Hi class,
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week we worked on evaluating memoirs. The goal is to recognize what makes a memoir mediocre and what makes a memoir great. I asked all students to read three memoirs written by teenagers and answer some evaluative questions for each one. If you were absent- as a lot of students have been- please make sure you’ve read and evaluated the three pieces before you return to class. Here are the readings and some criteria I want you to use when evaluating them:
Finding Courage in Trials Memoir
Criteria for evaluating memoirs:
- The title: does it draw you in and fit the story?
- The hook: how does the writer get you interested and wanting to read more?
- Vivid language: does the writer paint a sharp picture for you?
- Verb tense: is the story written in present or past tense? Or, does the writer jump back and forth?
- Please note any other things that stand out to you. We’ll make a list of good traits, so please be ready to share what you like and don’t like in each of the writing samples.
We’ll have one more B-day work cycle for this exercise, and then we’ll start brainstorming your memoir topic.
As always, if you have questions, please let me know. Thank you for all your hard work!
Ms. Shilo
