Diary of an Animal Project
A project that gives students a framework to learn about an animal and write from its perspective. Supports the development of personal voice in writing, awareness of others, biological knowledge of animals, and peer editing skills.
Project structure:
- Students begin by choosing an animal whose perspective they would like to write from.
- Allow for exploration of books and various digital sources to give some background knowledge and facts about students’ chosen animals. A good time to do some classes on media literacy and note-taking practices.
- As students explore their animals, give them space to begin to craft their personal animal’s background on this All About Me page. Encourage students to bring aspects of their own personality into the animal’s life if they would like, but to also be mindful of the animal’s own environment.
- Discuss what components make up an effective diary entry – honesty, detail of description, personal voice.
- Assign students a peer partner. This person will be their collaborator and editor, so it should be someone they would work well with.
- Begin the diaries! 12 Diary Topics here – but do encourage students to extend and create their own if they so choose.
- For each session, students can follow this collaborative diary writing guide (or modify it to your liking)
- Students should write as freely as possible without being concerned about editing. Editing can take place later.
- When it is time to edit, students can use this editing guide for self or peer editing.
- Building the book: Use this Zine Building guide to facilitate the construction of everyone’s personal animal diaries in print form.
