Write a Six-Word Memoir
Last winter, my daughter, one of her friends and I wrote six-word memoirs to sum up our days. This exercise was based on the very popular book called “Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure” I found it a challenging and interesting way to review my day. We shared news about a sister’s engagement, acceptance at graduate school and a number of other big and small events.
I’ve since used Six-Word Memoirs to help groups sum up their discussion as I was facilitating character education programs for the Institute for Character Development. I find that it helps people really focus on the central idea, and saves us from giving lengthy reports on our discussions.
This page of ideas for using it in education is fun too. Check out Assignment Redux. I hope you’ll try some of the ideas from our colleagues at the University of Iowa. They include–
- Assignments
- Icebreakers
- Reflections
- Collaborative writing
And here’s a place to post your own six-word memoir. And SmithTeens is collecting six-word memoirs from teens (of course) for an upcoming book. This one caught my eye. And my Google query–“It smells like Iowa in here.”
Kira Bowles August 12th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
This would be a great idea for rounding out a group session each week. It would be neat to record in journals or somewhere for the girls to look back on the year.
Next Step Adventure » Blog Archive » Learn through Service November 30th, 2011 at 2:02 am
[...] with the best outcomes include youth voice and choice, varied processing opportunities and reflection that informs future planning. Here are some resources to help you get [...]