Rock Your World

Hello! I am Tricia Baldes, an 8th grade ELA teacher in Westchester County, NY, and I’m also part of the Rock Your World educational team. One of the first things I think I would do before starting reading Refugee with a class or small group would be to poll them somehow to see what, if any, background knowledge students have about the three historical time periods in the novel. After assessing this, I could envision putting together groups and using a Jigsaw Strategy (as explained here: https://www.inquisitive.com/blog/2019/03/27/visible-thinking/#Jigsaw-St…) to put students at the center of an inquiry about an assigned time period. Aside from establishing some background knowledge, I’d also want to hook students and build some excitement about reading the book. One thought I had was using one or more of the films from Unicef’s “Unfairy Tales” series. The Rock Your World team used the film Malak and the Boat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UMjSZaMY2Y - as the center for the Project Home Curriculum, so this might be a good place to start. I might frame this by asking students to consider these questions: What does this film suggest about the experience of a child refugee? What does this film make you wonder about the experience of a child refugee?So, that’s my initial thinking. As I prep to reread this book, I anticipate that I might have additional ideas once I start!

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What strikes me most in the first six chapters is how while Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are each experiencing different specific circumstances, the similarities in their stories overpower those differences. In these opening chapters, they are all exposed to horrors and experience trauma. We learn about a progression of things that have happened in each of their lives that builds, finally, to the inciting incidents that ultimately force their families to flee their homes. I also saw their connections to family and importance that family plays in each of their lives. I anticipate that my students will be shocked to learn about the particular circumstances and events that Joseph, Isabel, and Mahmoud face. I imagine them having many questions after reading these initial chapters. Here are some ideas about engaging students as they start the book. Most of these are ongoing strategies or ‘ways of reading’ that can continue throughout the text. Where appropriate, I’ve added some specifics as they relate to these six chapters:Asking students to read with a focus of identifying the similarities in the three stories. Find the places where they intersect / mirror each other.Read with a lens of human rights - look for places where human rights are respected and / or violated.Read with a lens of identifying perpetrators, victims, bystanders, and upstanders in the novel.Reading with a lens of identifying themes. This could be done by asking students to find and identify themes as they read, or I might provide specific themes for them to think about as they appear in the text. For example, in this section, I might ask students to think about power, fear, human nature, human dignity, memory, identity, trauma, and/or home. Setting up a reading notebook where students can keep an ongoing list of thoughts and questions to be used in discussion groups.Tracking the journeys and experiences of the three characters on a map - perhaps with a timeline?Tracking details -- sensory and/or otherwise -- that stand out from each section. This could perhaps be one detail or image from each character, or one they have in common. For example, the images of broken glass appear in each character’s narrative in these opening chapters. There are so many possibilities! Some do overlap and can be combined to be one learning experience. It might be interesting to provide kids with some choice, too, about what lens they want to read with if provided with options.Some of these lenses would require instruction depending on my students and the time of year. We do social issue book clubs, and during that time, my students would be familiar with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and terms like perpetrators, victims, bystanders, upstanders, human rights, and human dignity. If my students have appropriate background knowledge, I imagine my teaching points will center around modeling the kinds of thinking that I want to see kids doing.

You're spot on about how family plays such a significant part in each character's life. In fact when they are forced to flee their homes, the most important thing to each character is the well being of their family members. I love your suggestion to have students zoom in on the similarities of each character's journey/experience. A Venn Diagram might be a great way to navigate such similarities. I'm also thinking about your suggestions regarding the lenses of reading: human rights, violations of those rights, themes, etc. One way that students might be able to internalize what they glean through each lens is to keep a journal that addresses each character throughout the reading of the book. I imagine that each character's journey will at some point move to the forefront of the reader's mind as the book moves forward. This certainly happened to me at points. Addressing a letter or journal entry to a specific character and sharing my take-a-ways from their experience might be a side-angled gateway into deeper comprehension. Perhaps these letters could be assigned per reading chunks and students might even rotate their letters to each character. I have also had success with motif and theme identification with post-what-you-notice boards. A section of the classroom can be designated for post it observations about objects (such as the broken glass that you noticed, Tricia) colors, phrases, etc. Students can post what they notice before or after discussions, during silent reading time, and/or as an exit ticket. In keeping with yesterday's discussion, and how I just knew I would think of something after the fact-haha, I would definitely post articles 13, 14 and 15 from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights boldly in the room. It would serve as a visual compass and reminder to think about the characters' journeys in terms of how these rights in particular are being upheld--when discussions take place with these articles as an anchor, nuanced understandings about root causes of migration are unavoidable, and the opportunity to build empathy is increased.

