Surviving the Dystopia: Helping Students Endure the Emotions of Growing Up, Interacting with

Others, and Decision Making Through Narrative

An Advance Towards Technology Integration

Miranda Williams

Greenfield Junior High School

 CLASSROOM PROJECT PROPOSAL

My philosophy of teaching is that each student longs to discover the world, and will rise

to the occasion to learn when given the correct resources and encouragement. Each teacher has

the obligation to support questions and student exploration, facilitate class participation and

group collaboration, make teaching materials relevant to students, and respect mistakes. Every

student comes from a different background, provides a different perspective, and both requires

and wishes for different knowledge. This fact should be acknowledged and adhered to.

With bringing an open and flexible outlook on education, high expectations for students,

and an authenticity of character, I hope to ensure students feel welcome to participate, discuss,

and connect the information in a way that is relevant to their individual lives. This will

emphasize the importance of knowledge over grade. I will incorporate a multitude of discussion

strategies, a grading system with emphasis on individual improvement and student-involvement,

and activities that both include group participation and self-discovery, to promote a classroom

with a focus on passion, curiosity, and positive learning.

Though this philosophy has been a constant work-in-progress over the past two years, I

have implemented the many drafts of it at the schools I have taught at. Currently, I teach eighth

grade English at Greenfield Junior High School as well as seventh and eighth grade journalism

and creative writing. I also teach a first year/freshmen English (ENG 101) class at Mesa

Community College. Before attaining my current teaching positions, I worked in a third grade

classroom as a Spanish translator and ELL tutor. Here, I aimed to utilize several methods of

teaching and meet the students at their levels and interests. Furthermore, I also offered one-on-

one tutoring to High School students who wanted to become more educated on creative
writing—again, a highly individual and case-by-case subject—prior to teaching at Mesa

Community College and Greenfield Junior High.

Greenfield Junior High is located in Gilbert, Arizona within the Gilbert Public Schools

district. The population is evenly split between male and female, and the primary races are as

followed: white/Caucasian, Latino/a, Asian. The community at this school is both welcoming

and diverse, offering a variety of sports, academic, and liberal and fine arts related electives and

events. They also encourage connected and synchronous content areas, meaning History and

English are clustered together—both by location and the time they are held in the students’

schedule—as well as Science and Math. Students go to one class in one of the clusters and then

go to the next class in the same cluster, and content tends to be linked together with the guidance

of their teachers. For example, a book they are reading in English might be compared to a time in

history in their History class. This is a support that the school provides because this organization

of classes promotes critical and active thinking, encourages literacy across all content areas, and

reinforces information learned in other classes.

Greenfield Junior High also provides a multitude of other supports for their students.

With technology, they provide each of their students with a Chrome Book with an installed

agenda and calendar where they can see their test dates, homework assignments, and project

deadlines. Having their laptop allows students to do online homework on-time and efficiently,

and allows equal opportunity for online projects, research, and tutoring resources. The students

are also provided with a plethora of researching tools at their library including audio books,

documentaries, and many non-fiction book selections.

Furthermore, with the sharp incline of students with anxiety and depressive disorders,

Greenfield offers several mental health resources. Each student is given a stress
management/relief page that is to stay in their binder the duration of the year, and the school

hosts many anxiety, depression, and suicide prevention assemblies and activities to ensure their

students are safe. This idea of teaching “non-academic” subjects to the students in order to

support them does not stop there. Greenfield also partakes in an activity called “Functional

Fridays” in which a section of one of their classes is dedicated to teaching them a life skill such

as budget planning, applying for a job, or reading a map.

Greenfield Junior High is not only concerned with supporting their students

academically, but emotionally and personally.

SUMMARY OF PROJECT AND IMPACT

At Greenfield Junior High, preparing students for their future as both a student and a

human-being is vital. They emphasize the importance of relating content to the real world with

activities I mentioned such as “Functional Friday’s” and school assemblies. Greenfield Junior

High not only aims to ensure that students become academically successful, but that they also

achieve a degree of emotional maintenance and stability. They believe that success means

nothing if one is not also happy. Due to this mindset, many lessons, especially in English relate

to evaluating mental health, mental processes, and emotions. With the project, I plan to

implement, I would like to maintain the trend that Greenfield imposes; I would like to have

students answer the question: How can we, as individuals, take responsibility of our emotions?

With this question, I hope students can begin to understand why they and others feel the way the

feel and, in turn, do the things they do. This topic can relate to several aspects of English content

including characterization, narrative writing, and deductive reasoning. Ultimately, this project
will facilitate mental stability, encourage empathy, and help students gain an understanding of

themselves.

