THIS WEEK I would like students to report out on what you've read so far in your independent memoir. We will have an SSR sometime soon, so please bring your book to class, carrying it with you.

Monday

Starting with discussion about the Literature Festival, what you saw that you liked, thought could have been better, think that students would like next year. We'll begin sharing out on what you're discovering in your memoirs. Returning to Short Takes, reading "Have Fun" on pages 79-81,
HW: Complete the OTIS questions for this essay, due tomorrow.

Tuesday

Journal: Describe the cold. Today, we will brainstorm the third part of the "Write Your Own Story" guide, this time looking at adolescence.
HW: Reading your independent memoir. If you didn't finish the brainstorming in class, finish that tonight.

Wednesday

Journal: Describe your nemesis. We will then look at two, student-selected memoir essays chosen by the NT Class of 2006, one on siblings with fragile X syndrome, the other on drug use in the 1980s.
HW: Finish reading Geiger's "Users, Like Me" annotating for voice.

Thursday

Reading two more essays, looking at voice.
HW: Gather together your brainstorming materials, all three packets together.

Friday

Two additional essays, looking at voice. We will also talk about the artifact and interview aspects to the three brainstorming packets.
HW: Drafting time. I want you to sketch out a working outline for three possible memoirs. These are to be working outlines for what expect might eventually become a 20 page memoir on either a specific time in your life or an aspect of your life. But for now, general ideas--who, what, when, where, and how. We will worry about the why--how this essay reveals your character--later. For now focus on the narrative basics of all three story ideas.