[Jenna_Bird]

Hi everyone. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m about to dive into the job market, specifically teaching high school English (if I’m lucky!). For my final certification exams and subsequent portfolio review I need to expand on a previously created lesson plan to “make it more engaging for students with a wide variety of abilities and interests”. The unit I’ve selected in on memoir and creative non-fiction. I have the shorter, creative nf part down, but the memoirs are giving me a bit of a headache. Does anyone have any recommendations? These kids (should) be reading on at least a 10th grade level, so difficulty is much of a problem, but language is (profanity should be minimal or easy to omit). I was considering utilizing sections of A Million Little Pieces to highlight what not to do…but that may fall by the wayside. Either way, suggestions or feedback is appreciated!!

-Jenna

[VioletlightHeron]

Sidney Poitier has always been a class act in my book and I highly enjoyed his memoir, The Measure of a Man : A Spiritual Autobiography

:thumb:

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[LoftyPines]

Bill Clinton's My Life is a good example for both.

Do fill the book with funny anecdotes and interesting reflections.

Do not talk about your own mom that much!!!

It is a bit of a slow read, partly because of it's massive length, but it is mighty interesting!

[cferneyh]

I'm a big fan of biographies in general - and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend:

Chronicles : Volume One - Bob Dylan

[skippy the wonder dog]

Well, I was going to recommend Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S. Thompson, but then I realized you wanted to get a job rather than lose one....

Chronicles, Vol. 1 is a great suggestion ... problem is that Dylan probably doesn't really resonate with kids these days.

[direwolf74]

I'd definitely recommend "Cash" by Johnny Cash.

[MAverick]

he unit I’ve selected in on memoir and creative non-fiction. I have the shorter, creative nf part down, but the memoirs are giving me a bit of a headache. Does anyone have any recommendations? These kids (should) be reading on at least a 10th grade level, so difficulty is much of a problem, but language is (profanity should be minimal or easy to omit). I was considering utilizing sections of A Million Little Pieces to highlight what not to do…but that may fall by the wayside. Either way, suggestions or feedback is appreciated!!

-Jenna

Ok, this might sound like an odd choice, but maybe not. It's an amazing read, it's well written, it has pirates and Lady's and adventure. It is inspiring and funny and you don't have to be into sailing at all to enjoy it, and I think it would fit perfectly. I read it two summers ago and I'd read it again.

It's by Sir Joshua Slocum, who was the first person to sail around the world, single handidly, in a small boat. It took him three years.

MAv.

Epic in scope and spellbinding in every detail, Sir Joshua Slocum's famous account of his three-year-long solo journey around the world--the first ever made--has already inspired a generation of readers. As it describes adventure, storms, and survival on the high seas, every turn of the page
is thrilling, moving, terrifying, and exhilarating. "A literate and absorbing yarn....His story is a convincing tale of the intelligence, skill and fortitude that drove a master navigator."--"The New York Times. "A classic book.... Slocum's writing is as elegant as his thirty-seven-foot sloop, Spray."--"The New Yorker.

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/item...ua+Slocum'
http://www.joshuaslocumsocietyintl.org/

[cochise]

"Neil and Me"......Scott Young......written back in I think 83...............very good read...........I never realised how much Neil Young had been through as a kid until I read this................polio......epilepsy......parents divorce........

Very Interesting read and great Canadiana, perfect timing with Scott passsing away less than ayear ago..........

[skippy the wonder dog]

An American Childhood by Annie Dillard.

Or wait for J.K. Rowling's memoirs. I hear she's the UK's greatest living writer. :roll:

[The Horrible Esthete]

An American Childhood by Annie Dillard.

Oh, why did I not think of that?

Excellent recommendation.

[Detrious]

Or wait for J.K. Rowling's memoirs. I hear she's the UK's greatest living writer. :roll:

You just want to bang your head against a wall, don't you...

I still fight the urge to yell at people I see reading it, 'It's a CHILDRENS BOOK!!!'

D

[Spycouple]

I can't recommend it personally, but my wife just finished Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. Given the number of sudden outbursts of laughter while she was reading it, I'd say it's probably worth checking out.

Here's the blurb...

Publisher Comments:

When Chef Anthony Bourdain wrote "Don't Eat Before You Read This" in The New Yorker, he spared no one's appetite, revealing what goes on behind the kitchen door. In Kitchen Confidential, he expanded that appetizer into a deliciously funny, delectable shocking banquet that lays out his 25 years of sex, drugs, and haute cuisine.

From his first oyster in the Gironde to the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, from the restaurants of Tokyo to the drug dealers of the East Village, from the mobsters to the rats, Bourdain's brilliantly written, wild-but-true tales make the belly ache with laughter.

[Detrious]

My wife would recommend 'Minus 9 months to One' by Jools Oliver (wife of UK celeb shef Jamie)

She nearly drowned in inhaled milk when reading about pelvic floor exercises and the hazards when you don't do them...

D

[BulletRiddled]

If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell is fantastic, as long as you who have an idea who he is. It's the memoirs of a cult b-movie actor. It gives great insight into low-budget movie making, and it's also really funny.

[Jenna_Bird]

Thanks for all of the feedback, folks. I now have a lot to work with in terms of revising this plan. :thumb:

To echo previous statements, I'm amazed that I didn't remember Dillard's An American Childhood. It's only been four years since I read it...my brain is already going fuzzy, I suppose.

-Jenna