My project will be administered over a course of ten days and will require students to

complete tasks both at home and in class. The primary assignment for this class will be a digital

journal in which students take on the role of a fictional character they have chosen in there

literature circle book; they will record the emotions, decisions, and interactions with other

characters as they move through the narrative. Before starting the journal, they will establish

their character’s background and traits which they think will affect the characters actions through

a character outlining assignment. With this, students can analyze how people’s feeling and

decisions change based on their personality and experiences. And by understanding and

analyzing their character, they will be able to understand themselves and others, thus creating a

sense of empathy through comparing their situation to the situation of others and self-reflecting.

The lesson will also cover several eighth-grade standards such as CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.W.8.3, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.3.B, and CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.3.

This project won’t require many materials. In fact, most of them are already provided by

Greenfield Junior High minus the class sets of the literature circle books selected. With this

project, I hope to allow students to explore the inner workings of their brain. What has led them

to certain points. I think this will leave a long-lasting sense of self, empathy, and understanding

of people. Overall, this promotes Greenfield’s goal of establishing mental stability within their

students. Furthermore, with the teachers of Greenfield, this project will encourage a greater

understanding and respect for their students. This project could start a conversation about being

brave enough to come to an adult when students need help. It will instill a sense of emotional
intelligence in all people involved. When a person thinks about why they are doing or feeling

certain things, they begin to make smarter and less impulsive decisions.

Regarding the community, I plan to have students present their digital journals at the

school bookfair where all of their literature circle books will be sold. With this presentation, I

hope that the attention to mental health and psychology will reach a wider audience. This might

provoke a questions in other students, parents, siblings, administers: how do they take

responsibility over their life and what led them to this point? This question and this project

brings up the topic of values: establishing what matters to oneself and how what matters

ultimately has to correlate with their goals. For example, if one wants to lose weight, they must

have a value such as “being a healthy person” or “doing what is best for your body.” Creating

values and goals is a skill that many people do not realize the importance of. This project, I hope,

might show that importance or at least encourage a sense of self-reflection.

 PROJECT NARRATIVE

The over-arching question of this project will be: How can we, as individuals, take responsibility

of our emotions? But we will utilize smaller, more manageable questions to get to that point. For

a majority of these assignments, students will be using their Chromebooks which are provided by

the school.

DAY ONE (MON): What makes a person a person? Through answering this question,

students will be able to list and describe the fundamental qualities of a character. The content of

this lesson will be a power-point about character and character qualities and a worksheet in

which students explore and explain the qualities and background of one of their favorite

characters. This will engage student interest in the overall qualities because it is making the

lesson personal. It will also cover standard CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.3 and ISTE educator

standard 5a. The activity we will complete, the character outline sheet, will force students to

think about the individual qualities that make a person, thus contributing to the over-arching

question. On the first day, we will also assign reading groups so that students can begin to read

the content necessary to complete the project.

DAY TWO (TUES): What are my qualities? Through discussing their protagonist in their

book and comparing themselves to the protagonist, students will be able to identify primary

personality traits. They will use their knowledge from the previous day on qualities to aid them.

In their bell work, students will answer the question: how would my best friend describe me?

This will spark interest in the topic. As a class, we will do a word map on our primary character

qualities and then do macro share where each student will talk about why they chose what they

chose. This will lend its self to our later activity having to do with narrative writing and adheres

to ISTE Educator standard 5a and 4b.

 DAY THREE (WED): What are my characters’ qualities? For bell work, students will

answer a question relating to the qualities of other people and how they react to the qualities of

others. With their literature circles, students will be able to report aspects of their characters the

found in the first 30 pages of their assigned novel. They will then work together to create a

“Instagram account” for one character in their book with five images and captions. This adheres

to ISTE educator standard 3b and will present the link between our qualities and actions. As

homework, the student will begin their Padlet journal. They will post two to three images

relating to the characters primary qualities on their Padlet wall.

DAY FOUR (THURS): How does my character and I depict our qualities? Students will

be able to analyze how they and their characters show their emotions and qualities through their

actions. Their bell work will be a question phrased as “tell about a time you were too [insert

emotion here].” In class, they will then share their homework and write their first “character

journal.” They will pick an event in the story to write about in the character’s voice. They will

talk about the characters actions during this event, connecting how they felt to their actions. For

example, if a student has The Hunger Games, they could say “During the reaping, I volunteered

as a tribute. I have always been protective of my little sister. It might have been an impulsive

decision, but I do not regret it (stubborn).” The purpose of the journal is to evaluate why a

character did what they did based on who they are. This covers standards CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.W.8.3, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.3.B, and CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.3. and

ISTE students’ standards 4b and 6c.

