SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL- Creative Writing

Name: ________________________________ Date Submitted: ______________

Grade and Section: _____________________

a. Most Essential Learning Competency

Writing Journal Entries and other short compositions exploring key
elements of fiction
b. Objectives
At the end of this learning activity learners will be able to:
● define journal writing

● identify the various journal types and formats and the

benefits of Journal Writing; and
● write a journal entry using any of the types of journal writing

A journal is a detailed account that records all the financial

transactions of a business, to be used for future reconciling of and transfer to
other official accounting records, such as the general ledger. A journal states
the date of a transaction, which accounts were affected, and the amounts,
usually in a double-entry bookkeeping method.

Journaling in its various forms is a means for recording personal

thoughts, daily experiences, and evolving insights. The process often evokes
conversations with self, another person, or even an imagined other person.
Add the advantage available in most journaling formats of being able to
review or reread earlier reflections and a progressive clarification of insights is
possible.

The various types of journals are the following: Learning Journals,

diaries, Dream Book or Log, Autobiographies, and Memoirs.

Learning Journals

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 A learning journal is a collection of notes, observations, thoughts and
other relevant materials built-up over a period of time and usually
accompanies a period of study, a placement experience or fieldwork. Its
purpose is to enhance your learning through the very process of writing and
thinking about your learning experiences. Your learning journal is personal to
you and will reflect your personality and experiences.

Diary
A diary is a record (originally in handwritten format) with discrete
entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a
day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences,
thoughts, and/or feelings, excluding comments on current events outside the
writer's direct experience. Someone who keeps a diary is known as a diarist.

Dream Book or Log

A dream diary (or dream journal) is a diary in which dream experiences
are recorded. A dream diary might include a record of nightly dreams,
personal reflections and waking dream experiences. It is often used in the
study of dreams and psychology. Dream diaries are also used by some
people as a way to help induce lucid dreams. They are also regarded as a
useful catalyst for remembering dreams. The use of a dream diary was
recommended by Ann Faraday in The Dream Game as an aid to memory and
a way to preserve details, many of which are otherwise rapidly forgotten no
matter how memorable the dream originally seemed.[

Autobiographies
An autobiography is a non-fiction story of a person’s life, written by the
subject themselves from their own point of view. Autobiographies are a
subgenre of the broader category of biographies, but a standard biography is
written by someone other than its subject—most commonly a historian—
whereas an autobiography is written by the subject.

An autobiography should include all the most important details of your

life story. This does not mean it should contain every tiny sliver of minutiae; a
self-aware autobiographer will take stock of certain moments in their own life
that may be interesting to themselves but not to an audience of strangers.

Here are some key elements to consider including in your

autobiography:

1. A description of your personal origin story: This can include your

hometown, your family history, some key family members and loved ones,
and touchstone moments in your education.
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 2. Significant experiences: Add accounts of each personal experience that
shaped your worldview and your approach to life in the present day.

3. Detailed recollections of episodes from your professional life: Often

these are the turning points that your autobiography will be known for—the
moments that would inspire someone to pick up your book in the first place.
Be sure to give them extra care and attention.

4. A personal story of failure: Follow it up with a good story of how you

responded to that failure.

5. A unique and compelling title: Steer clear of generic phrases like “my
autobiography” or “the story of me, my family, and famous people I know.”

6. A first-person narrative voice: Third person writing is appropriate for

traditional biographies, but in the autobiography format, third person voice can
read as presumptuous.

Steps in Writing an Autobiography

Setting out to write the story of your life can be daunting, particularly during
the first draft. Here is a step-by-step guide to the art of writing your own
autobiography:

1. Start by Brainstorming.
The writing process begins by compiling any and all life experiences that you
suspect might be compelling to a reader. As you sort through your own memories,
be sure to cover all eras of your life—from childhood to high school to your first job to
the episodes in your life you are most known for. Many of these episodes won’t
make it into the final draft of your book, but for now, keep the process broad and
open.

2. Craft an Outline.
Begin to organize a narrative around the most compelling episodes from your
brainstorm. If you pace your life’s important events throughout your book, you’ll be
able to grip your readers’ attention from beginning to end.

3. Do Your Research.
Once you have a first draft of your outline, engage in some research to help
you recall contextual information from the period you are writing about. Interview
friends and family members to help you remember all the details from the moments
you choose to recall in your autobiography. No one can remember the full history of
their entire life—particularly their childhood—so prepare to do some cultural research
as well.

4. Write Your First Draft.

If you’ve come up with the key biographical moments around which you can
anchor your life story, then you are ready to attempt a first draft. This draft may be

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overly long and scattershot, but professional writers know that even the tightest final
drafts may be borne of a long winded first draft.

5. Take a Break.
When your first draft is complete, take a few days off. You’ll want to read your
work with the freshest possible perspective; removing yourself from the process for a
few days can aid this endeavor.

6. Proofread.
After a brief layoff, begin proofreading. Yes, you should look for grammar
mistakes, but more importantly, you should identify weak moments in the narrative
and come up with constructive improvements. Think about what you’d look for if
reading about another person’s life, and apply it to your own autobiography.

7. Write Your Next Draft.

Write a second draft based on the notes you’ve given yourself. Then, when
this second draft is complete, show it to trusted friends and, if you have one, a
professional editor. Their outside eyes will give you a valuable perspective that you
cannot possibly have on your own work.

8. Refine Your Writing.

Repeat step 7 as needed. New drafts should be followed by new reads from
new people. Throughout the process, you will refine your writing skills and your
autobiographical know how. Hopefully you will end up producing a final draft that is
leaps and bounds beyond what you produced in a first draft—but that still holds true
to the most important elements of your life and your personal truth.

