Genre: M Teacher’S Guide Survivor My Childhood in … · 2012-12-21 · Days 6–15 Write a...

1 Two MeMoirs AbouT world wAr ii ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCB e n c h m a r k e d u c a t i o n c o m p a n y

Skills and Strategies

Anchor Comprehension Strategies• Make judgments• Analyze character

Genre Study• Recognize genre features• Analyze genre texts• Make text-to-text genre connections

Tier Two Vocabulary• See book’s glossary

Word Study• Suffixes

Fluency• Read with prosody: phrasing

Writing• Writer’s tools: Writer’s voice• Write a memoir using writing-process

steps

Survivor

My Childhood in Wartime France

Teacher’S Guide

Level S/44

Unit at a Glance

Day 1 Prepare to Read Day 4 Reread “My Childhood in Wartime France”*

Day 2 Read “Survivor”* Day 5 Literature Circle Discussion/Reinforce Skills*

Day 3 Read “My Childhood in Wartime France”*

Days 6–15 Write a memoir using the writing-process steps on page 10

*While you are meeting with small groups, other students can:• read independently from your classroom library• reflect on their learning in reading response journals• engage in literacy workstations

Genre: MeMoir

Y07172_G5_Memoirs1WWII_TG_Rev3.indd 1 10/24/10 11:17 PM

2 Two MeMoirs AbouT world wAr ii ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

• Ask students to turn to page 5. Say: World War II was a long, bloody, costly fight that changed the world. Read page 5 to learn some basic facts about World War II.

• Have a student read aloud the historical background while others follow along.

• Say: The war went on for more than two years before the United States entered. What can you infer, or tell, from this? Allow responses. Prompt students to understand that people in the United States wanted to stay out of the fighting and did so for as long as they could.

Introduce the Tools for Readers and Writers: Writer’s Voice• Read aloud “Writer’s Voice” on page 4. • Say: Like a fingerprint, a writer’s voice is unique.

The people who wrote the memoirs in this book used certain techniques to create a strong voice. Let’s practice identifying these techniques so we can recognize them in the memoirs we read.

• Distribute BLM 1 (Writer’s Voice). Read aloud sentence 1 with students.

• Model Identifying Writer’s Voice: The words vast ocean and night sky stretched above paint a vivid picture of a person in a boat on the ocean at night, and the words completely alone and infinity create a mood of loneliness and helplessness. The phrases give the sentence a smooth rhythm, like waves. The writer used several techniques to create a strong voice in the sentence.

• Ask students to work with a partner or in small groups to identify examples of writer’s voice in the remaining sentences and rewrite the paragraph at the bottom of the page to create a strong writer’s voice.

• Bring the groups together to share their findings. Point out that writers can use many different techniques to create a strong voice.

• Ask the groups to read their revised paragraphs. Use the examples to build students’ understanding of how and why writers create a strong voice. Remind students that in a memoir, a writer needs a strong voice to convey his or her thoughts, feelings, and point of view.

• Ask the groups to hand in their revised paragraphs. Transfer student-written paragraphs to chart paper, title the page “Writer’s Voice,” and post it as an anchor chart in your classroom.

Prepare to ReadBuild Genre Background• Write the word genre on chart paper. Ask: Who

can explain what the word genre means? Allow responses. Say: The word genre means “a kind of something.” Photo albums and diaries are both ways of collecting and preserving personal memories, but they are easy to tell apart—one is visual and the other is written. Literary genres are also distinct because each genre has characteristics that set it apart from the others. As readers, we identify and think about the genre to help us comprehend. Recognizing the genre helps us anticipate what the writing will contain or what we will learn. As writers, we use our knowledge of genre to help us develop and organize our ideas.

• Ask: Who can name some literary genres? Let’s make a list. Allow responses. Post the list on the classroom wall as an anchor chart.

• Draw a concept web on chart paper or the chalk-board. Write Memoir in the center circle of the web.

• Say: Memoirs are one example of a literary genre. Think of any memoirs you know. How would you define what a memoir is?

• Turn and Talk. Ask students to turn and talk to a classmate and jot down any features of a memoir they can think of. Then bring students together and ask them to share their ideas. Record them on the group web. Reinforce the concept that all memoirs have certain common features.

Introduce the Book• Distribute a copy of the book to each student. Read

the title aloud. Ask students to tell what they see on the cover and table of contents.

• Ask students to turn to pages 2–3. Say: This week we are going to read memoirs that will help us learn about this genre. First we’re going to focus on this genre as readers. Then we’re going to study memoirs from a writer’s perspective. Our goal this week is to really understand this genre.

