Description
What our Novel Study: The Diary of Anne Frank lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Novel Study: The Diary of Anne Frank explores the historical context and themes surrounding the famous diary. Students will practice various close reading and comprehension skills. They will learn to analyze primary sources and novels (autobiographical material). This lesson is for students in 5th grade and 6th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand.
Teacher Notes
The paragraph on this page provides a little more information or guidance on what to expect from the lesson. You can use the blank lines to record any thoughts or ideas you have as you prepare.
NOVEL STUDY: THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
The Novel Study: The Diary of Anne Frank lesson includes three content pages. There are many different ways to read history. One of the best ways is to read history from the perspective of someone who witnessed an event—someone who was there when it happened! Diaries, journals, newspapers, and photographs are personal accounts of witnesses to historical events. We call an original document, object, or record that provides firsthand information about a specific event, person, or idea a primary source. The Diary of a Young Girl, or the modern title, The Diary of Anne Frank, is the chronicle of Anne’s and her family’s experiences while hiding from Nazis during World War II.
The book was published in 1947, two years after Anne died in a Nazi concentration camp. It is considered to be one of the most important books written documenting the horrific events of the Holocaust. Otto Frank, Anne’s father and the lone family survivor of the concentration camps, was given the journal by a family friend, Miep Gies, who had helped the Frank family and other Jews during the Nazi’s drive to exterminate the Jewish population.
Publication of the Diary
In honor of his young daughter’s death, Otto sought a publisher for her diary. Anne aspired to be a novelist, and he believed that publishing her work served two purposes. The first was to have Anne recognized as a novelist and writer—Anne’s dream. The second was to tell the story of the horrific events perpetrated by the Nazis against innocent Jews. The book Het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex in English) was published in the Netherlands in 1947. The title refers to the secret room in Otto’s business where the Frank family hid from the Nazi Gestapo. It was an instant best-seller, translated into over 65 languages, and presented in several videos and plays.
When reading novels or literature involving historical events or themes, we need something called context to understand what we are reading. Context refers to the circumstances, background, or setting that help readers understand something. It may be a word, an event, or a situation. Context provides the necessary information to accurately comprehend meaning and avoid misinterpretations. Historical context adds an additional layer to the definition of context. It includes the social, cultural, political, and economic circumstances surrounding an event, idea, or work. Historical context is crucial for understanding the significance and meaning of historical occurrences.
Historical Context
The historical context of Anne Frank’s story begins with World War II, the rise of Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Party, and government policies targeting Jews. The government systematically persecuted Jewish citizens intentionally, stripping them of their rights. This form of persecution is called antisemitism, which means hostility, hatred, and prejudice against Jews.
The Nazi Party not only discriminated against Jewish people, but they also committed genocide. Nazis systematically and deliberately murdered six million or more European Jews in a genocide known as the Holocaust. Anne’s diary is set in the historical context and backdrop of the horrific acts carried out against Jews under Nazi Germany. To grasp the importance of Anne’s work, you must familiarize yourself with the history of World War II and Nazi Germany under Hitler’s rule.
Synopsis: The Diary of Anne Frank
It was June 13, 1942. For her 13th birthday, Anne received a red and white plaid diary. (It was her dream to be a novelist someday.) In the first part of her diary, she recorded the usual happenings of a 13-year-old girl. But scarcely a month later, the lives of Anne and her family took a dramatic turn for the worse. The Nazis were ratcheting up their intense persecution of Jews. Many were trying to flee the country. Others were going into hiding. Anne’s family decided to stay and hide.
The Franks and two other families took refuge in a secret annex behind a bookcase in Otto’s upstairs office. Anne recorded what life was like for the next two years for the family and friends (totaling eight people) as they were confined to 450 square feet of space. Their only contact with the outside world was a small group of family friends—Miep Gies and her husband Jan, who risked their lives to provide supplies to support them. Anne recorded the frustrations, fears, and problems that came from living in such cramped quarters with others. The story began in a cramped room behind a bookcase on July 6, when Anne and her family started hiding.
Life in the Annex
Imagine living in a space about the size of a two-car garage. Eight people are in the space, with no air conditioning, and it is summer. All the windows are blacked out, so no one can see in. It is dimly lit, oppressively hot, and cramped. Then, imagine you must remain quiet during the day to avoid detection. If someone hears you, you will be discovered, separated from your family, and sent to a concentration camp!
The group relied on the kindness and bravery of others to bring them supplies and news of the outside. Miep Gies risked everything to assist the Franks and their friends. Anne found the conditions extraordinarily draining, both physically and emotionally. She recorded the frustrations and strains on relationships in her journal. Tensions were rapidly rising within her family, particularly with her mother. But the alternative was far worse: captivity, separation from family, and probably a tortuous death.
Despite the threat outside and the tensions inside the room, Anne maintained a positive perspective. Her diary became filled with her hopes and ambitions for the future. She found small moments of joy. For example, she grew close to Peter Van Pels, a 15-year-old teenager hiding with the Franks. A romance bloomed under the watchful eye of her parents and their friends.
Confinement and uncertainty gave way to reflection. Anne reflected on the injustice of her existence and what was happening outside the bookcase that concealed them. Though trapped and seemingly hopeless, she continually projected hope for the future. She wrote, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
Final Entry
Her final entry in the diary ended on August 4, 1944. Anne, her family, and her friends’ location was tragically discovered by the police. Her worst fears came true. They were arrested, humiliated, separated, and imprisoned. Anne and her sister were sent to the Bergen-Belsen camp. In early 1945, both perished. Otto survived and went on to publish Anne’s journal in 1947.
Anne’s diary has been described as one of the most profound testimonies of the Holocaust. Her diary is more than a historical document. It is a deeply personal expression of survival and longing for freedom.
NOVEL STUDY: THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Novel Study: The Diary of Anne Frank lesson plan includes two worksheets: an activity worksheet and a practice worksheet. Each one will help students solidify their grasp of the material they learned throughout the lesson. You can refer to the classroom procedure guidelines to know when to hand out each worksheet. In addition, there is a vocabulary page at the end of the lesson plan for your convenience.
QUOTE CONTEXT ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
For the activity, students will review two quotes. They will explain in their own words the context surrounding what Anne Frank expresses in these quotes.
NOVEL STUDY: THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK REVIEW PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet requires students to answer a series of 10 questions. These questions all relate to the content pages, so students will need to refer to them often for the answers. In addition, each question provides which reading tool the question corresponds to, such as text feature, vocabulary, or comprehension.
Worksheet Answer Keys
The lesson includes an answer key for the practice worksheet. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
