The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
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Transcript The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
The Boy Who
Harnessed The Wind
Connections Instructor Training April 2013
Thematic Approach
This novel is comprised of three themes:
Magic
Science
Famine
Themes can allow for different teaching approaches
Basic Teaching
Approaches
Jigsaw
Assign each student a group of three
Give each student a number designation 1 to 3
Send each member of the group to a larger group where they
discuss and learn about one of the main aspects of novel.
Students then return to their original group
Students are responsible for teaching the rest of their original
group
In other words, they are the ‘expert’ of one main aspect of the
novel
Basic Teaching
Approaches Cont.
Fishbowl
Three students with opinions on a thematic topic are selected
Students circle around the three students and form a ‘fishbowl’
The circled students can ‘jump into’ the center group of three if
they have something to say
Basic Teaching
Approaches Cont.
Small group discussions
Give each group a passage or theme to discuss
Ask students to report back to the entire class about their topic
Engage the entire class in an overall discussion of the topic
Basic Teaching
Approaches Cont.
Think, Pair, Share
Give students a topic to think about
Give them time to think about their response
Pair them up with a fellow student and have them discuss their
thoughts
Start a classroom discussion
All students should have something to say; encourage discussion
Themes: Famine
Many challenges possible:
Students are possibly unfamiliar with how it feels to not have
food
Inability to relate personally may lead to fruitless discussions
However, the novel offers a good atmosphere for understanding
and empathizing with Famine
Utilize student empathy to engage them in the topic
To get the ball rolling, tap into everyday student behavior
Famine Teaching Tools:
Food Journal
A food journal is a record of all the food a person eats during a
period of time. Journals include:
Food quantity
Time eaten
Money spent
Calories
Students gain awareness of their own food intake
May promote understanding of the severity of famine & what the
characters endured
Famine Teaching Tools:
Cook a Traditional Meal
Using your budget from the Connections program, cook a meal
approximating the size of a famine meal
Use the novel as a guide to food quantity
Gives students a hands on approach to understanding food quantity
Students can estimate their likelihood of survival
Students can also estimate the likelihood of family groups surviving
Famine Teaching Tools:
Interactive Ideas
Ask the Dietician from the Student Health and Wellness Center to
come talk to your class about the physical and mental issues
surrounding famine.
Ask a refugee or international student from a third world country
come speak to your class about their experiences.
Ask relief workers or volunteers come to your classroom and
discuss their experiences with famine and other disasters.
Themes: Science
Science is representative of:
1) hard work
2) innovation
3) determination
Students understand these larger concepts from their own lives
Tapping into these themes is fairly simple
Write a journal about a time these concepts changed the
outcome of something in their lives
In small groups, discuss their anticipated lives in college and
how these concepts apply
Science Teaching Tools:
Removing Technology
Technology is integral within the novel.
Removing technology can demonstrate technology’s impact:
At the beginning of one day leave the lights and computer off
Ask them to turn in their electronics
Some students will resist; be adamant that they will get them
back
Run class without technology without explaining to the students
why
Discuss how it changed their perceptions of classroom & school
work
Science Teaching Tools:
Interactive Ideas
Discuss the importance of technology in our current society and
how we use and misuse it.
Current examples from the media will be useful here
Have a professor or graduate student in Engineering give a brief
demonstration of windmill and electronic technology.
Have students log their technology usage in their day to day life.
Lead a discussion about how technology is both useful and detrimental
Lead a discussion about ‘how much technology is too much?’
Themes: Magic
Magic, like science, is representative of familial and social
traditions.
William’s family, tribe, and city are steeped in magical ideas
Magic tends to explain some of the societal issues within
Africa and Malawi
Even though students may not be steeped in magic, they
understand tradition
Utilize their familiarity with tradition to relate to the novel
Magic Teaching Tools:
Oral Stories
Students will all have stories from their own lives that are passed
down by oral tradition.
Have students write a one page story from their lives
Let a few intrepid students present their stories in class
Tell students to present in ‘campfire mode’
Speak as if they were around a camp fire presenting these ideas
Magic Teaching Tools:
Oral Stories Cont.
Once finished with their stories, ask students to review them:
Evaluate objectively
Look for exaggerations and overstatements
Students start to see that magic, like our exaggerations, helps to
present a different perspective
Open a class discussion on why stories are important to every
culture
How does their own culture use stories socially?
Magic Teaching Tools:
Interactive Ideas
Visit the Anthropology and/or Art museum and discuss what stories
are told through the presented artifacts or artworks.
Ask a Folklore professor discuss the importance of stories and their
utility.
Ask students to compose and tell a collective narrative about their
connections class.
Each student uses one sentence that will build on the sentence of the
previous person
Questions and Discussion