Module 1 Description
What can we learn from those who have survived the greatest tragedies and become even more determined to help others? How can we share these kinds of stories to inspire and educate? In this module, students develop their ability to analyze narratives and create their own stories as they learn about the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan and the lessons revealed through their journeys.
Students begin Unit 1 reading the novel A Long Walk to Water. The focus of the reading is on how the setting shapes the characters and plot, how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters in the text, and how themes are developed throughout the story. As they analyze and discuss the text, students also create discussion norms in order to have productive discussions about the text at the end of the unit.
Students begin Unit 2 researching to answer the questions generated while reading A Long Walk to Water during Unit 1, including questions about the Lost Girls of Sudan. While researching, they determine two or more central ideas in informational texts and provide objective summaries of them. Students also watch clips of the documentary God Grew Tired of Us about The Lost Boys of the Sudan, analyzing the main ideas and supporting details and explaining how the ideas clarify what they have been researching. In the second half of the unit, students write a compare and contrast essay looking at how an informational text about the Lost Children of Sudan and the novel treat similar subject matter.
Students begin Unit 3 comparing A Long Walk to Water to the audiobook version of the text, exploring how authors and readers develop tone, mood, and expression. Students draw on this exploration as they start the second half of the unit, planning and then writing a narrative children's ebook about a Lost Boy or Girl of Sudan. Through mini lessons and independent planning work, students focus on developing characters, settings, plot points, and narrative techniques such as pacing, description, and dialogue. For their performance task, students refine their narratives and convert them into ebooks to publish and share with others, especially elementary school children.
Notes from the Designer
A Long Walk to Water contains references to sensitive topics such as war (including the violent death of family members and children), displacement, family separation, hunger, dehydration (including death from lack of water), refugee camps, violent deaths from wild animals, and serious illness of family members. These issues must be carefully and sensitively discussed to give students context as they read the story. Speak with students and families in advance, especially those who may have sensitivity to topics discussed.
The ebook edition of Nasreen's Secret School is used as a model for the Grade 7: Module 1 Performance Task, for which students create an illustrated ebook to share with a younger audience. If students will be completing this task using digital tools, the ebook should be procured as a model. If digital tools for the Performance Task are unavailable, a copy of the print edition (978-1416994374) can be substituted to support students in making a picture book on paper.
Guiding Questions and Big Ideas
Who are the Lost Children of Sudan, and what is their story?
The second Sudanese civil war displaced millions of people, including hundreds of thousands of Lost Boys and thousands of Lost Girls who walked through Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of a safe haven.
Some of the Lost Boys were sent to the United States to begin new lives in safety.
Most of the Lost Girls remained in the refugee camps, many of them working as unpaid servants for refugee families and/or being married off against their will.
What are the habits of character the Lost Children used to survive?
The Lost Children persevered to overcome the hardships of war, starvation, thirst, displacement, and threats by wild animals. Many of them show respect, empathy, and integrity as they help each other survive these same hardships. Some of them have also become leaders in the United States or in their home country (like Salva and his organization Water for South Sudan), using their strengths to help others grow, helping care for their environment and shared spaces, and using their learning to do so.
In Sudan there are water scarcity issues, which means many people do not have easy access to clean water. As a result, most girls and women persevere to walk all day to get water. They also show empathy and respect as they care for others as many people get sick from dirty water, which is the only water readily available.
Text
Nasreen's Secret School by Jeanette Winter (1 per classroom)
Brothers in Hope by Mary Williams (1 per classroom)
God Grew Tired of Us (DVD) by Christopher Quinn (director) - (1 per classroom)
A Long Walk to Water (Audiobook) by Linda Sue Park (1 per classroom)
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (1 per student)
Other Resources for this Module
Here is a guide to schema-building texts about Sudan, including texts that look at the role of colonialism in creating modern conflict.
Check out supplemental texts available on Sora for this module.
Designated ELD for this Module
The Designated ELD lessons in each module are designed to teach English Language Learner students the language they will need to complete the unit and module written tasks. Students "interact in meaningful ways" (CA ELD Standards Part I) as they "learn about how English works" (CA ELD Standards Part II) in the texts and tasks of the unit. Key to the lessons are the language play and discovery combined with abundant oral and written practice and application. For more detail and for understanding the big picture across the module, see Grade 7 Module 1 Designated ELD Scope and Sequence.
See Unit level for lessons.
module_lessons.7.1-G7_Module1_TeacherGuide.pdf