Six-Word Memoirs

I am a member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and subscribe to their Voices from the Middle middle school level publication. It gives me tons of innovative ideas for my classroom and helps keep me up-to-date on best practices in the world of  middle school Language Arts. Just recently, one of their articles  gave me the idea of implementing the Six-Word Memoir into my classroom. You can get the ReadWriteThink lesson plan the article referenced here.

According to legend, Ernest Hemingway started the six-word memoir after he was challenged to write a six-word novel. He came up with, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Inspired by Hemingway,  SMITH magazine launched their six-word memoirs online in 2006 and challenged readers to submit their very own six-word memoirs through contests. (The goal is for students to utilize their words carefully and powerfully because they only have six words to express or describe their life story, current state of mind, feelings, etc.)

I have decided that I will use the Six-Word Memoir as a first day of school writing activity because it is unassuming, non-intimidating, and simple. I hope that through this activity, students can begin to look  at writing beyond the 5-paragraph essay or beyond something that is assigned and tedious. This coming year, I would like my students to look at writing through various lens; not just the types of writing that are required on state exams.

So as a kickoff, I have decided to write my very own Six-Word Memoir. After all, we can't ask of students what we are not willing to or incapable of doing ourselves. Here is my Six-Word Memoir:

Life returns what you give first.

This short yet powerful statement can serve as a catalyst for meaningful discussions and can open up students' minds to thinking  differently about writing; writing can be releasing, empowering, simple, etc. I chose the above-named six-word memoir as an example because  it reflects a life  lesson I once learned:  you  get back from life what you put into it; in other words, if you make only good enough expectations for yourself, you will get a good enough life. However, if you do everything with excellence and give life your best, you will get excellence and the best in return.

Since I  love to be able to give my students real-world applications for their learning, I am in love with the idea of having them post their memoirs to the school section of the official Six Word Memoir website where there is a worldwide community of students that also  post their own memoirs. This website provides a safe outlet for students to read other memoirs, be inspired by others, and have others be inspired by their own memoirs.

But there are a plethora of uses for the six-word memoir beyond using it as a getting-to-know-you activity. Just check out this Teacher's Guide provided by the publishing company, HamiltonBUHL. This teacher's guide offers tons of creative uses and student-created products with the six-word memoir. For instance, students can create a video montage/collage of their six-word memoirs with background music. For the first memoirs of the year, I think I am going to have students write their memoirs on index cards for posting to a bulletin board and I will create a video of all their memoirs; it would be very touching and inspirational and will serve as a fitting start to a new school year.

Once I implement this lesson in September, I'll make sure to post  an update on how my students did, including samples of their work, so stay tuned!