Teaching Resources

Have students brainstorm beforehand how a new text may impact their cultural memory and make notes throughout.
Ask students to reflect on their reaction to a certain text and to offer an explanation for this reaction based on personal history.
Have students choose a story from a genre with which they are familiar. Halfway through the story, ask them to stop and write predictions regarding the remainder of the story based on their knowledge of the genre.
Ask students to write down their reaction to a text they have previously read. Pair students and ask them to compare reactions and to speculate how personal histories may have contributed to differing interpretations.

Ask students to free-write or keep a journal daily in class.
Have students create "memory maps" to show the association property of memory. These can be organized around a culturally charged event or simply an important event in the student's life (Ryan 43).
Use scents to evoke memories; have students write briefly about the memories stimulated by each scent. Follow this activity with discussion regarding the difference between each student's response.
Present students with a series of generic images and ask them to write briefly about the memories stimulated by each. Follow this activity with discussion regarding the difference between each student's response.

Ask students to write a personal narrative.
Ask students to discuss their discourse community and speculate as to how this community impacts their current use of language.
Have students write a detailed description of an event that occurred in their life. Then ask them to re-write this account as though they were describing it from the perspective of another person who was present. Then discuss memory as an aspect of invention and the difficulty/ease of this assignment.
Ask students to fictionalize a brief historical scene involving two separate cultures (e.g. a day in the life of a slave) from the perspective of the dominant culture (e.g. the slave master). Then ask them to rewrite this scene from the marginalized culture's perspective. Ask students how each contributes to the composition of cultural memory and identity.