Identifying Family Memories

Pre-planning

Locate evocative objects.

• Find multiple samples of one or two evocative objects (e.g., a small bag of pine needles, a scented flower, carnival music, sounds of nature, a piece of fur, soft wool material, feather) that will appeal to students' senses of touch, smell and/or sound and evoke memories for your students. Ideally, locate enough of each sample to distribute one to every two or three students. The purpose of giving all students the same sensory experience is to draw out the idea that people will have different memories. If sufficient examples of the same object are not available, give different evocative objects to each group of students.

Decide on the mode of representation.

• In Session Four, students are asked to share their powerful (positive) memory with the rest of the class. We describe two formats: drawing a picture or creating a dramatic representation or tableau; i.e., a silent recreation of a scene from the memorable event using other class members. If the latter option is selected, you will need a camera to record the tableaux for subsequent display.