Ready-to-Go Resources
Writing from Experience: Movies and Memories. Language Arts and Social Studies Lessons for Your Class

Lesson 2: Journal Writing

Time Required: 40 minutes

Materials: Journal Writing Student Reproducible 2; computer (if available)

Overview: Understand how various individuals have affected the entertainment industry; write journal entries.

Directions:

1. As a class, make a list of men and women in history whose great ideas have made a difference in our lives (e.g., Florence Nightingale, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martin Luther King, Jr.). Discuss each person's effect on his or her era, as well as on life today.

2. Distribute Journal Writing student reproducible 2 to each student. Read the worksheet aloud together and discuss how each journal entry provides a glimpse into the life of entertainment visionary Marcus Loew.

3. Divide the class into groups of three or four and instruct each group to research one of the individuals on the student reproducible. Using this research, each group will write five journal entries describing this person, capturing the essence of his or her life and experiences.

Wrap-up:
Instruct each student group to present a short skit about the life of the person they have researched. Skits should include three different aspects of the individual's life. Encourage students to use costumes and props during their performance.

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Photos, top to bottom: © Arthur Tilley/Creatas/PictureQuest, © Ryan McVay/Photodisc/PictureQuest.