Memoir Assignments

The Color of Water by James McBride

You should be finished reading the book by Friday, March 3rd.

You'll need to start two new files (colorofwater.html and memoir1.html) and add these links to your homepage.

In the first file, colorofwater.html, I'd like you to respond to the text. I'd like you to focus on lessons that McBride learned from his mother and how they shaped his life.
I want you to pay close attention to the craft of writing, as we will be practicing craft as we write our own memoir pieces.
McBride uses elements commonly found in memoir. These include, but are not limited to:
1- Voice- We can actually hear the writer telling us his story:
"When I was fourteen, my mother took up two new hobbies: riding a bicycle and playing piano. The piano I didn't mind, but the bicycle drove me crazy."
2- Poetic tools- Simile, metaphor, sensory imagery, etc.
"...a memory so sweet it is burned into my mind like a tatoo..."
"The sensation was like a tractor pulling my curls off."
3- Specific details and realistic dialogue
"I'd read it in the paper, between the lines of my favorite sports columnists in the New York post and the old Long Island Press..."
"Get your butt in this house before dark," she would warn, a rule she enforced to the bone."

Writing the first draft of your first memoir piece

memoir1.html
Brainstorm a list of your personal stories. This is an informal list: "the story about the time when..."
Read your list. Which story seems to be most important to you? Write down everything you can remember about that story. Don't worry about choosing; we'll be going back to your list many times during the semester, and you will have opportunities to tell as many stories as you wish.

Brainstoriming Ideas Toward Your Memoir Piece

1 - Think of a family story you have told or have heard told many times. Make notes about it and decide what the theme of the story is. Then write the story down.

2 - Pick a few other personal stoies (don't write the stories, just name them:"the story about the time when..."etc.). For each one, write down "I used to think this story was about...[fill in], but now I really think it's about...[fill in]."

For Example:

- the story about the time when we played skully on our block... I used to think the story was about the game, the bottlecaps, etc., but now I really think it's about the feeling of being part of a community.

- the story about when I wanted my mother to straighten my hair... I used to think the story was about my hating curly hair, but now I really think it's about wanting to fit in and look like everyone else.

3 - Make a list of ways you could focus a memoir, starting with certain defined periods of time, such as "first grade," the year my mother died," the year I moved to this country."

4 - Make a list of themes you could use to focus a memoir, such as your relationship to food, a sibling, school, houses you have lived in, etc.

1 - Focus on your relationship with one family member or longtime friend and:

Make a list of stories connected to that person to that person (the trip you took together to...; the argument over...; the time when...; etc.)

Make a chronological list of dates when significant things happened to you and that person.

Draw a line like a graph showing the " ups and downs" of the relationship over time, with

notes on the peaks and valleys denoting times of closeness, fun, difficulties, etc.

Decide how you would organize a memoir about this relationship.

2 - Tell the story of something in your life you are proud of.

3 - Tell the story of something in your life you are ashamed of.

4 - Describe a job you have had. Include co-workers, the work itself and its relationship to the world at large, how you felt about it, how it affected your life.

Read the story "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros.
Use the story as a model for a story from your own childhood, a time when you have felt as powerless as the narrator of this story.
Tell the story, using dialogue, description, sensory imagery, characterization, and specific names.

Open up a new file called wired.html and add a link to your homepage. In this file you will begin to write your responses to working on the internet. Write about how it felt for you to start your homepage, problems you encountered along the way, successes you achieved, feedback from others. Reflect on what you like and dislike about the class. Write about how it is different from other English classes you have taken. Use this file to go back to during the course, as a journal of your experience with the work you are doing.

Revision

After you have written your memoir piece, it's time for you to work toward making it better. To do this we will make changes during the revision process.

Assessment and Evaluation

Email me at lorimayo_99@yahoo.com. Tell me what you believe your grade should be and why. Include information about what you have learned in this class, your strengths and weaknesses, and your goals for the remainder of the term.

This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff

This book, and your second memoir piece, should be completed by June 1st. While reading this book, you should pay close attention to the craft of writing.Wolff is a master at what I ask you to do-- show, don't tell. In the section called "Uncool," beginning on page 37, Wolff describes hanging out with his friends and acting tough. At the same time, he describes how they watch "The Mickey Mouse Club," and long to be a part of that wholesome world. He doesn't tell us that this is their desire, he allows us to infer it from the stories he tells.

In the last paragraph on page 75, Wolff uses a metaphor of salmon dying to represent what is happening in his life. I ask you to do the same in the last paragraph of your memoir piece. For a clearer explanation, see this described in my English Journal Article, under the sections called "Upping the Ante..." and "Writing Like Writers..."

Memoir Hypertext PoemPoetry

Look at thePoetry Projects. Read the Hypertext Prufrock Poem.Your assignment is to 1) find a poem that you admire and make it hypertext, and 2)write a hypertext poem of your own.

To use a picture from another website without having to view the source, follow these steps. Position the mouse cursor on top of the picture and click the RIGHT mouse button; another window will open up with new options. Click on the option called 'Properties.' In the window that opens up, to the right of the words 'Address: (URL)' is the location of the picture. Highlight the location, RIGHT click the highlighted words and click on 'Copy.' Goto your html, and paste the location where the image source should be (the img src="etc...) The End. -BaRRy- Some places to find pictures and poems include (but are not limited to...):

Final Project – Online Yearbook

As a final project as a senior in Jamaica High School, we are all going to work together to create an online yearbook. Each student will have a chance to create their own page with their final thoughts on the four years attending Jamaica.

Each individual page will include your:

- Name
- Major
- Quote
- Photo
- Goodbye Message

The content of the main page will be discussed in class. That’s right, we’ll be sitting UP FRONT for a few days. Leave the PCs alone.

- Pre-High –

Write about your school history prior to high school. What did you experience in elementary school and Junior High. What did you expect high school to be like? How did you handle the move from junior high school to high school? When you first started, did Jamaica High meet your expectations?

- High School –

Today, write about your high school experience. How were your early years in high school? Where the teachers/students anything like you met in your previous schools? What teachers/faculty members/students have you met during the course of your 4 years in Jamaica have affected your life. Did you accomplish the goals you set out? Now that it is almost over, has Jamaica High met your expectations?

- Post-High –

You will now write about yourself and your future. What career did you plan on pursuing before high school, and has that choice changed? Do you plan on going to college? If so which college have you applied to? Write about the feelings you went through when you were accepted/rejected. Do you plan on keeping in contact with old friends/foes from the past? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Mrs. Mayo