LA-Block+3

Learning Essentials for the Memoir(Personal Narrative) Unit:
 * 1) Students will write and compile a variety of pieces reflecting on a signifcant object, place, person, and event in their lives.
 * 2) Student will show evidence of the writing process through planning, drafting, revising and editing a final copy.
 * 3) Student will write and revise so that each personal narrative includes sufficient descriptive detail.
 * 4) Student will complete a personal narrative of an event that includes a well-developed plot.

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 * Memoir Introduction and Overview: **
 * **Read pages 3-5 in Ralph Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams. Use his ideas to inspire your writing with a QuickWrite in your journal.
 * Assignment #1: Read and write about a significant object

Guiding Questions:**
 * 1) What object is so special to you?
 * 2) How did you acquire this object?
 * 3) Describe how your object looks, sounds, feels, and smells.
 * 4) What makes your object important? How has that object supported you? What makes your object seem real to you?


 * A. Click on the title of the document below to view a sample memoir about an object. Consider how the author used figurative language and description to help you understand the unique features of the object.**




 * B. Plan and draft an essay describing your object.

C. After writing your own essay, click on the discussion tab to respond to the topic listed.

D. New Literary Writing Rubric...click on the rubric to look over the categories and descriptions, then participate in a classroom discussion.**

A. Guiding Questions:**
 * Assignment #2: Read and write about a significant place
 * 1) What place is so special to you that when you go there you feel comforted, energized, relaxed?
 * 2) What do you see, feel, hear, smell, and taste when you observe your place?
 * B. Make a list of familiar places** you like to go, places you go to regularly, places you can stand in and look at everything around you.

C. From the list, pick the place you know best. **Create a web** with the name of the place in the center. Then step into that place and list everything you see, feel, hear, smell, and taste.

D. **Read the following mentor texts** and participate in a **discussion** about their content and craft.

E. Use the ideas you gleaned from the mentor texts and your web to **draft an essay describing your favorite place**.

F. **Revise your piece** to inlcude a variety of craft techniques including complex and compound sentences and figurative language. Use the tips sheets for assistance.

Assignment #4: Read and write about a signficant event in your life. **
 * Assignment #3: Read and write about a significant person, friend, or pet