Memoirs
A memoir is a narrative, written from the perspective of the author,
about an important part of their life. It’s often conflated with autobiography, but
there are a few important differences. An autobiography is also written from
the author’s perspective, but the narrative spans their entire life. Although it’s
subjective, it primarily focuses on facts – the who-what-when-where-why-how
of their life’s entire timeline. Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery is an
example of autobiography – the story begins with his childhood as a slave,
proceeds through his emancipation and education, and ends in his present life
as an entrepreneur.

To define memoir, we loosen the constraints of an autobiography.

Memoir authors choose a pivotal moment in their lives and try to recreate the
event through storytelling. The author’s feelings and assumptions are central
to the narrative. Memoirs still include all the facts of the event, but the author
has more flexibility here because she is telling a story as she remembers it,
not as others can prove or disprove it.
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 A. PRACTICE
TASK

PRACTICE TASK 1
Directions: Using your knowledge on journal writing, write an autobiography.
You must follow the steps below.
1. Create your own FB Page. You can decide on what will be the name
of your page.
2. After creating your FB Page, start writing an autobiography.
3. Have your autobiography be published on your FB Page.
4. Encourage your classmates to comment on your published work.
They can focus their comments on your similarities and differences.
PRACTICE TASK 2
Directions: Using your knowledge on journal writing, write a Learning Log.
You must follow the steps below.
1. Choose a point of view and begin your story with your character
expressing his/her thoughts about any of the situations below. Your output
must be in the form of a blog and you may use Live Journal, Edublog and
Blogger in creating your blogs.
1. his/her economic situation
2. his/her fear/s in life
3. The attraction he/she feels for someone
4. The big improvement or the disintegration of his/her
neighborhood or town
2. After creating your blog, your next task is to write a learning journal.
The content of the learning journal can be your thoughts, reflection, personal
opinion, hopes and fears about your experience in writing your story.
3. Have your learning journal be published on your FB Page.

PRACTICE TASK 3
Directions: 1. From the list below, choose two characters, a setting, a
situation, and then develop a scene with dialogues. Encourage your
classmates to give their own ending to your story. On your FB page upload
your output.
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 a. Characters
1. A student failing in many subject
2. An old woman who is in love with man in his twenties
3. A man who doesn’t love God
4. A rebellious teenager
5. An alien disguised as a human being
6. A bored store manager
7. A handsome man who wants to be an actor

b. Settings
1. at the train station like the LRT or MRT
2. outside a church on a Sunday morning
3. in a crowded mall
4. in a park on a rainy day
5. inside a taxi/cab
6. in a posh restaurant
7. in a sports arena where people are screaming for their
favorite team
c. Situations
1. Character A discovered Character B’s deep secret
2. The two characters see each other after many years
3. Character A tells Character B that someone wants to kill
him/her
4. Character A discovers that Character B has been lying for a
long time.

2. Write a diary entry for every ending that your classmate will comment on your
published output in your FB Page. You have to make sure that all your diary entries
will be compiled because it will be used in the portfolio that you are going to prepare
at the end of the semester.

B.
ASSESSMENT
Read the short story written by Edgar Allan Poe entitled, “The Tell-Tale
Heart”. Pretend that you are the old man with the vulture eye. You have to write
a memoir of his experience with the young boy on a long-size bond paper.

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 IV. RUBRIC FOR
SCORING
This rubric will be used in grading your outputs in Practice Task 1, 2, 3
and Assessment.

5 (Excellent) 4 (Good) 2-3 (Fair) 0-1 (Poor)

Content Selected items that Selected items Select items and Select items and
are important and that are details that details that are
help make content important in discuss the not important or
interesting; the discussing the activities for the relevant.
details focus on activities for the week, but they
the most important week; the are not very
information. details help the important.
Choices help the reader see
reader see things things about the
in a new way. items in
interesting
ways.

Comprehen- Can understand Can understand Can understand Can understand

sibility all of what is most of what is less than half of little of what is
being being what is being being
communicated. communicated. communicated. communicated.
Organization Journal entry is Journal entry is Journal entry is Journal entry
logical and generally somewhat lacks logical
effective. logical and illogical and order and
effective with a confusing in organization.
few minor places.
problems.
Effort Exceeds the Fulfills all of Fulfills some of Fulfills few of
requirements of the the the
the assignment requirements of requirements of requirements of
and have put care the assignment. the assignment. the assignment.
and effort into the
process.
Grammar, Journal is highly Journal is Journal is Inadequate
Mechanics, polished; no polished; adequate; discussion;
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 Spelling, and grammar or maximum of maximum of more than two
Sentence spelling errors. one grammar or two grammar or spelling or
Structure spelling error. spelling errors. grammar errors.
Source: http://csc.columbusstate.edu/summers/NOTES/1105-london/Grading%20Rubric-Journal.htm

ONLINE SOURCES
Journal Writing. Retrieved from
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.463.6103&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Journal Writing. Retrieved from

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/j/journal.asp

Rubrics in Writing a Journal. Retrieved from

http://csc.columbusstate.edu/summers/NOTES/1105-london/Grading
%20Rubric-Journal.htm

SLM Written and Condensed by:

DIEGO A. PERCIANA
Teacher I, DPPMHS
SDO-Ligao City

Quality Assured by:

JOE-BREN L. CONSUELO, EdD
Education Program Supervisor
SDO-Ligao City

Layout Artist:

DIEGO A. PERCIANA
Teacher I, DPPMHS
SDO-Ligao City

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Quality Assured by:

JENNIFER ANN C. RAIT, MT II EMMA V. DASCO

Basud National High School EPS I - English
Camarines Norte Division Camarines Norte Division

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