Memoir Project: Loud in the House of Myself by Stacy Pershall

Memoir Project

Welcome to the final product of my memoir project! For this project, I read Loud in the House of Myself by Stacy Perhsall. On this page you will find everything it took to complete my project. You will find the notes I took while reading, my creative project with the memoir reading, and the final reflection of the whole project.

Memoir Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W3EkTxF8-THa0kzclzKVkiN8JJOVk8conG407mf9tnw/edit?usp=sharing

In the Google Doc above, I was able to record important details in the story that relate to the development of young adolescents. In my notes, there are page numbers to out textbook that shows how the memoir reflects the young adolescent development.

Creative Project:

Here you will find the creative project I choose for Loud in the House of Myself by Stacy Perhsall. I decided to write a letter to the author to let Stacy Pershall know what reading the story was like for me and how I reflected on her memoir.

Dear Stacy Perhsall,

My name is Madison Morris and I am currently a sophomore at Illinois State University. I am a middle level education major with endorsements in English. While I read your book to better understand development in middle schoolers, I got a broader perspective and connected to you in more ways than one. I taking multiple teaching classes to get closer to getting a degree in teaching, but this letter revolves around mt TCH130 class. TCH130 is an introduction to Young Adolescent Development & Middle Level Schools. In this class we were given a project called the Memoir Challenge where we had to read a memoir, as you can see, I chose your book about to examine and look more into young adolescents. I choose your book Loud in The House of Myself because I encountered many of the struggles you did which goes along with religion and overall struggling to fitting in.

I’d like to start off by recognizing how raw and open you were while writing this memoir. I know sharing a story like yours is simply never easy and something that is overall terrifying. Many people, especially young girls encounter the same struggles you do but often feel left in the dark because during a time like yours you feel abandoned. Much like you felt, growing up for me it was a constant battle connecting with people and trying to fit in, especially when you have God looking over your shoulder and you are trying to do the right thing but the wrong thing is always placed in front of you. During my teenage years I had friends and had people to surround myself with but they were never the right people. Reading your memoir helped me feel whole again and let me know that I wasn’t the only one who felt this way as well and struggled with the same battles you dealt with. You exceeded my expectations with this book and for many others who read it too.

Though I am sure you had no intentions with this book with changing the way i see Young Adolescents and how I will teach them, you did just that for me. Sometimes the education sees the school curriculum and just strictly teaching and not guiding students outside the classroom, which does need to be done. I as a teacher want to be the support you needed as the young girl you were. You were battling with these wars in your head and nobody quite noticed, which I am sorry for that. As I was similar to the girl you were, I am able to connect with my future students better and help them through life battles, not just school problems. I want my students to feel comfortable in my classroom and come to me so we can handle their problems head on, not till they reach a breaking point, like you did. It shouldn’t be a privilege for students to have a teacher that helps then in the classroom and with life, it should be a given. Once again, thank you for sheading a light on mental health and development as a growing teenage girl I know it wasn’t easy to do but you overlooked it in hopes of helping others, which you did.

Thank you for sharing this raw and connectable memoir with the world,

Madison Morris

Reflection:

Below you will find my final reflection on the book as a whole and meaning to me. I also discuss how this book influences my future classroom.

Reading this Memoir by Stacy Perhsall really brought me back to junior high. As the adults we are now I don’t think we recognize how junior high or middle school can really affect young adolescent girls, this is such a prime and important age for them to keep a healthy mind and mental state. For my creative project I chose to write a letter to the author because I really wanted to thank her and let her know I recognized and resonated with what she went through in middle school. I think middle school is a hard age for everyone to cope with because it’s the age of awkward stages, puberty, and identifying who you really are. I could be biased because I am a girl myself, but I truly believe this age level is harder for girls because of the societal standards set for us.

My letter to Stacy Perhsall was for formally thank her for opening up about her story and being completely transparent. Though I am sure that wasn’t the easiest thing to do, you can tell she set her fears aside to help young girls in middle school potentially going through the same things. This memoir of hers can allow young girls to not feel alone and feel normal about the obstacles that they are coping with. What isn’t talked about enough is things that Stacy Perhsall encountered in middle school, I truly think that if it were talked about more it could be brought to awareness and handled better.

Though this memoir wasn’t specifically about how to make me a successful future teacher, I was able to grasp things on my own and come up with ideas about how to benefit my students and help them through the difficult stages of their lives. Throughout the memoir Stacy Perhsall make it obvious she kept to herself more and kept her problems to herself, not even her friends of family noticed she was struggling. This frustrates me because her teachers should have noticed the signs and the pain she was struggling with. I felt as if she was going through these struggles alone and as a young girl in middle school it didn’t make it any easier, I’m sure. This book led me to the conclusion that I don’t only want to be there for my students to help them read and write, I want them to come to me as a mentor and friend so I can help them and lead the down the right path. No student should be going through these obstacles alone especially at this stage of life. Throughout the story Stacy Perhsall continually mention the confusing she had about her own identity and who she wanted to be, it’s like all these swarming throughs are in your head and all you want is a shoulder to lean on and someone to guide you in the right direction, I want to be that for my students. Lastly, this memoir set me up for success in my classroom and hoe to identify those students who may need a little more affection and guidance. Teaching isn’t just about the curriculum, it’s about changing lives and making a different in our students.