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Romano and Allen, leading scholars of multigenre writing, offer the following descriptions:

A multigenre paper arises from research, experience, and imagination. It is not an uninterrupted, expository monolog nor a seamless narrative nor a collection of poems. A multigenre paper is composed of many genres and subgenres, each piece self-contained, making a point of its own, yet connected by theme or topic and sometimes by language, images and content. In addition to many genres, a multigenre paper may also contain many voices, not just the author's. The trick is to make such a paper hang together. (x-xi) from Tom Romano's Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers (2000):

The best way I can describe a multigenre paper is to say that each piece in the paper utilizes a different genre, reveals one facet of the topic, and makes its own point. Conventional devices do not connect the pieces in a multigenre paper, nor are the pieces always in chronological order. The paper is instead a collage of writing and artistic expression with an overarching theme that engulfs and informs the reader. (p. 2) from Camille Allen's The Multigenre Research Paper: Voice, Passion, and Discovery in Grades 4-6 (2001):

A memoir comes from remembering, captures memories, and is an attempt to form memories into stories that reveal some truth. Unlike an autobiography, which describes the writer’s life, memoirs usually focus on a particular time, like childhood, or a particular moment, like the first day of school. These writings not only disclose memories from the author’s life, but they also reveal the author’s thinking and feeling, reactions and emotions. The memoir is your version of a memorable moment shaped from experiences, facts, emotions, truths, discoveries and imagination.

“Writers are the custodians of memory, and that’s what you must become if you want to leave some kind of record of your life and of the family you were born into. That record can take many shapes. It can be a formal memoir—a careful act of literary construction. Or it can be an informal family history, written to tell your children and your grandchildren about the family they were born into. It can be the oral history that you extract by tape recorder from a parent or a grandparent too old or too sick to do any writing. Or it can be anything else you want it to be: some hybrid mixture of history and reminiscence. Whatever it is, it’s an important kind of writing. Too often memories die with their owner, and too often time surprises us by running out.”

Instead of referring to this as a multigenre memoir paper, for all intents and purposes, we shall reference this “undertaking” as a project which Merriam-Webster Online defines as: a scheme, a design or an idea…a planned undertaking instead of a paper. I like the idea of project better.

The multigenre memoir project is an opportunity for you to discover what it means to read multiple texts and to write in multiple genres as a way to deepen your understanding of a memorable event(s) or time in your life. This project invites you to imagine, remember, uncover, discover and write a multigenre memoir. You will compose a memoir and reveal your story through multiple genres.

1. Think about how you will write about and present the memory(ies) you have chosen. Specifically, select at least four different genres to use in presenting your memoir. Think about what each genre might allow you to do. There are many different genres. See genre lists. (List 1; List 2) You can use genres not on the list as well.

· For example, information presented in the form of a newspaper article or brochure might allow you to present basic facts about a person, place, event, or concept. A poem might allow you to reveal your interpretations of a memory, a person’s life, or describe a place or event. An imaginary interview, letter, or diary might allow your readers to “hear” the voice of the memoir’s subject.

2. Draft, revise, and complete your project pieces. Design a presentation format for your pieces, a scrapbook or display or container that ties everything together. Remember, you are actually creating and composing each piece. (See Rubric 1)

3. Write a reflective essay about multigenre and memoir writing. (See Rubric 2)

4. Develop an invitation and tentative plan for implementing multigenre reading and writing in your classroom. (See Rubric 3)

5. Develop a blog page for this project and upload each piece of the project. Feel free to password protect your page if you wish.

You will begin exploring the possibilities of memoir writing by thinking about your own life: moments that are meaningful to you—memories that you would like to capture for yourself, or for your children, parents, loved ones, students, etc.

· To get started, use any of the memoir project ideas to help you (section IV Stirring Memories-Memoir Handout). You may wish to make a time line. Work backwards to the year when you were born. What music, movies, teachers, friends, dances, parties, hikes, camping trips, sports or school events, births, or farewells come to mind? What moments seem to matter most? Think about the unforgettable moments in time. Look through old photographs when you get home!

· Make notes or just list names or places or situations. Jot down those specific memories. Then, choose the memory you would like to think about more deeply through writing.

· Begin writing about your memory. Jot your ideas down. Don’t worry about form or format or spelling or complete sentences. Just capture your thoughts—events and emotions.

· Explore and examine the books written as memoirs to get an idea of how you may wish to structure your memoir.

