Title: Dear Diary

Goal: To learn about the society, lifestyles, and public issues of the colonial and Revolutionary eras in New England.

Grade level: This lesson is designed for the eighth grade.

Time: To make diary: 30 minutes of class time
Assignments: 30 minutes each day, 10 days (homework)
Library Time 60 minutes (or one class period)
Sharing: 60 minutes (or one class period)
Total Class time: 150 minutes

Standards: History:
Thinking: 1C, 1F, 2E, 2F, 3A, 3B, 3E
Era 2: 2C, 3A, 3B, 3C; Era 3: 1A, 1C.

Objectives: Students will create a "diary," and write in it as if they were a different character living in Revolutionary New England, each night for 9 (nine) nights.

Procedure:
Part A: Choosing a character
1. The teacher should inform the students that they will be keeping a diary, taking the role of a person living in New England during the Revolutionary War.
2. The teacher should put the slips of paper with the different characters (included) in a hat (use a three-cornered one if available!) and walk around the class, allowing the students to chose one.
Note: Only the occupation and hometown of each character is given, as well as the character's age in 1773. Students may create their own character's names. Swapping may be allowed if a male student does not feel comfortable writing as a female character, or vice versa.
Part B: Making the Diary
3. Each student should be given 10-15 pieces of white copy paper and a plain manila folder. They should cut the label tab off of the folder.
4. The paper should be placed inside the folder flush with the center fold. The folder should be folded together and the folded edge stapled at the top, middle, and bottom. This should create a "book."
5. The students may also be given another piece of copy paper on which to write their name, their character's name, and any other information they wish to include (they may draw pictures if they desire as well, outside of class). This should be glued to the front of the "book."
Part C: Library Research
6. Some background knowledge will benefit the children as they write in their diary. In addition to information gained in class, the teacher may wish to take the children to the school's library to research the Revolution and the occupation and town of their character. Arrangements should be made with the school librarian.
7. Use of the Internet should be encouraged.
Part D: The Assignment
8. The students should write for 30 minutes a night for homework. They may also be given time to write in class if the opportunity arises (teacher's discretion). Each night for the 9 nights, they should write about a different year, in chronological order (see teacher's matrix for order of days)
Day 2 1773
Day 3 1774
Day 5 1775
Day 6 1776
Day 7 1777
Day 8 1778
Day 10 1779
Day 11 1780
Day 12 1781
9. The students should write in the first-person, as if they really were the character and were writing in a real diary. Each diary entry should be for one day during that year. Students may pick whatever day they wish to. Certain characters may have days that are important to them (for example, to a character in Bennington, VT, August 17 1777 was the Battle of Bennington). 10. Students should incorporate information learned in class and their own research into the diary entries to make them as realistic as possible.
Part E: Sharing
11. As a grand finale to the unit on the American Revolution in New England, the last class period should be devoted to sharing a diary entry. Each student should be asked to share on of his/her diary entries, whichever one he/she picks.
12. After reading the entry, the student should explain why the character did whatever the character did in the diary entry (fought in a battle, left New England, couldn't fish, etc). This should relate to information learned in class and outside research.
13. The teacher should collect the diaries at the end of class.

Assessment: The students' diaries should be assessed on the following:
10 pts Completeness (each year included)
20 pts Grammar/Spelling
20 pts Realism/Accuracy (could have actually happened)
50 pts Class information/ Outside knowledge included
100 points, total

Extensions: As the year progresses, the teacher could have the students continue their character through different years and different eras - the Federal era, the Civil War, etc. If their character would have died, then they could chose the character's offspring.

Characters:

Occupation: farmer (Patriot)
Lives in: Billerica, Massachusetts
Age: 40

Occupation: ship carpenter (Patriot)
Lives in: Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Age: 25

Occupation: merchant (Loyalist)
Lives in: Boston, Massachusetts
Age: 50

Occupation: British soldier (Loyalist)
Stationed in: Boston (until 1776)
Age: 22

Occupation: minuteman (Patriot)
Lives in: Acton, Massachusetts
Age: 30

Occupation: sailor/fisherman (Patriot)
Lives in: Gloucester, Massachusetts
Age: 32

Occupation: minister (Patriot)
Lives in: Wethersfield, Connecticut
Age: 65

Occupation: lumberjack (patriot)
Lives in: Falmouth, Maine (Massachusetts)
Age: 28

Occupation: Tavern owner (indifferent)
Lives in: Keene, New Hampshire
Age: 43

Occupation: son/daughter of minuteman (Patriot)
Lives in: Worcester, Massachusetts
Age: 12

Occupation: farmer (Patriot)
Lives in: Windsor, Vermont
Age: 38

Occupation: schoolteacher (Indifferent)
Lives in: Hampton, New Hampshire
Age: 34

Occupation: son/daughter of Loyalist official (Loyalist)
Lives in: Providence, Rhode Island
Age: 7

Occupation: silversmith (Loyalist)
Lives in: Weymouth, Massachusetts
Age: 41

Occupation: slave owned by Patriot merchant (Patriot)
Lives in: Newport, Rhode Island
Age: 40

Occupation: Royal Governor (Loyalist)
Lives in: Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Age: 40

Occupation: wife of minuteman
Lives in: Concord, Massachusetts
Age: 43

Occupation: Captain of patriot militia (Patriot)
Lives in: Groton, Connecticut
Age: 52

Occupation: wife of Loyalist official (Loyalist)
Lives in: Salem, Massachusetts
Age: 60

Occupation: fisherman (Indifferent)
Lives in: Machias, Maine (Massachusetts)
Age: 54

Occupation: Tanner (Indifferent)
Lives in: New Haven, Connecticut
Age: 50

Occupation: blacksmith (Patriot)
Lives in: Saugus, Massachusetts
Age: 37




Occupation: fur trapper (Indifferent)
Lives in: Tamworth, New Hampshire
Age: 28

Occupation: member of legislature (Patriot)
Lives in: Hartford, Connecticut
Age: 38

Occupation: Apprentice printer (Patriot)
Lives in: Boston Massachusetts
Age: 19

Occupation: banker (Loyalist)
Lives in: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Age: 58

Occupation: farmer (indifferent)
Lives in: Bennington, Vermont
Age: 37

Occupation: wife of member of Continental Congress (Patriot)
Lives in: Taunton, Massachusetts
Age: 42

Occupation: sea captain (Patriot)
Lives in: Boston, Massachusetts
Age: 51

Occupation: doctor (Patriot)
Lives in: Springfield, Massachusetts
Age: 55

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