Leslie Auman

Certified OBM®️

  • Home
  • About
    • About Leslie
    • Mission and Core Values
  • Services
    • OBM Services
    • Teacher-Seller Virtual Assistant School
  • Blog
  • Freebies
    • Free Self-Care Challenge for Educators
    • Free Fall Grammar Task Cards
    • Free Resources for Solopreneurs

November 28, 2017

How I Taught the Diary of Anne Frank

A large rectangular graphic with the words How I Taught the Diary of Anne Frank on it

I think that, as teachers, we can all agree that The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is a classic and icon text to teach, not in the least because of Anne’s incredible and heart-wrenching story. I was able to choose the texts I taught in my first year of teaching, and The Diary of Anne Frank was one of the books I chose. Although I was teaching in a low-income charter school with students who were primarily non-native English speakers from other countries (mostly Somalia, but other countries, as well), most of my students found Anne’s story intriguing and got into the book.

As I mentioned, my school served a lower socioeconomic area, and many of my students were below grade level in not just reading but most subject areas. So, of course, I had to keep this in mind when choosing the novels I taught that year. We saved The Diary of Anne Frank for the second half of the year, after students had had time to read easier class novels. For a couple of the other novels I taught that school year, I was able to find audiobook versions and play them on speakers hooked up to my iPod. This worked really well, because it helped me save my voice, and it was easy to pause it to ask them questions and discuss things we read. Unfortunately, though, I wasn’t able to do that for The Diary of a Young Girl.

A photograph of the the teaching materials for a creative final project about The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Instead, we read the book aloud. Sometimes I would read, but usually I had students read. Their favorite style of reading aloud was popcorn reading, where they were allowed to read for as long as they liked (although I recall I had some minimum amount of paragraphs – it had to be more than just one word or one sentence, because you know 6th graders would pull that kind of trick). Then, when they felt they were done reading for the time being, they’d call out, “Popcorn!” Other students who wanted to read raised their hands, and the student had to choose the next reader.

SHOP THIS POST!

Other times, as I said, I would do the majority of the reading, or I would call on students to read. Because I had so many students below grade level in reading, I did not usually have them read this particular text silently and independently. Although Anne was not much older than they were when she wrote her diary, her language and writing style were well-developed, and it was often a bit too tricky for my students. There were also, of course, some sections of the book that I had to skip because of age-appropriateness and maturity of my students.

A photograph of the teacher instructions and other teacher materials for a creative final project about The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

While I gave assessments and writing prompts throughout the reading unit, I also found a (not great, to be truthful) documentary version of The Diary of a Young Girl on Netflix, which I showed my classes after we finished reading the book. Again, there were a couple of parts I had to skip through, but I think it really helped with their comprehension to see the story acted out – plus, kids almost always enjoy watching films in class.

At the end of the unit, I created a summative assessment for my students. This assessment was a choice project, where I provided my students with three different project options that they could complete to demonstrate their understanding of the text. The first was to write a letter from one character to another, the second was to create a collage of pictures and images, and the third was to create a playlist of songs. Needless to say, my students not only loved having a choice in what they completed, but they also really enjoyed the projects!

A photograph of the Common Core State Standards for a creative final project about The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

I created Common Core-aligned rubrics to assess their projects, which helped me ensure that students were mastering the standards for the unit and also helped everyone stay on the same page for how students were being graded. I allowed my students class time to complete their projects, although they could work on them at home if they needed to, as well. We were not required to give much homework at that school (in fact, I only assigned spelling as homework), and most of my grades came from in-class assignments and assessments. Of course, your school may be different.

A photograph of the grading rubrics for a creative final project about The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Once their projects were created, I had students do in-class presentations of their projects. They had to read aloud their letter to the class and explain it, they had to show their collage and explain what all the different pictures were and how they related, and they had to read off the songs they chose for their playlist and explain how each song related to the story (I even let them play snippets!). Again, I created a standards-aligned rubric to assess their presentations. Students had already done an oral presentation earlier that year, but that time, I had the students do their presentations to small groups, where they assessed each other and themselves. This time, though, they had to stand at the front of the classroom and present to the whole class.

