Can you help pupils to write a diary?

Answer 1

You can begin to teach students how to write diary entries by first:

• Prior to class, write "a fictional name, age, and location" on pieces of paper-- one for each student and fold the paper, put them in a bag or box.
• Read aloud to them several pages of "a diary", preferably one written by someone near the ages of the students.
• After reading the several pages aloud, pass out copies of those pages.
• Ask them to identify, with you, pieces of a "diary entry" that seem different than other types of writing such as:

1. pages dated
2. the loose structure of thoughts and feelings mixed in with events
3. the fact it includes "current events"
4. are the entries "signed" or not?

• Have the students circle "feeling words" they see in the entries.
• Have the students draw boxes around "opinions, commentary, insights".
• Have the students "draw a name" from your box or bag for a "fictional character".
• In class, ask them to write one diary entry "as if" they are this "person". Tell them to include at least 1 of every "different piece" they saw in the other diary: the student's feelings, thoughts, opinions about a current event.
• Have several students read their "in class entry" in front of the class. Discuss why they wrote the things they picked. What else could the student have included? Dating; relationships; a problem; a solution to a problem, etc.
• Assignment: To keep a diary for one week or one month, which should also include the pieces identified in diary entries. Combine it with creativity and art-- design a "cover" for the diary
• Discuss privacy concerns with writing a diary.
• SHOW some old diaries, with locks etc.
• EXPLAIN that even a spiral notebook can be used to make a diary.
• This can lead to an assignment, such as reading "The Diary of Anne Frank" with a secondary assignment, to keep the student's own diary as they read the book, commenting on Anne's diary, etc.