Final journal reflection

Students have finished reading the novel, created a project related to what they learned in the book, and presented their ideas to the class. There were three groups, each containing two students. Therefore, three projects were planned. The students came up with some wonderful ideas including diversity commercials on the school-wide morning announcements, kindness posters to be displayed around the school, and trying to line-up speakers from a variety of cultures to share their stories during our language arts class. I thought that the students did a great job of taking the themes presented in the novel and relating them to real world experiences. I have learned that my students are very interested in cultures other than their own. I think that reading this novel and developing this project has allowed my students to become more culturally sensitive.

I had my students fill out an reflection after presenting their projects. Students thought that the project was an important piece of reading the novel. Many students shared in their reflections that simply reading the novel would not have been enough. I thought it was great to see the students taking this kind of ownership in their learning.

I plan to implement this project next year. I am not sold on my hook...I think I can make it better. That is something I will work on before next year. I would also like to add a research piece to the project. For example, I am thinking about having the students research information related to their own culture before reading the novel.