This Lesson's Title:

The Skin
You're In

diary entries from historical characters that parallel life

This lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Denise Boswell.

The ideal "mentor text" that can be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the chapter book The Skin I'm In by Sharon G. Flake. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially the diary entries that start in chapter 5 of the book.

Click here to view this book at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

 Inspired by the main character’s attempt to deal with the circumstances of her life in The Skin I’m In, students will create a diary entry for a historical character that somehow parallels their own lives.  In Flake's novel, Maleeka transforms herself through her writing by creating diary entries for a girl on a slave ship.  Students will think up a historical character whose life's events might parallel the events in their own lives, and they will create a sensory-filled diary entry from the voice of that character.   Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is idea development; the writer’s goal is to create a diary entry that includes interesting, high-quality details, especially sensory details.  The support trait of this assignment is word choice; incorporating sensory-based adjectives, verbs, and nouns into the diary entry is something that will be stressed before the students begin their rough drafts.