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Teach Point of View Using Character Diaries

Improving Reading Engagement with Perpsective and Summarizing

Mar 26, 2009 Jaclyna Perez

In the English classroom, engage students in a novel by reading from a character's perspective and writing a diary/journal entry from that character's point of view.

Engage students in a novel by reading from a character’s perspective and writing a diary/journal entry. This is a great way to reemphasize or teach summarizing and point of view.

Selecting a Novel

Select a novel with more than one main character. Ultimately, it would be best if the characters are in most (if not all) the chapters. Although one main character will work, it does not allow for student choice and the diary entries will become repetitious and boring for the student as well as the teacher.

Choosing a Character

Read the first chapter or selected passage(s) to introduce each character.
Write a class example of a diary entry for each possible character.
Allow students to choose which character they want to continue to write about.
Recommendation: Make students stick with the same character throughout the entire novel (or short story) so they can fully integrate and identify with their character.

Writing a Diary Entry

Generally, students should write a diary entry for each chapter or reading assignment. This ensures that they remain actively engaged throughout the novel.

A diary entry should be in first person from their selected character’s point of view.
The entry should include a summary of what happened in the chapter OR elaborate on a major scene.
In addition to the summary. there needs to be a form of a personal statement from the character’s imagined point of view.

Overcoming the Challenge of Point of View

An easy way for students to show they understand how a character is feeling through the reading is to include a sentence that says how they (as the character) feel about what happened or their reactions to the events. If the character is in the chapter, it makes it easier for students to write a first person journal. If there character is not in the reading selection, students will have to be more creative and pretend that they have heard about what has happened.

If the Character is in the Chapter…

Use these sentence stems:

I had a great day because....
I am mad because....
I should have did ________ instead of _______ because...
I should have thanked _______ because....

If the Character is NOT in the Chapter...

Use these sentence stems:

I can't believe that _______ did ______ today.
I am so proud of ________ because....
I am so angry with _______ because....
I think that what ______ did today was wrong/right because...

This is a great lesson that works with a variety of novels and/or short stories in middle school and high school. Using any novel, students read and write a diary entry from a character's perspective, implement their summarizing skills, and ultimately make them more actively engaged in the classroom.

The copyright of the article Teach Point of View Using Character Diaries in Curricula/Lesson Plans is owned by Jaclyna Perez. Permission to republish Teach Point of View Using Character Diaries in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.