These chapters contained so much poetry. My heart was in my throat for much of the reading--especially the segments to do with Mahmoud. So much violence ran throughout. I think a wonderful introduction or extension to this segment of reading might include reading some poetry. I love the site Poets.org. It's run by the American Academy of Poetry. They have a ton of poems about migration and immigration ready to go--here's a link to the collection of poetry regarding migration: https://poets.org/poems-about-migration. I adore the poem Mother Country by Richard Blanco which is about his mother's migration from Cuba in 1968. It's absolutely aligned with this book and refugee/migration studies. If your students are wary of poetry, (sigh/sad) perhaps introduce them to a group activity (a former parlor game in days of yore) known as The Exquisite Corpse. It's a chain poem writing activity--very easy once you get the hang of it. I used to put my students in groups of 5 or 6 and instruct them to write until they had 10-12 lines. Here's a link to that activity: https://poets.org/text/play-exquisite-corpse. Finally, I really think that having a good old fashioned Q and A about what is happening to the characters in this segment with focal points of the discussion tied to historical context as well as foreshadowing might be beneficial.

Jess -- I so appreciate your post today and your focus on poetry. It reminded me of "Home" by Warsan Shire - a poem we both love. https://www.care.org/sites/default/files/lesson_1_-_home-poem-by-warsan…. In these six chapters, Joseph, Isabel, and Mahmoud are aII at critical moments of leaving their homes. I kept thinking about the impossible decisions that individuals and families have to confront, and the lines from Shire's poem were on repeat in my brain. Reading these chapters also made me think about the ever changing policies of countries regarding refugees. This could be a mini research project for students - specifically with regard to the three stories in the novel. Reading Isabel's story, I found myself jumping to an online exploration about the "Wet Foot, Dry Foot" policy, and I lived in this space for quite some time before picking up my reading.

In chapters 13-15, readers see Josef, Isabel and Mahmoud moving forward in their journeys. Along the way, each character experiences something that reaffirms life continues even when far away from home. For example, Josef celebrates his Bar Mitzvah (in spite of his father's absence and Hitler's image having to be removed). Isabel gets to know the others on the boat more and they participate in a sing-a-long. Mahmoud notices a wedding procession amid the influx of refugees in Turkey. I think it would be a good time to discuss why the author made the decisions to write about these moments. One might explore the significance of a Bar Mitzvah if students live in an area where Judaism isn't practiced regularly. I think these chapters are create an excellent opportunity for students to explore their own traditions--whether these pertain to coming of age or not. What special traditions do students share with their families? In order to be sensitive to students who may have living situations that are not ideal, you might ask students to write or journal about what traditions they want to start with their friends and/or future families. By the end of Chapter 18, the rollercoaster up and downs have come into focus for Isabel, Josef and Mahmoud again. Now would be a good time to discuss character traits. What do the three have in common when it comes to coping? How are they different? Extend that question to their family members. Consider the difference in coping skills between Mahmoud's brother and his father. Ask students to journal or discuss how they cope with stressful, sad, or scary situations. Some vocabulary that may need review before the reading include words such as: deserters, infidels, hijab, Shabbos. Perhaps instruct teams/groups to create a vocabulary poster as they read.

I just had a moment while rereading these six chapters -- something I realize that I cannot believe I did not pick up on before -- which is the interconnectedness of place in these stories. Mahmoud is traveling from Syria to Germany; Joseph is traveling to Cuba from Germany, and Isabel is traveling from Cuba to the USA. This makes me think again about the idea of having a classroom map of the journeys that these three characters are undertaking as the book is being read. Additional themes that came up in these chapters are uncertainly, sacrifice, and urgency. I also noticed again how Gratz establishes motifs and uses them to connect the three stories, like the broken glass I mentioned in an earlier post. Here, music appears in the stories in meaningful ways. The last two years, I have had students create one pagers about their books in interesting ways. This has me thinking about a variation on this to use with Refugee. I can imagine giving students an organizer with a box for each chapter in the book. Within each box would be space for them to sketch an image or a symbol that is significant for the chapter and write an important / significant quote from the chapter. These could then be a tool for talk with peers in discussion groups.

