Learning Goals
Development of Content Understanding (Key Concepts and Ideas)
- Students will analyze themes of home, displacement, survival, courage and vulnerability in the novel
- Students will analyze the development of main characters and their individual story line plots
- Students will understand key factors in current immigration and refugee policies
- Students will analyze immigrant and refugee populations as well as support systems in Worcester
- Students will explore different reasons that cause people to migrate
- Students will use evidence from the text to support an argument and or ideas
Enabling Students to Experience the Power of Their Minds and Their Capacities as Learners and Doers (Powerful Learning)
- Students will write in the persona of main characters in the novel
- Students will make connections between the novel and vulnerable populations in the city of Worcester
- Students will show their understanding and new knowledge in various ways (i.e. writing from the persona of a character, found poems, narrative writing, collages, etc.)
Ways of Knowing and Academic Literacy
- Students will develop an understanding and practice of literary terms including: character development, exposition, climax, resolution, foreshadow, symbolism, imagery
- Students will develop an understanding of terms related to migration including: quarantine, citizenship, immigrant, refugee, assimilation
- Students will engage in collaborative work including peer support, editing, and group discussions
Literacy Development
- Students will engage with the text in many different ways: peer and individual reading sessions, read-aloud and audio books listening, small/large group discussions
Development of Trust and the Classroom as a Learning Community
- Students will engage in large group discussions during read-aloud and audio book listening sections, often these conversations will require students to share personal or unique life experiences and ideas
