New Book on Classroom Life During the Pandemic as Told by Teachers, Students, and Parents Helps Everyone Process Complex Emotions

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Oct. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- COVID-19 drove people into isolation, but A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year: Hundreds of Stories on the Pandemic helps shine a light on what teachers, students, and parents experienced while navigating the pandemic. The latest book from best-selling author Larry Smith, offers hundreds of inspirational, playful, and profound Six-Word Memoirs to help everyone relate at a time when people are feeling more disconnected than ever. Included in the book is an opportunity for classrooms to help students build community and emotional resiliency by creating their own professionally published Six-Word Memoir book.

After witnessing his son and teacher struggle with remote learning, Smith put together a free downloadable lesson plan that teachers could easily add to their remote learning curriculums. The guide asked students to share six words on their life during the pandemic as a way to help kids process this unprecedented time and became an instant hit with thousands of teachers across the country downloading it and leading six-word lessons.

"As I watched my students find joy in constructing six-word glimpses into the most pivotable year of their lives, the pain of the experience lifted, replaced by a sense of healing," says Bobbie Jo Blackwell, a sixth-grade reading/writing teacher at Burbank Middle School, a Title 1 school in Houston, Texas. "I saw into the hearts of some of my students for the very first time."

Those six-word memoirs from students, teachers, and parents became the foundation for A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year, the tenth book from Smith's runaway successful Six-Word Memoir Project.

Smith sifted through all the poignant and often humorous memoirs to curate a time capsule of student experiences [See examples and some celebrity-parent contributors below]. The book also weaves in illustrated versions of Six-Word Memoirs as well as backstories, called "Lessons Learned," that take readers deeper into select Six-Word Memoirs.

"At some point, we all feel unheard," adds Smith. "The responses we received—even the simplest ones—really emphasized the power of this opportunity without the risks associated with social media. We knew we needed to find a way to bring this safe, accessible approach to even more classrooms."

Responding to requests from teachers, Smith created a process that helps educators guide students through writing and curating their own Six-Word Memoir books on whatever topics they choose. Parents and guardians then have the opportunity to purchase their own professionally-printed, physical book. Each classroom teacher gets a free copy of the book, and the school receives a donation of ten percent of each book sold. After having 150 classrooms successfully participate in the pilot program, the program is currently being rolled out nationwide.

Among the hundreds of featured Six-Word Memoirs:

• "I taught math, they taught resilience." - Loryn Gavula, teacher
• "Hey Siri, please give me social interaction." —Nate Mitton, age 12
• "Zoom kindergarten broke us, built us." - Rachel Sklar, parent
• "For sale: prom dress, never worn." – Caroline Richardson, age 19
• "YouTube: negligent co-parent, inattentive teacher. Savior." – Elan Lee, parent
• "Weak internet connections; strong classroom connections." – Emily Miller, teacher

The book also features numerous notable contributors including Piper Kerman (Smith's wife and author of Orange Is the New Black), W. Kamau Bell (CNN commentator and comedian), Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love), Elan Lee (creator of popular kids' games such as "Exploding Kittens"), and Keith Knight (co-creator of Hulu's Woke).

Smith added, "Since I launched Six-Word Memoirs in 2007, the most meaningful part of this work is watching the way educators have embraced Six-Word Memoirs to engage and connect with their students. It's an honor to offer a window into teachers' work during the pandemic, as well as that of their students and the parents who count on them."

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"A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year: Hundreds of Stories on the Pandemic"
By Teachers, Students & Parents; Edited by Larry Smith
ISBN: 978-1-970183-00-9 (sc); 978-1-970183-02-3 (hc); 978-1-970183-01-6 (e)
Available Oct. 15, 2021
To pre-order your copy of the book, please visit https://www.amazon.com/Terrible-Horrible-No-Good-Year-ebook/dp/B09H3KSLMX/
To download the free classroom kit, please visit http://www.sixinschools.com

About Six-Word Memoirs
With a single tweet in 2006, "Can you describe your life in six words," Larry Smith launched a short-form phenomenon that sparked a new form of self-expression for millions of people across the world. Six-Word Memoirs is a bestselling book series, board game, live event program in theatres and company retreats, and popular lesson plan taught by teachers across the world. Participatory, inspirational, and addictive, Six-Word Memoirs offers anyone and everyone a peek at humanity and a simple way to reveal the writer within. To learn more, please visit http://www.sixwordmemoirs.com.

About Larry Smith
Larry Smith is the founder of the Six-Word Memoir Project, a bestselling series of books, live event programs, and a global phenomenon found in classrooms, conferences, and corporate settings alike. He's a frequent speaker on the power of personal storytelling and has engaged teams at Twitter, Levi's, JPMorgan Chase, Snapchat, Dell, Shutterfly, and ESPN, as well as foundations, philanthropies, and schools around the world. Smith produced and directed A Map of Myself, the true story of a young Palestinian-Syrian-American Woman's journey from Syria to American that started with the Six-Word Memoir, "Escaped war; war never escaped me." Called on "a quest to spark the creativity in everyone" by Oprah Magazine, Smith proudly wears his Six-Word memoir on his sleeve (and his t-shirt): "Big hair, big heart, big hurry." To learn more about Smith, visit http://www.sixwordsmith.com.

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Grace Connor, LAVIDGE, 480-998-2600, [email protected]

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