Nardin Today Winter 2020-2021

11 Nardin Today Winter 2020-21 Different Perspectives Eighth Grade ELA gets personal The quote at the top of teacher Erika Stuff’s eighth grade ELA syllabus comes from George R.R. Martin’s novel A Dance with Dragons , and it reads: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. . . The man who never reads lives only one.” The texts, writing assignments, class discussions, independent reading, projects, and daily activities are based on the overarching, thematic idea that students should experience multiple perspectives; they may not get to “a thousand lives” in one year, but they will recognize different perspectives and learning from others’ lives - other genders, religions, ethnicities, socio-economic space, among others. Eighth grade is a pivotal year for learning, both academically and socio-emotionally, as students are learning a great deal about themselves - their talents, limitations, and opinions- as well as about the world around them and their important role within it. “My goal is for students to grow scholastically and as citizens of this country and world,” said Stuff. “I want them to learn about other people and moments of time in order to be the types of compassionate and discerning people that go out and truly live Nardin’s mission.” Rachel Lipman, a member of the Student Support Services team and co-teacher, helped create the curriculum and said, “It brings to light the danger in seeing things from only one perspective. We focus on the good in the world and in other people, which may be missed if we live based on only what we know.” The course was brought to life by young adult texts written by diverse authors, including a story of immigration and migrant workers, a non-fiction text on the Holocaust from both the Jewish and German perspective, a story of a Native American middle schooler, and selected short texts by African American authors. “In choosing texts in which one or more protagonist feels isolated from others because of his/her differences, we are able to explore the opportunity to see all sides of a story,” added Lipman. Students started the year by reading and investigating the themes present in Chimamanda Adichie’s TED Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story.” Eighth grader Mikayla Betton synthesized Adichie’s message by writing, “Not only can a person be judged based on one narrative, a person can judge other people based on one narrative.” Classmate Annalise Gothgen continued the analysis of Adichie’s speech by stating, “If people took the time to know more about things, then they wouldn’t have typical stereotypes in their head. They would be more educated on and accepting of differences.” n class acts