Personalized books for the students and classroom

Students across the board in all grades at Maranatha Christian Academy recently discovered six words — and a rhapsodic outlet for self-expression. What was first administered by their teacher, Elizabeth Brandstrom, as an ice breaker to warm up, these novice writers soon became a full-fledged publishing project and possibly even a tradition. A physical book of their memoirs, a cherished reminder of their journey, could inspire the next batch of students as they are given the incentive to test their talents.

Brandstrom, who teaches science, math, engineering, and language arts, realized that during the pandemic students (a carefully curated batch of gifted children and advanced learners in grades 2-8) had become relatively lax in the latter. So she started searching for a novel way to train their writing skills: “I remembered a college professor that I had that gave this crazy assignment at the beginning of the year to describe your life in six words. I googled it to see if I could find the name of it and the Six-Word Memoir Project came up.”

Students found the prompts relatively easy and exciting, factoring in their zeal for the otherwise long-term project, which lasted almost the first quarter. “I think it’s unintimidating just to write six words; that’s all it is,” says Brandstrom. “They feel like they can jump in there, and then it tends to open up so much more for them.” In a collaborative effort, the students helped each other throughout the project, suggesting synonyms, finding the perfect words, and sharing their memoirs with the class.

Students read their published memoirs and illustrations

Impactful incidents and challenging times in one’s life emerged as a recurring theme. Some found it cathartic to be given such a space to reveal their most intimate feelings. In contrast, others found humorous ways of doing the “assignment”: “One of my students’ Six-Word Memoir, was, ‘My teacher made me write this’, and it just kind of stomped up his whole attitude for school and everything. Or maybe being an advanced student and being forced to do stuff he considered easy work, it was kind of tongue in cheek. Either way,  it opened up a whole discussion.”

Brandstrom says one lasting effect of the project was an inner actualization that one had ultimately grown as a writer. This was also accompanied by a newfound interest and pleasure in the art of self-expression and writing. Apart from finding inherent joy and excitement, the students were thrilled by seeing an actual published book. Says the teacher who now plans to make the Six-Word Memoir lesson a classroom staple: “I just appreciated the project, how good of a starting off point it was at the beginning of the year, and just how easy it was to implement and do, and then what came out of it as well.”

Celebrating published student authors

Teachers! Since we first launched The Six-Word Memoir Project, educators across the spectrum have found the six word format to be a terrific classroom assignment and catalyst for self-expression. At our Six in Schools section, we celebrate students’ work from classrooms around the world. Download one or all of our free teacher’s guides—including our most recent pandemic edition here. Email us at [email protected] and share your classroom’s six-word journey and your students could be featured in a future Classroom of the Month.

Want to make your own classroom book? We are delighted to offer a new way for any classroom to make their own Six-Word Memoir book in our new student book publishing program. We provide a free classroom kit that leads teachers through a Six-Word Memoir lesson plan and bookmaking process (it’s a simple one). Parents can buy the book the way they buy class photos, teachers get a free book, and schools receive ten percent of each book sale. Sign up to receive your free classroom kit on our Six in Schools site.