Want to Write a Memoir?

On Tuesday, all our first and second grade classes went to visit the Solomon Schechter Day School in Newton, Massachusetts. These kids had been working with 7th graders from the Schechter School all year long at the Perkins School. It was time to make a return visit. We will report on this visit in our next post.

Today, however, since our last post on the Perkins Blog featured three short memoirs from Mrs. Haney's first grade class, we would like to comment on the fact that the Perkins School isn't the only one thinking about memoirs.

Here is the cover of a memoir written by Melba Pattillo Beals. She is one of the nine African-American students who were the first kids to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. She had quite a story to tell. Many people were against integrating the school. One of them even tried to throw acid in her eyes.

Below the cover of the book is a wonderful description by poet, Ted Hughes, about why it is good to write memoirs. If you want to read what he said more easily, just click on this picture.

Three kids in Ms. Haney's class tried it. Who else wants to give it try? If YOU wrote one, what stories would you want to tell?

Telling Your Own Story

What is a memoir? It is a type of autobiography, someone telling the story of his or her own life. A memoir usually tells part of someone's life story, not the whole story from the beginning to the present day.
















You don't have to be famous to write a memoir. You don't have to have climbed a mountain or have fought in a war. You don't even have to be old. You have to have lived--and, have learned how to write.











The kids in Ms. Haney's first grade class have done both. Here are some of their memoirs. These kids added something to their autobiographies that even famous people, such as Michael Jordan and President Bill Clinton, have not added to their books. They drew their own illustrations!