My Survival Diary

Introduction

Imagine you are living in New Zealand in 1914 when war breaks out. Your life now has to focus on supporting your country through this difficult time. How will your life change?

Task 

Your task is to write a journal of your experiences through this difficult time. Your journal must record what is happening to you and around you. You will provide details, so that your children and your children's children will know exactly what you experienced during the war. By reading your journal, people will be able to understand the hardship and traumatic time you and others encountered.

You will write a minimum of SIX journal entries and present them in an authentic looking journal.

Scenario

Before you begin to write your journal, you must choose one of these identities:

1. New Zealand soldier
2. Twelve-year-old child whose father or older brother(s) have gone to fight in the war
3. Doctor or nurse who travels overseas to help
4. Reporter who travels overseas to report on NZ’s involvement in the war
5. New Zealand tunnel digger who has volunteered to help build trenches

Themes

By reading your journal, others should understand some or all of the following about war:

• The importance of camaraderie
• The importance of bravery 
• Pacifism (eg Archibald Baxter)
• The often pointless nature of war
• The incompetency of the commanders
• Patriotism

Timeline

It’s important that you have a believable timeline for your journal entries. When planning your journal, you should first look at World War One timelines (click here to view timelines) and note at least SIX important events which might have had an impact on your character (eg declarations of war, training, major battles/campaigns, armistice etc).

Due Date

Your teacher will notify you of the due date for your journal. Make sure you plan your time so that you do not leave things too late.

Notes

Your journal entries can vary in length, but at least 2 should be minimum three paragraphs long (approx. 200 words).

You should carry out some research to find details of important events. Part of your grade depends on how well you use what you’ve learnt in this topic, as well as your own research, in your diary.

Your exercise books should have evidence of the following:

• Research for important WWI events which are relevant to your story - think of who, what, where, why, when and how questions.
• Draft work for each of your journal entries, including evidence of proofreading (using red pen) to check for grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes.
• You may wish to draft your work in Google Drive. Make sure you share your work with your teacher..
• You must include a bibliography for your work, showing the resources you used to help you write your journal. This does not need to be in your journal but can be in your exercise book with your research notes.

View the assessment rubric against which you will be assessed. Make your own copy and share it with your teacher.

View journals from previous students and others online → Click here

Visit the Homeroom site to learn more about the ANZAC’s involvement in WWI.