homework: Complex Texts Contain More than One Central Idea

Session 4 – Reading Literature to Inspire Writing
Chart: When Reading Another Author's Text, Writers Are Often Inspired By…
Homework: Collecting Memories

Session 5 – Choosing a Seed Idea
Chart: Steps to Finding and Growing Seed Ideas
Ways to Push Our Thinking, Version 2 (from The Literary Essay: Writing About Fiction)
Chart: Strategies for Writing with Depth
Homework: Go Off the Beaten Path

Session 6 – Expecting Depth from Your Writing
Chart: Strategies for Writing with Depth
FIG. 6–1 Max's entry about pressure
FIG. 6–2 Max's entry about his grandma
Homework: Continuing to Think About Topics from Different Perspectives

BEND II ♦ Structuring, Drafting, and Revising a Memoir

Session 7 – Studying and Planning Structures
Essay: "Quietly Struggling"
Memoir Writing Checklist
Homework: Researching for Memoir

Session 8 – The Inspiration to Draft
Memoir Writing Checklist
Student Sample: Adam's initial draft about his brother (FIG. 8–4)
Homework: Conferring with Yourself to Make a Writing Plan

Session 10 – Revising the Narrative Portion of a Memoir
Homework: Revising to Convey Meaning

Session 11 – Editing for Voice
Editing Checklist
Homework: Reading Our Work Aloud

BEND III ♦ A Second Memoir

Session 12 – Seeing Again, with New Lenses: Interpreting Your Own Story
Chart: Ways to Structure a Memoir
Homework: Generating Material Related to Your Seed Idea

Session 13 – Flash-Drafting
Homework: Rereading through the Lens of Meaning

Session 14 – Revising the Expository Portion of a Memoir
Essay: "Quietly Struggling"
Homework: Rereading through the Lens of Balance

Session 15 – Reconsidering the Finer Points
Sample Student Work: A Family Portrait, by Miles
Chart: Transitional Phrases – Moving From Exposition to Narration
Homework: Unpacking Big Meaning from Tiny Events

Session 17 – Metaphors Can Convey Big Ideas
Homework: Describing Our Writing Processes

Session 18 – Editing to Match Sound to Meaning
Homework: Using the Sound of Language to Convey Meaning

Session 19 – An Author's Final Celebration: Placing Our Writing in the Company of Others
FIG. 19–1 Adam's final draft
FIG. 19–2 Emily's final draft
FIG. 19–3 Henry's final draft
FIG. 19–4 Tyler's final draft
FIG. 19–5 Ali's final draft