If you’re interested in my final project for The Diary of Anne Frank, you have two options! I have a FREE download of the collage project, or you can get the full project described above here in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. This resource has been one of my best-sellers for years now! Just like my students loved this project, I feel confident that your students will love it, too!

Happy Teaching,

A graphic signature of the name Leslie

 

 


Pin it for later!

A tall, vertical image with the words How I Taught the Diary of Anne Frank on it to be used on Pinterest

This post was most recently updated in March 2019.

By: Leslie Auman Hirgelt · Filed Under: Teaching · Tagged: final assessment, final project, project, reading, reading comprehension, summative assessment

3 Things a Virtual Assistant Is Not
How Do I Become a Virtual Assistant?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hey hey, friend!


I'm Leslie, a former middle school teacher turned Certified OBM®. I'm here to help kick-ass womxn entrepreneurs scale their businesses with behind-the-scenes management and support. I'm glad you're here!

This is a graphic displaying a badge for Leslie Auman Hirgelt's OBM certification.

This is a hexagonal graphic that says, "HoneyBook Educator: Get 50% off your first year."

TpT Focused Success Affiliate Button

© Leslie Auman, LLC 2016-Present. Photography by PAW Prints by Patti Wojtowecz. All photographs taken at Picnik Austin.
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest

Links

Home
About
Services
Blog
Free Resources

About Leslie

I’m Leslie, a former middle school teacher turned Certified OBM®. I’m here to help kick-ass womxn entrepreneurs scale their businesses with behind-the-scenes management and support. I’m glad you’re here!

