Name ______
AP Language & Composition
Date: ______
100 Total Points
Memoir Writing Assignment
Directions: You will craft a memoir which serves as a brush stroke into your life. Objective: Utilize revision techniques to convey an authentic voice.
Chapter Options
Elementary School Piece / Personal Portrait Piece / Funny Piece / Hidden Places and Hidden Treasures Piece / Boundaries or Map Pieces / Influential PersonMiddle School Piece / Family Secrets Piece / Difficult Times Piece / Mysteries Piece / Home Piece / Family Lore Piece
Old Friends Piece / Holidays and Celebrations / Ethnicity or Culture Piece / Eating, Cooking, Or Favorite Food / Parent Piece / Epiphany or Turning Point Piece
High School / Dialect, Dialogue, or Favorite Sayings / Favorite Transportations / Conscious Artist Piece / Family Trip: Car Behavior, Airport, Packing Routines / Inherited Behaviors Piece
Senior Year / On the Day I was Born / Sibling Piece / Teachers or School Worries and Woes / Grandparent Piece / Place or Spiritual Home Piece
Grading Rubric
100 / 84 / 69Clear organization / Organization exists / Missing Organization
Smooth sentence fluency / Most sentences are fluent / Sentences are missing fluency
Voice contains personality
Delineated rhetorical devices in each chapter! / Voice is apparent
Some rhetorical devices haphazardly placed in each chapter. / Voice is missing
Weak rhetorical devices
Strong mechanics / Mechanics exist / Weak Mechanics
All components / One component missing / Several components missing
Each ChapterDue Date: ______ 25 Points
Assignment: Select a prompt from the suggested list. Be sure to give your memoir chapter a six-word memoir title! Be prepared to audit your writing group contributions.
You must include the following:
Bring six copies of the writing assignment to class. Avoid printing in class!
Checklist for Writing your Memoir
Subjective or Objective: Give your purpose and audience; is your description appropriately subjective (emphasize feelings) or objective (unemotional)?
Dominant Impression: What is the dominant impression of your subject? If you haven’t stated it, will your readers be able to express it accurately to themselves?
Point of View and Organization: Do your point of view and organization work together to make your subject clear in the readers’ minds? Are they consistent?
Details: Have you provided all the details-and just those-needed to convey your dominant impression? What needs expanding? What needs condensing or cutting?
Specific and Concrete Language: Have you used words that pin down your meaning exactly and appeal to the senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell?
Strong Dominant Impression / GeneralDominant Impression / Vague Dominant Impression / Weak Dominant Impression
Three detailed examples
(Rhetorical Devices) / Two detailed examples
(Rhetorical Devices) / One detailed examples / Minimal example
Concrete Vocabulary / Colorful Vocabulary / Abstract Vocabulary / Weak Vocabulary
Six copies: ready upon arrival to class! You lose points if you must print in class! / One copy: requires printing out copies at the start of class / One copy: requires printing out copies at the start of class / One copy: requires printing out copies at the start of class
Focused on Group:
2 Praises
2 Suggestions / Focused on Group / Lacking Focus / Missing Valuable Components
“What Lies Behind Us And Lies Before Us Are Tiny Matters Compared To What Lies Within Us” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Name______
Buckley ______
AP Language
___ May 2012
Carpe Diem Letter
Directions: Write a letter explaining what your life will be like in 2022. This assignment will be in an envelope; it is submitted with the memoir.
Suggested Format:
Rubric (This is included in your portfolio.)
A / C / D / FCentral Idea / Vague Main Idea / General Main Idea / Missing Main Idea
Three detailed examples / Two detailed examples / One detailed example / Minimal example
Three transitions / Two transition / One transition / No transitions
Name: ______Writer’s Studio Reflection
Chapter 1 Topic: ______
1.Six-Word Memoir Title:2.My Writer’s Studio Reflection:
(Prepared, Focused, Interactive)
3.My writing group praised my memoir for the following:
4.My writing group suggested my memoir include the following: /
Chapter 2 Topic: ______
1.Six-Word Memoir Title:2.My Writer’s Studio Reflection:
(Prepared, Focused, Interactive)
3.My writing group praised my memoir for the following:
4.My writing group suggested my memoir include the following: /
Chapter 3 Topic: ______
1.Six-Word Memoir Title:2.My Writer’s Studio Reflection:
(Prepared, Focused, Interactive)
3.My writing group praised my memoir for the following:
4.My writing group suggested my memoir include the following:
Chapter 4 Topic: ______
1.Six-Word Memoir Title:2.My Writer’s Studio Reflection:
(Prepared, Focused, Interactive)
3.My writing group praised my memoir for the following:
4.My writing group suggested my memoir include the following: /
Chapter 5 Topic: ______
1.Six-Word Memoir Title:2.My Writer’s Studio Reflection:
(Prepared, Focused, Interactive)
3.My writing group praised my memoir for the following:
4.My writing group suggested my memoir include the following: