Six-word Memoir

raised in the rain we were

The process of creating a six-word memoir was rather difficult for me. I only had six words to summarize my existence! I felt like I had to pick something that would somehow capture the entire essence of my being. Turns out that it just can’t be done in six words. Once I realized that I could not come up with some grand, sweeping statement that would embody me, I began to make a list of things about me. The list felt really generic to me and so I decided to get more specific. I ended up deciding to focus on how the rain has affected my life as a Washingtonian. In Washington rain is everything and I love my state. It has defined so much of who I am. I chose to use this specific picture because it is a picture of my brothers and I at the beach in our rain gear. You can’t tell because it is the photo of a photo, but my brothers and I are standing against a rock that is covered in starfish and sea urchins. I feel that the rain gear in the context of the beach shows how accustomed we are to the rain. Usually people associate the beach with warmth, sun tanning, and swimming, but we are happy just to enjoy it in the rain. Typical Washingtonians.

I really liked this assignment. I think it would be a great assignment to use at the very beginning of the year to help the students introduce themselves to the class. I like that it allow students to open up as much or as little as they want. They get to choose what aspect of their lives they focus on and how much they want to reveal. This would be good at the beginning of the year because the students might still be adjusting to me and to each other. I also like that this assignment forces students to be concise; they have to focus on the main point and express it in only six words. I feel like that requires some serious critical thinking about what is most important.