Childhood Memory Story

Levels
7th - 12th Grade

This assignment is highly adaptable for students of all ages and levels.  Depending on what your objectives are for your students, you can add more to the assignment or delete parts of it.

However, I highly recommend not skipping the Neighborhood Map portion of the prewriting because this is a skill that helps visual learners tap into their own form of creativity.  Even students that are poor writers will remember details while drawing the map that they might not remember writing a rough draft.

Time Required

Adaptable

Materials Needed

• Pencil
• Pens
• Paper
• You may want to provide unlined paper and magic markers or crayons for the Childhood Maps

I have students keep all prewriting, revisions, maps, and peer responses and turn them in with their final draft.  I will take up rough drafts and maps for daily grades, and give them back during the same class period.  I give the student a grade on the finished paper, plus points for having all the activities.  With student permission, I place examples on the class bulletin board.  The students love to look over each other's papers in between classes, and the maps make the classroom colorful!