Teacher commentary and reflection

I chose the essential question (How do people overcome adversity?) because of its accessibility and because it is rich with possibilities for exploration. No one gets through life without suffering some adversity and most high school students feel that they suffer more than their share.

My students range from the pampered, well-educated children of middle class parents to the neglected foster child. Some are well read; others almost illiterate, yet all are aware of life’s inequities, whether from personal experience or from their knowledge of others’ experiences. Like most teenagers, they often seem oblivious to what goes on around them, but when asked what is wrong with this world, they reveal their passionate feelings about homelessness, racism, war, pollution, corruption, and so on. I was sure they would have opinions about coping with adversity. Additionally, I felt that many of my students might learn a thing or two about how to confront challenges; others might learn to have more compassion for those less fortunate than they.

I felt that most students would love the autobiography, yet I was still concerned about their need to have a variety of ways to respond to it lest they become bored. Therefore, I chose activities that would require them to interact with one another and that would allow them to engage in their different learning styles.

What worked: Although I have taught I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings before, I have yet to try the unit in all of the detail that is presented here. When I did teach it, I found that most students enjoyed the story and the accompanying activities. I was most pleased, however, with students’ response to the human rights activities. (I used the ones presented here.) The “line-up” activity was particularly effective. My students’ final project was a fundraising effort. They were quite pleased to purchase a water buffalo and llama for needy families.

What didn’t work: Although my students raised money, I felt that the fundraiser was a little too easy. Perhaps their efforts at helping someone overcome adversity would have been more meaningful to them if they had been required to volunteer.

The unit was difficult to squeeze into the six-week marking period. Some strands of English—grammar and mechanics—got very little attention during the unit. I found that I tried to include too much in the unit and ended up going beyond the allotted time. Another problem was that many students would not do the reading at home; consequently, some activities were difficult to complete because not everyone was prepared to participate.