Student Writing Projects for the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020
What’s your favorite time period to study? For me, it’s Colonial America. I love reading about John Smith and Pocahontas, the voyage of the Mayflower, and the founding of the thirteen colonies. Right now, we are living in historic times. The young people of today will likely be telling their children and grandchildren about the great pandemic of 2020. The statistics about coronavirus, such as how many people were infected or how many people died, will tell only part of the story. The rest of the story—the heart and soul of it—will come from the ordinary people whose lives were upended as the world closed down. That’s most of us.
What a shame it would be for kids to miss the opportunity to preserve a slice of history for themselves and for posterity. This guide offers a simple roadmap for doing just that. But more than that, it provides a place for students to explore their thoughts and feelings about this disruptive experience. Writing about difficult and confusing matters often results in clarity and even consolation. I hope that will be the result for every student who embarks on this project.
For parents (and teachers) who want their kids to practice writing, this guide offers a broad range of structured assignments with specific instructions for each one. There are nine projects total, and except for the last one, can be done in any order. Project 9 is designed to be completed once the COVID-19 crisis has ended.
Here is a quick look at the projects:
Project 1: Before and After (compare/contrast)
Project 2: Big Picture (summary)
Project 3: A Day in the Life (narrative)
Project 4: How Are You Feeling? (analysis)
Project 5: Buzzwords (definition)
Project 6: Comic Relief (research/expository)
Project 7: Government Response (advanced—research/persuasive)
Project 8: Journal Entries (variety)
Project 9: A Retrospective (revision/analysis)
Here is an example of one of the projects from the guide. This is the assignment my students are working on this week.
Project 1: Before and After
Instructions: Write about three things that changed in your life (or the life of your family) once COVID-19 became a serious concern. Make sure you explain what life was like before each of these changes occurred. For example, before COVID-19 most college students attended lectures on campus, but now they have to view teaching online.
Length: At least three paragraphs
Quick Process
Prewriting: Brainstorm a list of all your activities. Consider school, church, extracurricular, volunteer, work, and social activities.
Drafting: Discuss each point in a separate paragraph. Remember to describe what the activity was like before the change. Give at least two details about each change. Here is an example that adds details about college classes being online:
College campuses have closed down so all classes are online. Some professors are pre-recording their lectures, while others are having class in real time using an online video service such as Zoom. Science courses with a lab component pose a particular challenge, and professors are scrambling to figure out ways to make credit-worthy online versions.
The PDF download contains all the projects. It’s free, and you can print out as many copies as you need and get your kids writing today.