• Ask a student to read aloud the text on pages 2–3 while others follow along. Invite a different student to read the web on page 3.

• Point to your Memoir web on chart paper. Say: Let’s compare our initial ideas about memoirs with what we read. What new features of this genre did you learn? Add new information to the class web.

• Post this chart in your classroom during your memoir unit. Say: As we read memoirs this week, we will come back to this anchor chart. We will look for how these features appear in each memoir we read.

Day 1

©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.ISBN: 978-1-4509-2977-6


©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 3Two MeMoirs AbouT world wAr ii

Reflect and Review • Turn and Talk. Write one or more of the following

questions on chart paper. What is a literary genre, and how can understanding

genres help readers and writers? What did you learn today about the memoir genre? What are some ways a writer creates a clear, distinct

voice? Ask partners or small groups to discuss their ideas

and report them back to the whole group as a way to summarize the day’s learning.

Management Tips• Throughout the week, you may wish to use

some of the Reflect and Review questions as prompts for reader response journal entries in addition to Turn and Talk activities.

• Have students create genre folders. Keep blackline masters, notes, small-group writing, and checklists in the folders.

• Create anchor charts by writing whole-group discussion notes and mini-lessons on chart paper. Hang charts in the room where students can see them.

Before ReadingIntroduce “Survivor”• Reread the Memoir anchor chart or the web

on page 3 to review the features of a memoir.• Ask students to turn to page 6. Ask: Based on

the title and photographs, what do you predict this memoir might be about? Allow responses.

• Invite students to scan the text and look for the boldfaced words (frantically, pervasive, explosion, stewardess, determination). Say: As you read, pay attention to these words. If you don’t know what they mean, try to use clues in the surrounding text to help you define them. We’ll come back to these words after we read.

Set a Purpose for Reading• Ask students to read the memoir, focusing on

the genre elements they noted on their anchor chart. They should also look for evidence of writer’s voice and think about how it helps them understand the writer’s feelings and the significance of the experience she describes.

Read “Survivor”• Place students in groups based on their reading

levels. Ask them to read the memoir silently, whisper-read, or read with a partner.

• Confer briefly with individual students to monitor their use of fix-up strategies and their understanding of the text.

Management TipAsk students to place self-stick notes in the margins where they notice examples of evidence of writer’s voice or features of the genre.

After ReadingBuild Comprehension: Make Judgments• Lead a student discussion using the “Analyze

the Memoir” and “Focus on Comprehension” questions on page 16. Then, use the following steps to provide explicit modeling of how to make judgments about the people and events described in a memoir.

• Explain: In a memoir, a writer shares an important personal experience. Because the author is looking back after some time has passed, he or she has often gained some perspective or understanding about the experience and is in a better position to judge the events or people involved than when the experience actually happened. As readers, we may

Day 2

Name Date

Two MeMoirs AbouT world wAr ii ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCblM 1

Writer’s VoiceDirections: The list shows some of the ways writers create a strong voice. Read each sentence below the list. Underline the words the writer uses to create a strong voice.

• choosing words that create clear pictures for readers• choosing a topic that appeals to a given audience• using language to create an appropriate mood• using a variety of sentences to create a rhythm• including details that reveal the writer

1. I was completely alone in the vast ocean, and the night sky stretched above me to infinity.

2. Never had I felt so small and insignificant. Yet, I was at peace.3. I was skilled and fit, and I had sailed on many solo jaunts from my

island home to the mainland.4. To sail across the Atlantic Ocean in a twenty-foot sailboat is daring, but

to do it alone at the age of sixteen, some would say, is insane.5. Soon the steady rhythm of the waves and the touch of the night breeze

calmed me, and I fell asleep confident that I would reach my goal.

Directions: Rewrite the paragraph below on a separate sheet of paper. Add or change words, details, and sentence structures to create a strong voice.

A loud noise woke me up. I was scared. I had never heard anything like it. I wondered if aliens had invaded. It took me a minute to remember I was at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. I got out of bed and went into the kitchen. Grandma said it was the test for the Civil Defense siren. It goes off once a month.Possible answer: Like ice water in my face, a strange shrieking alarm jolted me out of a sound sleep. My heart in my throat, I started up out of bed. Never in my life had I heard a blaring, unrelenting clamor like this. My first thought was, “Aliens! They’ve invaded!” For a few seconds, panic reigned. I didn’t even know where I was! Then I remembered, I had arrived for a visit at Grandma and Grandpa’s house last night. Grandma! Grandpa! Were they okay? I leapt from the bed and ran to the kitchen. Grandma smiled apologetically. “Did the Civil Defense alert wake you up, honey? They test it every third Thursday of the month.”



