Crafting Memorable Memories
into a Multimedia Memoir
Presented by Donna E. Werderich, Ed.D.
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, Illinois 60115
dwerderi@niu.edu
Writing Matters: Effective Instruction in the 21st Century
38th Annual NIU College of Education Summer Conference
June 23, 2011
1. What’s a Memoir?
“Reading aloud IS teaching writing, even if no writing activity follows the reading.”
─ Vicki Spandel
A. Model Texts: Try reading one of these model texts to support students’ understanding of a
memoir.
 Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid by Ralph Fletcher
 When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
 Shortcut by Donald Crews
 Guys Write for Guys Read: Boys' Favorite Authors Write About Being Boys by Jon
Scieszka
 When I Was Your Age edited by Amy Ehrlich
2. Capturing Memorable Memories
• Writer’s notebook:
– Lists, wonderings, observations, questions
– Heart Mapping and Writing Territories (Atwell, Fletcher)
– Quick writes (Rief)
– Photo Prompts
– Memorable Moments Chart (Werderich & L’Allier)
Memorable Moments
What I Learned
about Myself or Others
. . . with my family
. . . with my friends
. . . when I learned to do something
. . . of places I’ve been
3. Pretelling: Tell It Twice (Source: Rog, L. J. Marveolus minilessons. (2011).
1.
2.
3.
4.
Select a topic.
Tell partner your story, or ideas/topic for piece of writing. (3 minutes)
Invite questions and feedback from partner.
Work with a new partner to tell the same story/idea again.
pg. 2
4. The Process of Developing a Multimedia Memoir
Paper Process
 Pre-writing: brainstorming,

researching, outlining
 Drafting: creating memoir

 Revising: rereading to modify

word choice, organization, and

sentence fluency
 Editing: proofreading for

correct conventions
 Publishing: printing final
product
Digital Process
Pre-writing: collecting images,
outlining, and storyboarding
Drafting: narrating memoir
Revising: modifying narration,
images and organization
Editing: timing, images, and
narration
Publishing: viewing final product
5. Focus on Craft:
 Narrative leads (Atwell)
 Invigorating your verbs (Fletcher)
 Dialogue
 Peer Editing and Conferencing
6. Celebration of Publication: Authors’ House
Consider a slightly different version of author’s chair by creating periodic “authors’ houses” during the school
year (Werderich, 2008). Fall=Cider House; Winter=Hot Cocoa House; Spring=Lemonade House




Guidelines for Responding to the Author
Praise something specific the author did well. Refer to the specific place in the
memoir that illustrates the strength.
Ask the author a question.
Tell the author your favorite part.
Share how you connected to the author’s story.
7. Evaluation
4
3
2
1
Point of View
Strong awareness of
audience in the design.
Students can clearly
explain why they felt the
vocabulary, audio and
graphics chosen fit the
target audience.
Some awareness of
audience in the design.
Students can partially
explain why they felt the
vocabulary, audio and
graphics chosen fit the
target audience.
Some awareness of
audience in the design.
Students find it difficult to
explain how the
vocabulary, audio and
graphics chosen fit the
target audience.
Limited awareness of the
needs and interests of the
target audience.
Dramatic Question
Realization is
dramatically different
from expectation.
Realization differs
noticeably from
expectation.
Realization barely differs
from the expectation.
Realization and expectation
do not differ.
Voice - Pacing
The pace (rhythm and
voice punctuation) fits
the story line and helps
the audience really "get
into" the story.
Occasionally speaks
too fast or too slowly for
the story line. The
pacing (rhythm and
voice punctuation) is
relatively engaging for
the audience.
Tries to use pacing
(rhythm and voice
punctuation), but it is often
noticeable that the pacing
does not fit the story line.
Audience is not
consistently engaged.
No attempt to match the
pace of the storytelling to
the story line or the
audience.
CATEGORY
pg. 3
Soundtrack - Emotion Music stirs a rich
emotional response that
matches the story line
well.
Music stirs a rich
Music is ok, and not
emotional response that distracting, but it does not
somewhat matches the add much to the story.
story line.
Music is distracting,
inappropriate, OR was not
used.
Economy
The story composition
is typically good, though
it seems to drag
somewhat OR need
slightly more detail in
one or two sections.
The story needs extensive
editing. It is too long or too
short to be interesting.
The story is told with
exactly the right amount
of detail throughout. It
does not seem too
short nor does it seem
too long.
The story seems to need
more editing. It is
noticeably too long or too
short in more than one
section.
8. Resources for Designing and Publishing Multimedia Memoirs
Websites
www.educationoasis.com/LP/LA/memorir_stuff_life.htm
www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001109.shtml
www.search.eb.com/women/studyguide/teach6.htm
Resources
How to write your life story by Ralph Fletcher
Notebook Know-How: Strategies for the Writer's Notebook by Aimee Buckner and Ralph Fletcher
Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to Writing a Memoir by Lisa Dale Norton
Hardware
Microsoft Photo Story 3: One of the most widely used software programs used to create digital stories on PCs;
especially good for beginners.
iMovie: A good choice for Mac users who want to create digital stories. This digital movie creation and editing
program has most of the same features as Photo Story, however, it also supports the use of full-motion
video clips.
Windows Movie Maker: Windows Movie Maker is a video editing software application that has been included
as part of the Windows operating system since 2000.
Music Sources
Sound Effects Sources
Graphics Sources
Magnatune
FindSounds
Flickr
(magnatune.com/today)
(www.findsounds.com)
(www.flickr.com)
Freeplaymusic.
Partners in Rhyme
Stock.xcchng
(www.freeplaymusic.com)
(www.partnersinrhyme.com/pir/PIRsfx.html)
(www.sxc.hu)
Creative Commons.
Nature Sonys
Free Foto
creativecommons.org
(naturesongs.com)
(www.freefoto.com)
American Rhetoric
(www.americanrhetoric.com)
pg. 4