Reading-Oral Lesson on ALWTW

The scenes from A Long Walk to Water that I am going to draw from are the ones specifically in the first few chapters of the book speaking of Nya and Salva’s hardships they have to face living where they live. I believe their struggles and story could be used to create a great lesson for a high school or middle school health enhancement class.

This lesson would be based off of the ‘independent reading strategy’, after a teacher led discussion. This lesson would be established when students are given the assignment to independently read the first three chapters of ALWTW. While they are reading these chapters, they should be critically thinking about, and considering the hardships of the lives of the two individuals being focused on in the book. After reading these first 3 or so chapters, a class discussion will take place, being led and presented by the teacher. This discussion and presentation will be centered around a main premise that truly stands out in my mind to be the census of those chapters and is something I think we all need to be reminded of time to time; that premise is the hardships and struggles that so many face outside of our nation. Like I said, this presentation will be a teacher led presentation and will be assisted by the use of PowerPoint. This PowerPoint will involve pictures, stories, and quotes from the book that help drive the class discussion and will reflect back to what they independently read from the book. Reflections and comparisons will be made from the book and other stories, pictures, etc. that are in the presentation.

Now, I am sure you are wondering what this has to do with a health enhancement class. How any of what is being taught comes back and concerns the students. I think this lesson will be eye-opening, enlightening, and something that is in dire need to be heard. The main thing I want the students to realize, is how lucky they are to be living where they live and to be thankful for everything that is in their life. I hope my students can take away from this lesson and become inspired to do something, make a change, etc. On the health enhancement front specifically, we will be looking at how these hardships that these individuals face on the daily basis effect their overall health. We will dive into the physical, mental, and emotional toll it takes on a person.

After our class discussion, the students will perform their writing assignment of the lesson. The writing assignment of the lesson will be short and sweet. I just want to see what the students have learned, what they have taken in, and how it has affected them. They will just write a short paper explaining these things to me.

I think this will be a very interesting and engaging lesson for my students that ties directly into the book as well as content involving health enhancement, like the following standards:

23. Determine the accessibility of products and services that enhance health;

4. Analyze how environmental factors and personal health are interrelated