A High School English Teacher's Guide to Writing Memoir

A High School English Teacher’s Guide to Writing Memoir is more than a set of writing lessons—it’s a call to see your students, and help them see themselves, through the power of story.

With more than forty flexible lessons and a robust suite of downloadable charts, tools, mentor texts, and AI recommendations, this guide helps you teach memoir as courageous storytelling and self-discovery. Students will write honestly, revise bravely, and publish in formats that matter to them—from anthologies to picture books to multimodal memoirs.

Grounded in research and practical classroom strategies, this guidebook walks teachers through each stage of memoir writing—from generating story ideas and experimenting with structure to revising with intention and experimenting with conventions. Along the way, it centers mentor text inquiry, writing partnerships, and author’s craft. It also embraces new technologies, including AI, as part of the writing process, so your students will emerge confident and adept as digital writers. 

Whether your students are excavating memories, wrestling with identity, or discovering their voice for the first time, this guide helps them transform raw moments into powerful memoirs.

And for you—the teacher—it brings a new kind of classroom intimacy, a deepened community, and the reminder that storytelling is the heart of being known. Let memoir become a source of meaning, connection, and growth for every writer in your room.