• Say: Today I will help you learn how to answer Find It! questions. The answer to a Find It! question is right in the book. You can find the answer in one place in the text.

• Model. Read the first Find It! question. Say: When I read the question, I look for important words that tell me what to look for in the book. What words in this question do you think will help me? Allow responses. Say: Yes, I’m looking for the words passengers and Athenia. On page 9, I read “There were 1,102 passengers and a crew of 315 on board the Athenia.” This sentence answers the question.

• Guide Practice. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart to help you develop other Find It! questions.

Focus on Vocabulary: Suffixes• Explain/Model. Read aloud “Suffixes” on page 4.

Say: Suffixes allow writers to say something in fewer words, such as using “impatiently” for “in an impatient way.” Since suffixes have their own meanings, readers can sometimes figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word by looking at the meanings of the word’s base or root word and suffix.

• Practice. Ask students to think of suffixes they know and give examples of words with those suffixes, such as -ion—navigation, motion; -able—enjoyable, capable; -or—creator, actor. List the suffixes and words on the board.

• Say: Let’s find the boldfaced words in this memoir. What can you do if you don’t know what these words mean? Allow responses. Say: Besides looking in the glossary or a dictionary, you can look for clues in the text or in the word itself. One “in-the-word” strategy is to look for a base or root word and a suffix and identify their meanings.

• Ask students to work with a partner to complete the “Focus on Words” activity on page 17 using BLM 3 (Focus on Suffixes). Explain that they should read the sentence in which the boldfaced word appears to identify its part of speech and look at the meanings of the base or root word and suffix to figure out the meaning of the word.

• Transfer Through Oral Language. Ask groups of students to share their findings. Then challenge individual students to make new sentences using both the base word and the target word. Ask the rest of the class to listen carefully and identify the parts of speech of both words.

• Ask students to save their work in their genre studies folders to continue on Days 3 and 4.

Reflect and Review • Turn and Talk. Ask partners or small groups to

reread the web on page 3 and decide whether all of these features are present in “Survivor.” Ask groups to share and support their findings.

Day 2 (cont.)or may not agree with the author’s judgments. Either way, we are free to form our own judgments.

• Distribute copies of BLM 2 (Make Judgments) and/or draw a chart like the one below.

Person/ Action

Author’s Judgment My Judgment (Sample Answers)

London preparing for war

The activity is frantic and pervasive. People all around the author are afraid and intent on saving lives.

The British people knew Hitler would not hesitate to attack them. It was sensible and essential that they prepare for war.

author and booking agent at ticket counter

She is deliberating, weighing her options. He is curt and impatient; his sarcasm (“there’s no better way to die than by drowning”) is devastating.

The author is torn by contradictory impulses. The ticket agent is stressed and can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to leave if it were possible.

author getting into lifeboat, refusing blanket

She unselfishly thinks of others who need a blanket more but is worried about not having a life jacket.

Her actions are both selfless (thinking of others) and the result of her confusion and haste as she wandered the deck (no life jacket).

author surviving in lifeboat

She sees herself as calm and determined to survive despite being scared to death.

Everyone must have been in shock as well as afraid. People generally behaved nobly in this desperate emergency.

• Model: In “Survivor,” the author says she was “scared to death, of course, yet somehow calmed by a sense of determination.” As she writes this memoir, the author is looking back on her twenty-three-year-old self many years later. With the wisdom that years of experience have given her, she now judges that she was calm and determined despite being afraid. At the time of the rescue, such thoughts would not have occurred to her as she fought to survive.

• Guide Practice. Work with students to find other judgments the author makes. Remind them that she is reviewing experiences that took place many years before, so she has the benefit of an older, wiser perspective. Then challenge students to make their own judgments about the author, other people, and their actions before, during, and after the disaster.

• Students keep BLM 2 in their genre studies folders.

Practice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment• Remind students that when they answer questions

on standardized assessments, they must be able to support their answers with facts or clues and evidence directly from the text.

• Use the Comprehension Question Card with small groups of students to practice answering text-dependent comprehension questions.



Page Word Part of Speech

Base Word

Suffix Word Meaning

8 frantically adverb frantic -ally in a manner marked by fast and disordered activity

8 pervasive adjective pervade -ive tending to exist or go throughout

11 explosion noun explode -ion a loud, violent burst that blows things up

11 stew ardess noun steward -ess female employee of a ship or airplane who attends to people

12 determi-nation

noun determine -ation the act of deciding firmly to achieve some goal

Fluency: Read with Prosody: Phrasing• You may wish to have students reread the memoir

with a partner, focusing on reading with phrasing. Explain that when we talk or read, we say words in groups, or phrases. Read aloud the paragraph on page 6 and show how you pause between phrases using sense and structure to guide you. Note that sometimes a phrase is only a word or two, while other times it is three, four, or more words. Invite students to choose a section to read aloud with phrasing and afterward discuss how they decided where to pause.

