Sarah Barker: Blog 3

Tell us about your series. What do you like or dislike? Who would like this series? What resources are available related to this series? How could you use this series in your class?

The series I chose was Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I’m really enjoying the books! The main character, Greg Heffley, insists that he is not keeping a diary, rather a journal. Over time, Greg journals about his middle school mishaps and talks about what’s happening in his life. He’s a pretty selfish middle schooler that knows how to use the people around him to his advantage, while trying to be the next comic strip writer or wrestler or whatever it is that week. The stories are super funny and I think people of all ages can enjoy reading these books.

I really like how easy the series is to read! It’s a short but hilarious read filled with comics throughout. You can easily pick up where you left off in the book or even read the books out of order and still follow along. The comics are funny and allow the reader to better picture the scenarios that Greg is describing. I think students can relate to Greg at times, for instance, the way his brother pranks him or how Greg is forced by his mother to sign up for the school play. This series would be great for upper elementary and middle school students because it’s relatable to their own lives. I also think it would be great for readers who aren’t that interested in books. It’s easy to get into and can make you LOL, which I think would be great to hook students into reading more.

I think the target audience for this series would be upper elementary and middle school boys because it’s written from Greg’s perspective. I think young boys would find Greg’s journal entries funny and could relate to the awkward middle school phase of trying to fit in and make it through the school year. Despite the series being from a male perspective, I think young girls would still get a kick out of Greg’s journal entries as well!

I searched through Pinterest for a bit and didn’t come up with many resources for this series. It might be nice to ask other teachers what they’ve done with the book and how they’ve come up with activities or resources, either in person or via social media, like Twitter. I think reading this series would be a great way to get students interested in journaling. By reading this book, either individually or as a class, students could get an example of how to keep a journal and be inspired to keep their own. Journaling is a beneficial way for students to get out their thoughts without feeling pressured to write about a certain topic and Greg does a great job with this. By having students read Diary of a Wimpy Kid, you could also recommend other books that are similar, which will encourage more reading. Like Miller suggested in our textbook, teachers could have conferences with students or between students, which would allow students to discuss what they liked and/or didn’t like. Diary of a Wimpy is a great read for students and can easily be incorporated into the classroom activities.