Our whole class has been learning about the incredible life of Helen Keller, who as a child became deaf and blind due to a terrible fever. With the help of her life-long teacher and friend, Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller went on to accomplish a great deal in her lifetime. Our “Book Clubs” delved deeper into learning about the various stages of her life by reading “Who Was Helen Keller?” a biography by Gare Thompson. We were astonished to learn that she went to college, wrote books, acted in plays, traveled abroad, and persevered through innumerable hardships.

It’s challenging to distill such a rich and interesting life into six words, but that’s just what students did by writing 6 Word Memoirs about Helen Keller. Also, writing about someone’s life (as in a biography or a memoir) is different than writing a reaction or personal opinion about such a story. Read on to see what readers thought… (and please feel free to leave a comment! Thank you!)

6 Word Memoirs:

Angry child. Persevering teen. Successful adult. ~ Sasha

Angry, frustrated girl. Happy, skillful woman. ~ Beau

Dark world, silent world, happy world. ~ Clara

Smart, intelligent, blind, deaf, impressive adult. ~ Teagan

Darkness, frustration, better, risks, spellbound, accomplishment. ~ Joe

Dark, sad, mischievous, happy, excited, improved. ~ Stella

Disappointment, anger, learning, inspiration, realizations, happiness. ~ Ana

Reactions and personal opinions:

It’s amazing the accomplishments that Helen Keller made in her life, and how a confused and angry child turned out to be a smart and prolific adult with help from Annie Sullivan, her teacher. ~ Elke

I was really surprised that Helen Keller went from a really angry and bad-tempered child to a really caring adult. ~ Gabriel

All the fascinating things she did with her persistent heart really amazed me! ~ Evie

It made me, WOW, that she traveled all the way to Japan to prove that blind people can do amazing things, and they gave her an Akita dog as a gift. ~ McKinley

It was interesting that a mischievous child became a successful adult with Annie Sullivan by her side. ~ Ryan

I thought it was interesting that Helen Keller came to school in anger and learned so many things and never gave up. ~ Noah

I’m surprised that an angry, blind and deaf child can turn into a nice, sweet, famous woman. ~Rylan

It is a heartwarming, surprising, and full-of-facts story! ~ Cori

It was surprising that the Perkins Institute kicked her out of school and said she couldn’t go there any more, because they thought she plagiarized a story she wrote. ~ Max

Helen Keller was just an ordinary girl, but deaf and blind; when she grew up, she became famous because she learned how to speak and write in Braille. ~ Edie