Note Regarding This Teacher’s GuideEach book provides an opportunity for students to focus on an additional comprehension strat-egy that is typically assessed on state standards. The strategy is introduced on page 4 (the third item in the “Tools for Readers and Writers” section) with text-specific follow-up questions found on the Reread pages. Some Reread sections also introduce an advanced language arts concept or comprehension strategy, such as protagonist/antagonist, perspective, or subtitles, because students at this level should be able to consider more than one comprehension strategy per text.

Before ReadingIntroduce “My Childhood in Wartime France” • Ask students to turn to page 18. Say: This memoir

is written in a different format from the other. Notice the notes in the margins. First, we will read to understand the memoir. Tomorrow, we will read this memoir like a writer and think about how the notes in the margins can help us write our own memoirs.

• Say: Let’s look at the title and photographs in this memoir. What do you predict it might be about?

• Ask students to scan the text and look for the boldfaced words (censorship, persecution, numerous, resistance, amphibious). Ask: What do you notice about these words? (All the words have suffixes.)

• Say: As you read, try to figure out the meanings of these words. Think about the meanings of the base or root word and the suffix in each word.

Set a Purpose for Reading• Ask students to read the memoir, focusing on the

events the author recalls and his thoughts and feelings about them. Encourage them to notice how the author created a strong voice.

Read “My Childhood in Wartime France”• Place students in groups based on their reading

levels. Ask them to read the memoir silently, whisper-read, or read with a partner.

• Confer briefly with individual students to monitor their use of fix-up strategies and their understanding of the text.

After ReadingBuild Comprehension: Make Judgments• Ask: What judgments do you find in today’s

memoir? What judgments can you make as you read about the pressures and difficulties of war? Record responses on a chart like the one below.

• Discuss Making Judgments Across Texts. Lead a discussion using the following questions: How are the judgments made by the authors of both of these memoirs similar? How are they different? What is your attitude toward the passengers on the Athenia and the French people in these memoirs? Do you find one group more admirable than the other? Why or why not? Why were both of the authors of these memoirs deeply affected by their experiences? Where can you identify the writer’s voice in the memoirs? How does the writer’s voice help you better visualize and understand the experiences?

Day 3



• Transfer Through Oral Language. Ask pairs of students to analyze the meaning of each suffix in the chart in BLM 3 and explain how it changes the part of speech of a base word. Then challenge students to list other base words to which each suffix can be added to form a noun or adjective. For example, court (verb) + -ship = courtship (noun).


Base Word

Suffix Word Meaning

22 censorship noun censor -ship the practice of deleting or forbidding anything objectionable

22 persecution noun persecute -ion the act or practice of harassing or punishing those who are different

24 numerous adjective number -ous existing in great numbers; many

24 resistance noun resist -ance an act or instance of opposing; an opposing force

25 amphibious adjective amphi + bio

-ous related to or adapted for both land and water

Reflect and Review • Turn and Talk. Ask partners or small groups to discuss

the following questions and report their ideas to the whole group: Do you agree that it was necessary for the French resistance fighters to fight the Nazis? What made this difficult to do? The author moved several times during the war. What effects did these moves have on his everyday life? What connections can you make to the author’s different homes?

Fluency: Read with Prosody: Phrasing• Have students reread the memoir with a partner,

focusing on reading with phrasing. Model by reading aloud the first sentence on page 24 in logical phrases: After my aunt and uncle/were taken away,/my parents wanted to move/to a more remote spot/up in the mountains. Then reread the sentence, breaking it into awkward phrases. Discuss with students which version is easier to understand. Invite partners to take turns reading aloud the first two paragraphs on page 24. Remind them to break their reading into phrases using sense and structure to guide them.

Day 3 (cont.)

Person/ Action

Author’s Judgment My Judgment (Sample Answers)

living in wartime France

There are many ways a child can make life fun.

A small child didn’t understand the danger of war or the permanence of death. Hunger, gunfire, and disappearance of family members made their life harsh.

Nazi and Vichy governments

Their policies and the constant danger of arrest were frightening. The author is horrified as they targeted “undesirable” groups.

Nazi control was absolute, cruel, and vicious while at the same time seeming random.

arrest and deaths of Aunt Nora and Uncle Grischa

Their deaths were tragic and harsh and still chill the author.