· You will begin to shape the memory as well as the genres or text structures as you write. I recommend writing your primary text first. Then as you capture your memoir through narrative, you will begin to think of additional genres that will support your primary memoir. In other words, as you craft the narrative element of your story, you may find you wish to expand and illustrate a specific detail through another genre. The most effective use of these genres will arise naturally from your story. For example as you write your memoir, you may decide you wish to include the following:

photograph with a caption	bumper sticker
Journal/diary entry	poem
recipe	comic strip
wanted poster	feature story
letter/post card	map
greeting card	want ad
brochure	CD cover

Please bring a draft of your memoir to class next week. Be ready to share with your writing circle. Think about the following as you compose your memoir:

v A memoir is a story about something that actually happened to you, the author. It is about events, people, or places that are important to you, the author.

v The memoir will compel the reader to feel something: happiness, regret, sorrow, anger, hope, etc.

v As the author, don’t tell how you feel about the memory, but remember, instead, to show the reader your feelings through the actions and conversations of the characters in your memoir.

v Believe…”If I invite you to care about my writing, I must care about it first!”

“A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence your heart opens.” Camus

v Discover and uncover your heart-opening images: the great and simple images that open your heart.

v Creating your own MG Memoir project allows you to “Walk Two Moons” in your students’ shoes…to fully understand what you are asking of your students. This way you provide your students with a visual and conceptual illustration of MG Memoir Writing.

Cover sheet with title of your project, your name, the date	2 points
Table of contents with titles of each piece in your project and an annotation of the genres as appropriate	3 points
Short description of why you selected to write this memoir as well as the genres; think of this as your written defense for each piece.	5 points
Four documents (pieces) in four different genres, which collectively form your memoir. Structure/Organization: Memoir is focused on memorable moment; compelling details and reflections support the significance and importance of the story and reveal insight into the author’s life. The memoir reveals a heart-opening memory. The author reveals how the memorable event changed his/her life through creative elegance. Style and Technique: The memoir moves the reader through the story—external events create an internal response; your piece MOVES the reader emotionally. The author’s actions, dialogue, and thoughts, as well as memorable language and descriptions, express and show feelings rather than tell the audience how you feel. There is evidence of a mentor text in the style or structure of the piece. Presentation: · The pieces support each other and are thoughtfully and creatively composed; they are combined to highlight the multiple facets of the memoir; there is an authenticity of the genres to the subject of the memoir. · Unifying, creative, and relevant format for presenting information · The project demonstrates considerable effort. Conventions: Free from grammar or spelling errors.	40 points
	50 points

You will write a reflective essay describing what you have come to understand about learning and about yourself as a learner as a result of completing this project; also, think about why you might want to invite your students to create multigenre memoir projects; in addition you should address the theoretical framework and research supporting multigenre writing and memoir writing.

Annotated bibliography of sources consulted

· Use APA style to list author, title, and publication information.

· Annotate each entry with an explanation of the kind of information the source provided.

5 points

5-7 page essay describing your learning and developing understanding of multigenre and memoir writing:

· Written with a clear presentation of ideas

· Addresses all elements of assignment:

o Personal learning and expected student learning

o Supported through theoretical framework-please reference readings in class. Be sure to reference both multigenre writing and memoir writing.

· Correct grammar, mechanics, and usage

20 points

Part 3—Invitation and Tentative Plan for Incorporating Multigenre Research and Writing (25 Points)

Think of an existing curriculum unit of study or perhaps a new unit of study where you can implement multigenre research and writing to enhance students’ understanding of topic and genre. You are invited to choose a topic connected to your curriculum—a study of biography, animals, historical events, book characters, authors, etc.; you may choose to develop this multigenre project as a response to a novel or book you plan to read with your students; or you may choose to create a multigenre memoir unit of study as you have done. Develop a plan and invitation for implementing multigenre research and writing in your classroom.

o Tentative Plan: When/where/how the project will be completed and implemented (include timeline or tentative length of unit or basic schedule; a simple plan on how students will gather information)

o Topic and list of possibilities for students to choose as focus. For example, if you are researching the American Frontier or Westward Movement, you may wish to provide examples of possible people to research (i.e., Annie Oakley; Buffalo Bill; Crazy Horse) places (Sante Fe Trail; Dodge City, Kansas; O.K. Corral; Oregon Trail) and “things” (Pony Express, Trans-continental Railroad, homesteading, the Battle of Wounded Knee, Pinkerton National Detective Agency).

o List of possible genres and the number of genres students will be expected to write.

o Defense or Rationale Cards—You develop what you would wish for students to complete. For example, as you think about each genre, consider the following:

*Cover sheet with title of project, intended grade level, the date*	2 points
*Tentative plan for project*	8 points
*Invitation to students includes the following:* o *List of possible topics* o *List of possible genres* o *Example of defense or rationale card*	10 points
*Rubric or Checklist for students*	5 points