After rereading this section of the book, there are two major thoughts I have. The first is about what motivates people as seen through the characters in the novel. Specifically, thinking about the actions of Captain Schroder, Isabel, and and Samih Nasseer in these chapters. It would be interesting to direct kids back to the text to see what incited (or did not) each of these characters to behave the way they do. Each of them acts as an up stander or protector of sorts though they are motivated to do so for different reasons. I think this can be part of a larger, meaningful conversation about why and how people can be upstanders as well as what prevents people from being upstanders. The other thing that came up for me is the various obstacles faced by the characters coming up as the different forms of conflict in literature. This really stood out for me in this section - though it might be worth having students consider this from the start of the novel. Each of these characters experiences conflicts with other characters, with themselves, with nature, and with society.

I love that you're considering character motivations in this segment too, Tricia! I think this section would be an excellent place to introduce Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as an anchor for a discussion or writing assignment about character motivations. I'm curious about how Josef, Isabel and Mahmoud are able to become 'upstanders' when they are also, for so much of their stories, in survival mode. Here's a link about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html I've also attached a great graphic to be used with students.

These chapters were so upsetting on a variety of levels. We witness our protagonists experience cruelty, violence and loss. I think one way to process the storyline for these chapters would be to think about symbols. Namely, the symbol of water: rain, ocean, storm. How does the author use the external environment to reflect the internal landscapes of the characters? I would also open a discussion about how Josef, Isabel and Mahmoud are still serving as 'upstanders'/helpers to their families, and the greater good. In order to create an opportunity for connection, I suggest having students journal about a time when they helped a friend of family member. What were the circumstances? How did it make them feel to offer help? Did they have to sacrifice anything for themselves in the process of helping?

I love the idea of focusing on symbols in these chapters, Jess. The water images are so vivid throughout this whole section and I could see this as a powerful lens for students to use. Another thing that I thought much about in these chapters is how trauma can result in shifting family dynamics. Joseph, Isabel, and Mahmoud all have been thrust into roles with far greater -- life and death -- responsibilities. Jess's journaling prompt is a perfect to have students connect this to their own lives.

This segment of reading is another emotional roller coaster! All characters are experiencing loss and triumph that may be hard to measure for an onlooker. I found myself really thinking about sacrifice and invisibility. It called to mind a poem that I think would be so well suited as a bell work/journal entry/discussion starter. The poem is called "Invisibility" and it's written by Renato Rosaldo. It would be meaningful to consider this poem in relation to each character, I think. Here's a link to the poem: https://poets.org/poem/invisibility---I'm uploading it as well.

Okay - so this section has me thinking about quite a bit.... Mañana - This is a motif has come up in earlier chapters and appears again in these sections. For the characters it is a seems to be a promise for a future that is unknown, though a promise that feels empty because it is repeated over and over again. The first time (I think) that a direct connection is made within these stories - when Isabel's grandfather mummers the name "The St. Louis" while everyone was suggesting names for the boat. These three stories have so many parallels - but now they seem to start to intersect. I immediately thought - could this be Officer Padron? I wonder if all students would pick up on this connection... And then there's this passage from Mahmoud's chapter 36 - "They only see us when we do something they don’t want us to do, Mahmoud realized. The thought hit him like a lightning bolt. When they stayed where they were supposed to be—in the ruins of Aleppo or behind the fences of a refugee camp—people could forget about them. But when refugees did something they didn’t want them to do—when they tried to cross the border into their country, or slept on the front stoops of their shops, or jumped in front of their cars, or prayed on the decks of their ferries—that’s when people couldn’t ignore them any longer. Mahmoud’s first instinct was to disappear below decks. To be invisible. Being invisible in Syria had kept him alive. But now Mahmoud began to wonder if being invisible in Europe might be the death of him and his family. If no one saw them, no one could help them. And maybe the world needed to see what was really happening here."Gratz, Alan. Refugee (p. 214). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition. This is at the heart of the stories of refugees everywhere and at all times. They relay on others to see what is happening to them and to act in response. This is certainly a passage to have students respond to. I might prompt students to think about how to be actively involved in seeing what might otherwise be invisible to them in the world.