This lesson is modeled from the "Your Turn Lesson 3" found in chapter 2 of the book Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6 by Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli and uses the children's book Shortcut by Donald Crews
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Dorfman, L. R., & Cappelli, R. (2017). Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6 (2nd ed.). Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
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McCardie, A. (2019). OUR VERY OWN DOG: Taking care of your first pet. S.l.: Candlewick Press.
YOUR TURN LESSON:
CREATING FIRST MEMORY STORIES
Your Turn Lesson 3: Finding Topics and Using Senses to Create First Memories
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First memories of events, places, or people are usually very vivid because we associate them with senses and strong emotions. Memories offer young writers a wide array of topics to write about. Students can use them as writer's notebook entries, and can eventually use them as seeds to create narratives, poems, and informational pieces.
Hook: Read Our Very Own Dog by Amanda McCardie. Discuss how the author recounts the memories of getting her very own dog. Talk about how the author uses these memories to help readers visualize the story. Create a web of ideas organized around senses. Refer back to the text and use specific language. Ask your students some questions, like these:
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How did the author inspire you?
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What words and images from the text stayed with you?
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Note: This book is used as a mentor text to inspire students to write about their first memories. A lot of students may want to use the topic of a first pet, and this is perfectly okay. Even if students don't have a pet at home, at least they are writing. Encourage your students to write about something they have personally experienced. If some are still insisting on writing about a memory that you are unsure actually happened, just let them. The last thing we want to do is discourage students from writing.
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Purpose: Writers, sometimes we can remember things that have happened to us, trips we have taken, and other memories really well. Think back to a special memory you have. When you remember that thing, whatever it may be, don’t you feel some strong emotions? Those memories have special places in our hearts, and when we start to write about them, words just seem to spill onto the page. Today I will show you how to use your senses to create a first memory story in your writer’s notebook.
Brainstorm: Talk with the whole class about memories they want to write about. Have students sit and think for a minute about a memory that they feel a lot of emotions with. What’s something special that they can still remember clearly.
Have students turn and talk with one another and share these memories. Have students trade off with being a listener and a sharer. The listener needs to listen to the memory and ask questions that make the sharer think harder about their memory to make sure they remember enough about their memory.
Examples of questions that listeners can ask are:
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How did that make you feel?
What did you see?
What did you hear?
What did that look like?
Who was with you?
How old were you?
Where were you?
The sharer needs to describe their memory in detail and use their senses as they answer.
Sentence stems that sharers can use are:
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I felt ______
I was ______ years old
I was with ______
I saw ______
I heard ______
Model: Choose one of the memory ideas on the board and model how to begin writing about it. The easiest way to model thinking would be to create a web map on the board. Start with writing the memory on the board and circle it. Draw lines off of that circle to model thinking visually. Make sure to talk through what you’re doing so students can hear how you’re thinking and why you’re writing what you’re writing.
Below, I modeled a web-map to use for brainstorming.
Model this on the whiteboard in front of your students at first. Encourage students to create their own in their writer’s notebooks. In my web-map, I circled the specific detail from my broad and vague memory that I wanted to focus in on.
Shared/Guided Writing: Once students have created a web-map, encourage them to think even deeper about their memory. Encourage students to be specific. This may be achieved by making a bullet list or another brainstorming activity in their writer’s notebooks.
Below, I modeled a bulleted list of something specific from my beach memory.
Give students opportunities to share with one another. This sharing process serves as an oral rehearsal period, and proves to be beneficial to do before they start writing their actual narrative pieces.
Independent Writing: After completing 1-2 brainstorming activities and sharing their memories, students should be ready to start writing their narratives. Make it a timed exercise at first. Give students a few minutes to start writing their narratives about their memories and allow them to share. Give input as they share. Make sure you are writing, as well!
Below, I have attached my model narrative piece that I would share with my students.
Reflection: Have students examine their own narratives and partner up to peer-edit. During individual conferences, peer groups, and whole-class discussion, guide their thinking by asking questions, such as these:
How did the use of senses strengthen your writing?
What writing strategies did you use to help the reader “be there” with you?
What other memories could you write about?