The reason given by the Vichy militia for arresting the couple is absurd; their murders outrage people who believe in civil rights.

death of author’s father

Not knowing the circumstances of his father’s death leaves the son frustrated, sad, and sometimes angry.

The author’s mother should have told her son the truth. It would have been hard to hear, but it would have given the author more of a connection with his father.

Practice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment • Use the Comprehension Question Card to practice

answering text-dependent questions.• Say: Today we will learn how to answer Look Closer!

questions. The answer to a Look Closer! question is in the book. You have to look in more than one place. You find the different parts of the answer. Then you put the parts together to answer the question.

• Model. Read the second Look Closer! question. Say: This question asks me to identify the main idea. I know because it asks, “What sentence best tells the main idea. . .?” Now I need to look for other important information to find in the book. I need to reread the third paragraph on page 22. The first sentence explains that the war hurt the people of Southern France badly. The other sentences describe the war’s devastating effects: rationed electricity and food, eating the same food again and again, and then having nothing to eat. The first sentence states the main idea. I have found the answer by looking in several sentences in the book.

• Guide Practice. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart to help you develop other Look Closer! questions.

Focus on Vocabulary: Suffixes• Ask students to work with a partner to complete the

“Focus on Words” activity on page 29 using BLM 3. Have groups of students share their findings.



Before ReadingSet a Purpose for Rereading• Have students turn to page 18. Say: Until now,

we have been thinking about memoirs from the perspective of the reader. Learning the features of memoirs has helped us be critical readers. Now we are going to put on a different hat. We are going to reread “My Childhood in Wartime France” and think like writers. We’re going to pay attention to the annotations in the margins. These annotations will help us understand what the author did and why he did it.

Reread “My Childhood in Wartime France”• Place students in groups based on their reading

levels. Ask them to reread the memoir silently or whisper-read.

• Confer briefly with individual students to monitor their use of fix-up strategies and their understanding of the text and annotations.

After ReadingAnalyze the Mentor Text• Explain to students that the text they have just read

is a mentor text. A mentor text is a text that teaches. This text is designed to help them understand what writers do to write a memoir and why they do it.

• Read and discuss each mentor annotation with students. Encourage them to comment on the writer’s style and voice as well as the experiences the writer describes and his feelings about those experiences.

Practice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment • Use the Comprehension Question Card with small

groups of students to practice answering text-dependent questions.

• Say: Today I will help you learn how to answer Prove It! questions. The answer to a Prove It! question is not stated in the book. You have to look for clues and evidence to prove the answer.

• Model. Read the second Prove It! question. Say: This question asks me to make an inference. I know because it asks, “What clues tell you. . .?” Now I need to look for other important information in the question. What information do you think will help me? Allow responses. Say: Yes, I need to reread the part about the writer’s aunt and uncle on page 23. He says, “The harshness of their tragic death juxta-posed with the near-miraculous survival of my cousins chills me to this day.” I have located the clues I need.

• Guide Practice. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart to help you develop other Prove It! questions.

Analyze the Writer’s Craft• Ask students to turn to page 30. Explain: Over

the next few days, you will have the opportunity to write your own memoirs. First, let’s think about how the author wrote “My Childhood in Wartime France.” When he developed this memoir, he followed certain steps. You can follow these same steps to write your own memoirs.

• Read step 1. Say: The first thing you’ll do is decide on an event or period in your life that you want to revisit and tell others about. The author of this memoir told about his childhood activities and hardships during World War II. He shared the fears he felt as a child and the regret he feels today. What event or period could we write about? Allow responses. Write down students’ ideas on chart paper.

• Read step 2. Say: In the memoirs we read, the authors described the people who went through the experience with them. In “Survivor,” the author described the behavior of passengers before the submarine strike, during the turmoil after the explosion, and as they fought to survive in lifeboats. Who should be included in our memoir? What is their impact on the experience? Let’s make a list of these people and how we might describe them. Allow responses. Write down students’ ideas on chart paper.

• Read step 3. Say: Before you’re ready to write a memoir, you need to recall important details about the time, place, and events in the period you will write about. “My Childhood in Wartime France” takes place in a small village south of Paris during World War II. This setting establishes a feeling of tension and anxiety about the war sweeping across Europe. When you write your memoir, think about how you will describe the setting. What incidents will help you establish the problem of your memoir and show what you learned from the experience? Choose an event or period and some of the participants the class has brainstormed, and work as a group to construct a possible setting and events.

Build Comprehension: Analyze Character • Explain: In a memoir, the author tells about a

meaningful experience and the people who took part in it. We figure out what the people are like based on their words and actions and the author’s descriptions and feelings about them. In “My Childhood in Wartime France,” the author tells how he and a childhood friend played with rifle cartridges. This incident suggests a curious nature and love of exciting physical action. Paying attention to these types of details helps us understand the character traits of the author and others in the memoir.

