Using “A Long Walk to Water” to Teach Digital Art

I teach Business and Technology classes and, as I was reading A Long Walk to Water, I realized there were a couple of ways I could connect this book to what I was teaching. In chapter seventeen, starting on page 107, Salva realizes what he can do to help the people of the Sudan. He decides to host a meeting to generate interest in his cause and to raise money. I would use the Questioning the Author routine to assess both understanding of what they have read and to see what they understand about Microsoft Word. I would try to guide them to questions such as:

What can I do to help Salva?

What does Salva need to say?

What does Salva want from people?

What can Salva offer people who come to his meeting?

I would then ask them what application they might use to help Salva. I would guide them to using Microsoft Word to create a flyer or a poster to advertise the meeting. I would show them some techniques, including using flyer templates as well as importing pictures into Word and cropping them. Once they were finished, I would have them write a paragraph about why they chose the elements they did and how their use of those elements would help Salva.

This would help fill the Montana Technology Content Standard 4.1 (by end of grade 8) “apply and refine the skills needed to use communication, information and processing technologies.” It would also help fill standard 3.2 (by end of grade 8), “use a variety of digital tools to create a product.”

Another option I thought of was to use the chapter to teach my Personal Finance students about non-profit organizations and how they differ from for-profit organizations. I could then have them prepare a spreadsheet that would help Salva calculate his expenses.