Exploring vivid childhood accounts
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explore what makes a memoir particularly vivid and emulate this craft in my own writing.
Key learning points
- Memoirs are historical accounts or biographies written from personal experience or knowledge.
- Helen Keller's memoir describes an idyllic childhood juxtaposed with description of the illness that changed her life.
- Keller uses sensory language and juxtaposition to make her childhood account more vivid.
- Sensory language can be made more vivid if we add adjectives and embedded clauses.
- Contrasting sets of words and phrases highlight the differing feelings attached to memories.
Keywords
Memoir - a written account of one's own life and experiences
Formative - having a profound influence on someone's development
Vivid - producing a powerful feeling or strong, clear images in one’s mind
Idyllic - extremely happy, peaceful or picturesque
Common misconception
Students might be used to writing their memories as a stream of consciousness, without stopping to consider craft.
Writing memories as a stream of consciousness is a good place to start. However, once one thinks about publishing work, editing and conscious crafting is necessary.
Teacher tip
Share an example of a memory you would write about in your own memoir to encourage pupils to open up about their own.
Equipment
You will need the extract from Helen Keller's 'The Story of My Life'. It's available in the additional materials.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What do we mean when we talk about a writer's methods?
Q2.What is juxtaposition?
Q3.What is sensory language?
Q4.What does vivid mean?
Q5.Match the techniques on the left with the examples on the right.
The sturdy vines tangled over the brick.
The bright days of summer soon melted into cruel, harsh November days.
The scarlet roses unleashed a honeyed fragrance.
Q6.Which of the below is the most idyllic setting?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is a memoir?
Q2.What does formative mean?
Q3.What is a particularly formative moment in Keller's childhood according to 'The Story of My Life'?
Q4.What method does Keller use to paint a vivid image of her idyllic early years in the reader's mind in 'The Story of My Life'?
Q5.What does Keller use to add precision and detail to her memories in 'The Story of My Life'?
Q6.Which sentence uses an embedded clause?
To help you plan your 11 English lesson on: Exploring vivid childhood accounts, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 English lesson on: Exploring vivid childhood accounts, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
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