Day 4



Analyze & SynthesizePractice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment • Use the Comprehension Question Card with small

groups of students to practice answering text-dependent questions.

• Say: Today I will help you learn how to answer Take It Apart! questions. To figure out the answer to a Take It Apart! question, you must think like the author.

• Model. Read the first Take It Apart! question. Say: This question asks me to analyze text structure and organization. I know because I must find words that affect the mood. Now I need to look for other important information in the question. What information do you think will help me? Allow responses. Say: Yes, I need to reread page 20. I see the words turmoil, conflict, invaded, war, and fighting. The sentence that introduces the dark, unhappy ideas in this paragraph is “My country was now split in two.” Analyzing the text structure and organization helped me figure out the answer.

• Guide Practice. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart to help you develop other Take It Apart! questions.

Summarize & Make Connections Across Texts• Engage students in a discussion about the two

memoirs in this book. Invite a different student to summarize each memoir. Encourage other students to add their ideas and details.

• Ask students to turn to the inside back cover of the book. Say: Good readers think about how literary works are related. We know, for example, that both of these memoirs share certain features. They both have a setting disrupted by the violence of war. They both focus on events as the author remembers them. What else do they have in common? Allow responses. Say: Today we will think about the challenges faced by people in both memoirs and how the authors feel about the experiences they share.

• Ask students to work individually or in small groups to complete BLM 4 (Make Connections Across Texts).

• Class Discussion or Literature Circles. Facilitate a whole-class discussion or keep students in their small groups for a literature circle discussion. If you choose to conduct literature circles, share the rules for good discussion below. Each group should discuss and be prepared to share its ideas about the following prompts. Which experience described in the memoirs do you think was more challenging? Why? Which author seems to be more deeply affected by his or her experiences during the war? Why? What did you learn from these memoirs?

• Tell students that at the end of their discussion, you will ask them to share the important text-to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-self connections they have made.

• Model: Later in “My Childhood in Wartime France,” the author talks about his mother’s reaction to his father’s death. As an adult looking back, he feels sadness and anger because she did not tell him how his father died. However, he also shows understanding and sympathy for his mother, who faced grief and hardship alone. These feelings reveal the author’s lingering regrets but also his compassionate nature. Analyzing the author’s thoughts and feelings helps me understand him as a person.

• Guide Practice. Invite students to work in small groups to determine other character traits in the two memoirs. Ask the groups to share and explain how their analyses help them better understand the authors’ experiences.

Reflect and Review • Ask and discuss the following questions.

How is reading a memoir different from writing one? How are the activities similar? What new words have you added to your vocabulary this week? Which do you think will be most useful to you? What incident in either memoir is most interesting to you? Why? How can you use writer’s voice and suffixes to improve your writing?

Fluency: Read with Prosody: Phrasing• You may wish to have students reread a memoir

with a partner during independent reading time, focusing on reading with phrasing. Ask each pair to choose and copy a section from one of the memoirs and prepare to read it aloud by marking the phrases. Remind students that we do not read word by word. Instead, we group words in ways that make sense, sounds right, and follows how the author has structured the sentences. Invite pairs to take turns reading their chosen sections aloud.

Day 4 (cont.) Day 5



Reread for Fluency: Oral Reading Performance• Discuss with students the emotions suggested by

the descriptions and actions in the memoirs. • Say: The authors describe scenes and actions

that reveal sadness, fear, shock, and other emotions. When you read the memoirs aloud, you can demonstrate your understanding of these emotions through your expression. This helps your listeners appreciate the mood surrounding the actions and the author’s feelings more and also helps them better understand the memoir.

• Invite individual students to read a section of one of the memoirs with expression that helps listeners understand the emotions of the author or the mood of the text.

• Encourage students to have fun with their readings and to make them as dramatic as possible.

• As a whole class, discuss each reader’s interpre-tation. Think about alternate ways to interpret the emotions.

Review Writer’s Tools: Writer’s Voice• Ask students to look for other examples of

writer’s voice in titles from your classroom library or the school’s library. Each student should select one title at his or her independent reading level. Ask students to read pages specifically to find an example of writer’s voice

• Invite students to share their examples with the class. Encourage students to discuss how the writer’s voice gives them a sense of who the author is and how he or she feels. Point out that every writer has a voice, but some writers’ voices are stronger and more engaging than others.

• While each small group of students discusses the book, confer with individual or small groups of students. You may wish to revisit elements of the genre, take running records, or model fluent reading skills.