DAY FIVE (FRI): Why does my character have the qualities that they have? Using the

previous knowledge of their character’s qualities, students will relate exposition of the character

to their emotional trends and qualities. For bell work, in order to relate this lesson to themselves,
students will answer the question “what was a fundamental or important event in my life?” They

will then write a second journal entry about how an event in their life changed their characters’

life. To go with the Katniss example again, a student could say “when my father died in a coal

mining accident, I became very independent and cautious.” Of course, these examples are

essentially thesis statements. Student journal entries should be much longer. This will promote

an understanding of self and encourage the implementation of a self-reflective process. Again,

this covers standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.3 and CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.3.B, and

ISTE students’ standards 4b and 6c.

DAY SIX (MON): How do my character’s qualities and backgrounds change their goals

and decisions? Students will be able to identify the goals of their character and pair them with

the emotions and qualities of their character. For example, Katniss wants to save Peeta because

she is protective. I would like to allow students to explore this question in relation to themselves

as well by doing a class Peardeck activity discussing their goals and how they came to this goal.

This will transition into my next day, and cover ISTE student standards 6c and 7a. At home, I

will have them add a “goal” image to their Padlet and have them take the “enneagram

personality” test as a hook for the next day.

DAY SEVEN (TUES): How do (my) values change a (my) person’s decisions? Students

will be able to judge how values—what a person to believes to be important—can also shape

actions. With this, students might attain a sense of what is a good and bad value. On this day, we

will do some research on values. They will research the topic of how are values can impact us.

They will each contribute to a class Google slides and present their slide in macro share

(CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.1 and CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.1.B). This adheres to ISTE

standards 3a-d. For homework, students will add a “values” entry to their Padlet: they have a

choice of doing a written entry, a set of images, or a video diary.

DAY EIGHT (WED): What could have my character done differently in a situation?

Students will be able to construct a narrative of how a character might altered a crucial event in

the book if they would have emoted a different way. They will record this narrative in their

Padlet journals. In groups, they will discuss a time in which they could have shown their own

emotions in a different way. This activity forces students to take ownership and responsibility

over their circumstances regardless of what got them there (backgrounds, emotions etc.) They do

an online discussion board in their literature circles to get feedback on their narrative. (ISTE

student 6c and 7c). Students will finish their book before the next class period.

DAY NINE (THURS): How does emotion both benefit and sabotage my character and

myself? Students will be able to create a short team research project on how emotions can hurt or

help us. They will create a team Padlet or Prezi depicting their findings. They will also give an

example in their book about when their protagonist has a run-in with particularly strong

emotions. For their bell work, students will relate the same questions to themselves. All of these

reflective assignments encourage an understanding of emotional processes. (CCSS.ELA-

LITERACY.W.8.1 and CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.1 B and ISTE 7a and 1c). For homework,

students will create a final journal entry in response to the ending events of the book.

DAY TEN (FRI): Why is it beneficial to understand our emotional processes? Students

will be able to develop a conclusion to their project explaining why it can be important to

understand the connection of emotion, ourselves, and our actions. This will put a bow on top of

the present, so to speak, and will encourage students to pursue the topic further in the future.

They will record their answers in a discussion board and respond to their peers. In their response,
they will also suggest a method for continuing their pursuit of emotional intelligence. They will

present their journals at the book fair the following week.

BUDGET

 Seven copies of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - $70 (Barnes and Noble)

 Seven copies of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews - $70 (Barnes and

Noble)

 Seven copies of Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli - $56 (Barnes and Noble)

 Seven copies of Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake - $70 (Barnes and Noble)

 Individual Chromebooks – already provided

 Padlet application - free

 Google Slides - free

 Prezi (optional) - free

 Four Podiums – already provided

 Four table cloths - $8 (Wal-Mart)

 Snacks and refreshments for each table - $30 (Wal-Mart)

 Four Samsung 7’ tablets for presentation - $550 (Best Buy)

 Pear-Deck – free

TOTAL: $854

The primary costs of my project are the sets of books and tablets. The sets of each book

mentioned are necessary to ensure that students have the material required to succeed with their

literature circles. In order to participate in discussion and create their Padlet journal, students
need to have the book available to them. I have also asked for a set of for tablets as a

presentation tool. I think these would not only be helpful for this project, but also for projects in

the future. Since we are presenting at a book fair, it would be convenient to set up the tablets on a

podium for visitors to flip through the Padlet documents. Additionally, I would like to provide

snacks as an incentive for parents, students, and administrators to support the students. For

funding, I would first work with my PTA to set up a raffle fundraiser. Since I live in a rich

district, it is plausible to think that parents could donate prizes for a raffle, then parents and

administers could buy raffle tickets. I could also try DonorsChoose.com for the funding by

arguing why this project would be beneficial for both students and the community. Lastly, since

these are all relatively popular books. I could contact second hand bookstores and students to see

if they are willing to donate a book to the class.