When middle schoolers use candy to write memoirs (updated 8/21)
Need a sweet way to introduce memoir writing to middle schoolers? My second writing project with sixth-graders (after YA author Kate Messner’s Sometimes Poem) is memoir writing. We dip our toes into memoir writing by documenting memories that involve candy. If kids can’t think of anything or don’t really like candy, they can write about a favorite food instead.
Memoir is a new genre for many sixth-graders, so we first learn what a memoir is. To do that, I start with what they know… a story about something that’s happened to them. It can be a happy time or a sad time, but it just has to be a true story. This is called the personal narrative, and this year, when I asked who could tell me what a personal narrative is, several hands shot up. That’s an awesome sign!
I so appreciate the teachers these kids had in their elementary years. They established such a firm foundation to build on!
After discussing the features of a personal narrative, I passed out a memoir to everyone. This one was called “Whatchmacallits and Me” and had been written by Hunter, a former student who is now in high school. Several of the kids knew this student and were curious to see his writing.
I turned on my document camera, and asked kids to draw a line on their copy of the memoir. This line was just above the last paragraph, which contained a reflection or observation written by the student about the memory. I then asked the kids to crease the paper on the line, folding the last paragraph under the sheet of paper. I made a point to call the part they were now looking at a personal narrative.
I read aloud the narrative from the beginning to the line that we had drawn. As I finished reading, I told them, “That was the personal narrative.” Then we briefly discussed the strongest moment in the narrative, the weakest moment, and other things we noticed.
Then I asked the kids to unfold their paper After everyone had unfolded their paper, I announced, “Presto! Abracadabra! Just like magic, Hunter’s narrative has turned into a memoir!” By folding down the final paragraph, which contained the reflection, we revealed the memoir.
I explained it this way so they could see that a memoir contains everything that a narrative does, but that it also includes a moment of reflection.
I also show a Powerpoint slide that lists the differences between the personal narrative and the memoir. I leave this up on the Smartboard for the duration of class.
Side note: I’ve made this Powerpoint available in my TpT store.
Here are the features of a personal narrative, as listed in my Powerpoint:
- A story based on a memory or experience
- Uses 1st-person point-of-view (I, me, we, us, our…)
- Has an interesting lead that “hooks” the reader
- Has a beginning, middle, and end
- Uses sensory language (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, texture)
Here are the features of a memoir, as listed in my Powerpoint:
- A story based on a memory or experience
- Uses 1st-person point-of-view (I, me, we, us, our…)
- Has an interesting lead that “hooks” the reader
- Has a beginning, middle and end
- Uses sensory language (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, texture)
- BUT ALSO: Has a reflection… a “lesson learned”, a realization, or an explanation of why the memory is important to you
- BUT ALSO: May contain exaggeration, and made-up details, if necessary.
We repeated this same procedure for another former student’s memoir about chocolate-covered graham crackers. For good measure, we did this one more time with an essay titled “Ice Cream” from the book, Candy and Me: A Love Story by Hilary Liftin. I searched on Amazon.com for it and its current edition’s title is Candy and Me: A Girl’s Tale of Life, Love, and Sugar.
Liftin’s book contains several (around 30-40) memoir essays about specific candies. I especially like the chapters on Bottle Caps, Ice Cream, Tootsie Rolls, the Bubble Burger, Sugar, Candy Corn, and Conversation Hearts.
There are a few essays with passages not suitable for middle school, so plan ahead for that.
However, this book provides enough texts to share with students to help them get ideas for their own.
Following all of these read-alouds, we did quite a bit of sharing. We talked about our favorite candy, why we like it so much, and then we tried to narrow our ideas to a specific memory with that candy.
Memories with our favorite candy don’t have to be life-changing to make a good memoir; if sitting around the campfire eating s’mores just reminds one of being happy, then that’s a special enough memory for the assignment. It’s okay for the reflection to simply acknowledge that a s’more reminds you of good times.
At this point, I had students get out a sheet of notebook paper and asked them to do some free-writing about their favorite candy. Getting thoughts down about their candy was the main objective. They could start by simply describing their candy… flavors, texture, appearance, or what the
Many started bringing me short paragraphs about how great their candy was and that was okay. However, at this time, I asked them to record a memory with the candy. It could be as basic as just riding home from the grocery story in the back seat of the car, slowly peeling back the wrapper and inhaling the white chocolate aroma of a Zero bar. This usually prompted students to get a little more down on paper.
Sixth-graders love to write a few lines and then come up to you and ask, “Is this good?” They really want to do well.
As a usual practice, I like for kids to do their initial writing by hand on paper. When they have filled up the front of a sheet of paper, I allow them to get out a laptop and type it up, making any changes they need to as they go. One page of writing is a lot to a sixth-grader, so I offer to give them ideas if they get stuck and can’t fill up the page.
To help stuck students, I also use candy memoirs written by former students. These mentors help students see three different approaches to inserting the “lesson learned” into the narrative. One former student wrote how Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups helped her understand her parent’s divorce. Another wrote simply about the good memories he associates with chocolate-covered graham crackers. Another compares trying a new candy (in this case, Whatchmacallit bars) with trying new things in life. For a free PDF of these three mentor texts, click the button that follows the screen shot below.
Probably the best thing about these candy memoirs is they allow me to talk with each student individually and get to know them a little better. It’s fun to find out that we like the same candy, for example. Sometimes we find out that someone’s favorite is someone else’s least favorite.
It is difficult for some kids to add reflective moments into their narratives. Many will simply not add them until I prompt them with a phrase such as, “Looking back on it now, …” or “Eating Skittles showed me that…”
The candy memoir is an entry point into the genre of memoir. In fact, we follow up this sweet assignment by writing a memoir that isn’t based on candy, but on a memory of a special moment from their young lives.
Let me know how your kids do with candy memoirs! Leave a comment below or contact me via my Contact page to share your experience or to ask questions.
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Reblogged this on ELA Brave and True by Marilyn Yung and commented:
Hey there! I’ve updated this post about candy memoirs… one of my favorite memoir projects for middle schoolers. I’ve also added a free PDF with three student-written mentor candy memoirs! Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment or sending me a message via my Contact page.