Directions: Use the chart to compare and contrast the two memoirs.

Survivor My Childhood in Wartime France

Time September 3–4, 1939 1938–1945; mostly 1944

Situation German submarine sinks British ocean liner filled with civilians

six-year-old boy and parents adapt and cope to survive in occupied France

Challenges overcrowded ship, not enough life-saving gear, unexpected attack, panicky response and ensuing chaos

frightening Nazi policies, dangers of fighting, intimidation, persecution, scarcity of commodities, hunger, loss of family members, not knowing how his father died

Author’s Purpose

to show determination of author and other passengers during frantic time of great danger

to show endurance and bravery needed to survive during extremes of war and harshness of Nazi control

Rules for Good Discussion• Pay attention to the person who is talking

and do not interrupt him or her.

• Think about what others are saying so you can respond and add to their ideas.

• Allow and encourage everyone in the group to speak.

• Be respectful of everyone’s ideas.

Reinforce SkillsIf time permits, choose from the following activities to reinforce vocabulary and fluency.

Reinforce Vocabulary: Base Word and Suffix Match-Up• Place students in small groups. Ask them to identify

the base or root word and suffix in each glossary word, write each word part on a separate index card, mix the cards, and lay them facedown in an array.

• The first student turns over two cards. If the cards combine to form a target word, the player names the word, keeps the cards, and turns over another pair. If they do not match, play passes to the next student. Continue until all cards have been matched.

Day 5 (cont.)


10Two MeMoirs AbouT world wAr ii ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

Write a Memoir• Use the suggested daily schedule to guide

students through the writing-process steps. Allow approximately 45 to 60 minutes per day. As students work independently, circulate around the room and monitor student progress. Confer with individual students to discuss their ideas and help them move forward. Use the explicit mini-lessons, conferencing strategies, and assessment rubrics in Using Genre Models to Teach Writing for additional support.

• Before students begin planning their memoirs, pass out copies of BLM 5 (Memoir Checklist). Review the characteristics and conventions of writing that will be assessed. Tell students that they will use this checklist when they complete their drafts.

• This daily plan incorporates the generally accepted six traits of writing as they pertain to memoirs.

Days 6–7: Plan • Ask students to use BLM 6 (Memoir Planning Guide)

to brainstorm the experience, participants, setting, and events for their memoirs.

• Encourage students to refer to the “Features of a Memoir” web on page 3 and to the steps in “The Writer’s Craft” on pages 30–31 of the book.

• Confer with individual students and focus on their ideas. Did students convey why the experience was important? Did they include details that make the setting clear?

Days 8–9: Draft • Tell students that they will be using their completed

Memoir Planning Guides to begin drafting their memoirs.

• Say: Remember, when writers draft ideas, they focus on getting them on paper. They can cross things out and make mistakes in spelling. What’s important is to focus on developing the situation, the people involved, and the key events in the experience you have chosen. You will have an opportunity to make corrections and improvements later.

• Confer with students as they complete their drafts. Use the Memoir Checklist to draw students’ attention to characteristics of the memoir genre that they may have overlooked. Focus on how students have organized their ideas and the voice of the writer. Did students clearly describe the setting and key events? Did they express what was memorable about the experience and why the participants were important? Does the memoir have a strong voice? Will the voice keep readers interested?

• Pair students for peer conferencing.

Days 10–11: Edit and Revise • Based on your observations of students’ writing,

select appropriate mini-lessons from Using Genre Models to Teach Writing.

• Remind students to use the Memoir Checklist as they edit and revise their memoirs independently.

• Confer with students focusing on sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions. Did students include both long and short sentences? Do the sentences read smoothly? Have students used interesting words and phrases? Did they use techniques to create a strong voice? Did they use appropriate spelling, punctuation, and grammar?

• You may want students to continue their editing and revision at home.

Days 12–13: Create Final Draft and Illustrations • Ask students to rewrite or type a final draft of their

memoirs.• Invite students to illustrate their final drafts with

one or more drawings that depict specific people or events in their memoirs.

• Confer with students about their publishing plans and deadlines.

Days 14–15: Publish and Share• Explain: Authors work long and hard to develop

their works. You have worked very hard. And one of the great joys of writing is when you can share it with others. Authors do this in many ways. They publish their books so that people can buy them. They make their work available on the Internet. They hold readings. We can share our writing, too.

• Use one or more of the ideas below for sharing students’ work:

Make a class display of students’ completed memoirs. Hold a class reading in which students can read their

memoirs to one another and/or to parents. Create a binder of all the memoirs and loan it to the

library so that other students can read them. Create a binder of all the memoirs for your classroom

library.