Categories

Honest Educator Series
Teaching
Teacherpreneurship
Running a Business
What Is a Virtual Assistant?
Just Virtual Assistant Things
Technology Hacks
New book suggestions for teachers looking to add d New book suggestions for teachers looking to add diversity to their middle school and high school classroom libraries! 📚
. . . . .
I can't remember now how I came across this series, but I'm really enjoying it! 🖤 It's fantasy meets realistic fiction with engaging but flawed characters, an incredible alternate world, magic, and most importantly -- a Black female protagonist. 👏🏻
. . . . .
I read them originally in Kindle version, borrowed from my local public library, but I liked them so much that I decided to buy them for myself as an early birthday gift (my birthday is in about a week 😝). There's a third book, A Crown So Cursed, due out in mid-April! 📅
I did my civic duty! 🗳️🇺🇲 PLEASE VOTE! I did my civic duty! 🗳️🇺🇲 PLEASE VOTE!
. . . . .
I requested an absentee ballot because COVID is still very much a threat, and I'm an immunocompromised person. I researched candidates, issues, and the school bond issue on this ballot and made my selections. ☑️ Despite 45's fear-mongering about mail-in voting, I trust this election system that's been around for over 150 years. 📬 I'll be tracking my ballot on the Ohio Secretary of State website, and in the meantime, I'm going to make some donations to important campaigns! ✊🏻💵
Here's what I'm currently reading: The Nightingale Here's what I'm currently reading: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. What are you reading right now? 📚
. . . . .
World War 2 fiction is one of my favorite genres. Some of my most favorite books are in this genre. 💜 It's taken me a bit to feel like I'm really getting into the plot, but last night I finally felt like it was getting really good. I'm roughly halfway through! If you've read this, what did you think? But no spoilers, please! 🙏🏻
It allllllllmost passed me by, but today is my fif It allllllllmost passed me by, but today is my fifth business anniversary! 🥳💖 Or business birthday, whichever. 😂
. . . . .
Exactly five years ago today, I "launched" my business as a virtual assistant and signed my very first client, completely unexpectedly. I had no idea what I was doing, really -- and sometimes I still feel that way. 🙃
. . . . .
These past five years have taught me a LOT. I've tried and failed and tried and failed. I've felt really successful, and I've felt pretty unsuccessful. I've lived "paycheck to paycheck." I've been watching the newest season of @queereye with Husband, and the episode with Rahanna, the entrepreneurial dog groomer, made me feel so seen and comforted as Bobby and Tan talked to Rahanna about how hard the first few years of business are. Because they are. No one is an overnight success. I'm officially five years in, and I'm only just now starting to feel like I'm finally on a path to my business being profitable. 
. . . . .
I'm so, SO excited and thankful to celebrate (LOL by working) today knowing I signed my first OBM-level client a few days ago! 🥳 I've also had the opportunity and pleasure of having discovery calls with a couple of other womxn business owners about my OBM services. How fitting that I'm starting off this new chapter of my business with the very recent success of "launching" myself as an OBM! 🙌🏻
. . . . .
Cheers to you if you're still grinding on the roller coaster of entrepreneurship. I'm starting to see that it does all eventually pay off, and it does eventually get easier. 🙏🏻
It's finally here: OBM certification week! Back in It's finally here: OBM certification week! Back in March, I enrolled in the Certified OBM training program, created by @tinaforsyth8 and taught by @sarahnoked. After three months in the training program -- working through all of the modules and watching all of the session videos, attending the biweekly live calls or watching the recordings if I had to miss, watching/reading any supplemental materials that would help for this week, learning from sample projects, and talking with my accountability partner... We're here, at certification week. I'm nervous, but I'm ready to give it my best effort! 💪🏻👊🏻 Good luck to my fellow examinees, also on the path to becoming certified Online Business Managers! 🤗 #CertifiedOBM #OnlineBusinessManager
Yesterday, I shared about the Following Directions Yesterday, I shared about the Following Directions Test for middle school grades that's included in the #Fireworks2020 dollar💲deal event...so today I'll share about the People BINGO resource! 🤩
. . . . .
This is an editable activity that makes for a fun and engaging icebreaker activity on the first day of school -- or on the first day of a new semester with a new class of students. You can customize the BINGO board to have details that best fit your population of students and what you know about them, but there's also a ready-to-print PDF version! ✅
. . . . .
In light of the mandates, I do still think this is an activity best used in the classroom -- I have yet to think of an effective way to adapt it digitally, aside from doing it together as a whole group and asking students to introduce themselves and sharing something on the BINGO board that applies to them. But if you do have to go back in the classroom, I recommend having your students stay 6+ feet apart as recommended, introduce themselves to each other, and exchange a detail on the board that applies to them. They can write their classmates' names in the squares themselves, rather than trading papers to have each other sign.
. . . . .
This resource is normally $3 marked down to just $1 today, so be sure to go to the link in my bio to grab it at such a great discount! Happy 4th of July! 🎆🎇❤️🤍💙
It's the first day of the $1 deal sale!!! 🥳 Thi It's the first day of the $1 deal sale!!! 🥳 This Following Directions Test for middle school (grades 6-8) is one of the resources I've marked to down JUST $1 for today and tomorrow! It's normally a value of $3.75. 🙌🏻 Head to my bio to find the link! #Fireworks2020
. . . . .
I created this resource in my first year of teaching (several years ago now!) based on my memory of a similar kind of test given to our class in 4th grade. Back then, the test was part of my teacher's classroom management system, but I created my version to be used at the beginning of the year (or beginning of the semester...or during test prep!).
. . . . .
This resource included two "trick" versions of the test, where there are silly instructions given in numbers 1-10, but the REAL instructions are at the very bottom of the page, for eagle-eyed students. 😉 There's also a legitimate version of it, no tricks. 🤗 And just this week I added a digital version of all three tests, so each one now has a fillable PDF version, and the instructions have been updated to suit a distance learning environment! 🖥️
⚠️ We have work to do! ⚠️ To my fellow whi ⚠️ We have work to do! ⚠️ To my fellow white people (and to non-Black POC), please give these white people a follow and start learning from them. Yes, we can and should learn from the Black community (and I will also make a post with Black people we can and should support), but the onus of educating us should not rest solely on their shoulders. We need to educate ourselves and each other, because they've been fighting this fight for a very, very long time, and they deserve a respite, at the very minimum. ❤️
. . . . .
@melissau 
@xoamandafrances 
@mrdtimes3 
@thechampagnediet 
@jazzythings 
@mikeydteach 
@melyssa_griffin 
@drazs_class 
@jameswedmore

Copyright © 2021 · Hello CEO by Hello You Designs

Copyright © 2021 · Hello CEO on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in