Days 6–15

Name Date


Title:

Memoir Checklist Features of the Genre Checklist Yes No 1. My memoir has a strong lead. 2. My memoir focuses on one part of my life. 3. My memoir focuses on events the way I remember them. 4. I included thoughts and feelings about the events that explain

why they are important to me. 5. I included story elements (setting, plot, character development

problem/resolution) in my memoir. 6. My memoir is written in narrative form using first person

point of view. 7. My memoir includes dialogue. 8. My memoir is logically sequenced. 9. My memoir uses sequence words. 10. My memoir has a strong ending that makes the

reader think. 11. I use my own voice in the memoir.

Quality Writing Checklist Yes No I looked for and corrected . . .

• run-on sentences • sentence fragments • subject/verb agreement • correct verb tense • punctuation • capitalization • spelling • indented paragraphs

Name Date


Memoir Planning GuideDirections: Use the steps below to plan your own memoir.

1. Decide on an important event or period in your life.

2. Decide who else should be in your memoir.Person Impact on ExperienceParents, Siblings

Other Relatives

Friends

Others

3. Recall setting and events.Details Effect

Setting

Situation or Problem

Events

How My Experience Turned Out


Name Date


Writer’s VoiceDirections: The list shows some of the ways writers create a strong voice. Read each sentence below the list. Underline the words the writer uses to create a strong voice.

• choosing words that create clear pictures for readers• choosing a topic that appeals to a given audience• using language to create an appropriate mood• using a variety of sentences to create a rhythm• including details that reveal the writer

1. I was completely alone in the vast ocean, and the night sky stretched above me to infinity.

2. Never had I felt so small and insignificant. Yet, I was at peace.

3. I was skilled and fit, and I had sailed on many solo jaunts from my island home to the mainland.

4. To sail across the Atlantic Ocean in a twenty-foot sailboat is daring, but to do it alone at the age of sixteen, some would say, is insane.

5. Soon the steady rhythm of the waves and the touch of the night breeze calmed me, and I fell asleep confident that I would reach my goal.

Directions: Rewrite the paragraph below on a separate sheet of paper. Add or change words, details, and sentence structures to create a strong voice.

A loud noise woke me up. I was scared. I had never heard anything like it. I wondered if aliens had invaded. It took me a minute to remember I was at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. I got out of bed and went into the kitchen. Grandma said it was the test for the Civil Defense siren. It goes off once a month.


Name Date


Make JudgmentsDirections: Use the charts below to identify judgments the authors make about people or events in their memoirs. Then record your own judgments.

SurvivorPerson/Action Author’s Judgment My Judgment

London preparing for war

author and booking agent at ticket counter

author getting into lifeboat, refusing blanket

author surviving in lifeboat

My Childhood in Wartime FrancePerson/Action Author’s Judgment My Judgment

living in wartime France

Nazi and Vichy governments

arrest and deaths of Aunt Nora and Uncle Grischa

death of author’s father


Name Date


Focus on SuffixesDirections: Reread each memoir. For each word below, record its part of speech, base word, suffix, and definition.


Base Word

Suffix Word Meaning

8 frantically

8 pervasive

11 explosion

11 stewardess

12 determination


Base Word

Suffix Word Meaning

22 censorship

22 persecution

24 numerous

24 resistance

25 amphibious


Name Date


Make Connections Across TextsDirections: Use the chart to compare and contrast the two memoirs.

Survivor My Childhood in Wartime France

Time

Situation

Challenges

Author’s Purpose


Name Date


Title:

Features of the Genre Checklist Yes No 1. My memoir has a strong lead. 2. My memoir focuses on one part of my life. 3. My memoir focuses on events the way I remember them. 4. I included thoughts and feelings about the events that explain

why they are important to me. 5. I included story elements (setting, plot, character development

problem/resolution) in my memoir. 6. My memoir is written in narrative form using first person

point of view. 7. My memoir includes dialogue. 8. My memoir is logically sequenced. 9. My memoir uses sequence words. 10. My memoir has a strong ending that makes the

reader think. 11. I use my own voice in the memoir.

Quality Writing Checklist Yes No I looked for and corrected . . .

• run-on sentences • sentence fragments • subject/verb agreement • correct verb tense • punctuation • capitalization • spelling • indented paragraphs

Memoir Checklist


Name Date


Memoir Planning GuideDirections: Use the steps below to plan your own memoir.

1. Decide on an important event or period in your life.

2. Decide who else should be in your memoir.Person Impact on ExperienceParents, Siblings

Other Relatives

Friends

Others

3. Recall setting and events.Details Effect

Setting

Situation or Problem

Events

How My Experience Turned Out


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