Diversity with the Night

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

Students learn by doing, by applying what they learn into some sort of project. The goal, however, is not to produce something primarily for a grade, but to truly embody the topic by enjoying what they are learning. "Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." ~John Dewey.

My school is very large: we have upwards of 2,500 students.

Although we are a big school, the administrators and educators uphold the ideals of a rigorous, but nurturing classroom environments for all of our students. We find success in many areas, including the English department where we are using the Springboard curriculum as a basis for all of our teachings and learning. The curriculum is able to reach a wide variety of students, whether it be learning styles or learning levels. The students are capable and willing to learn all that they can, and prefer to be challenged in the classroom rather than be coddled. There are some very talented students, however, who need more to quench their longing for critical thinking and analysis of any sort of topic. We, at the school, are making all attempts to satisfy the needs of all of our students by giving them opportunities to learn about a variety of topics, and grow as individuals. We believe in the success of all students.

My Project

"Night", by Elie Wiesel, is not the happiest book to ever be read in the classroom; it can actually be downright depressing. However, when the students read this book in class, their level of engagement goes up. They feel a connection to young Elie, who was the same age as they are now. They are forced to envision life as he did through character-journals, symbolic writings, and other activities. They learn about the horrors people had to live through, and understand that this is not a one time kind of event. We look at the evil, but we also look at the heroism of individuals. To understand the enormity of this event, the students lead a Holocaust Memorial activity. Flags are made, in colors reflecting the groups that were persecuted, and posted on campus. This visual memorial not only reveals how many people were affected by the Holocaust, but it informs the rest of the school as well. Through all of this, the students learn about the past, the present, the future, and themselves.

Learning about the Holocaust, World War II, and a whole other slew of things through this book gives the students a chance to focus on diversity, and how people react to various situations.

Some will be able to relate to the prejudices, as well as becoming aware of the effect of those prejudices. Reading "Night" will open their eyes to this type of effect, and can teach them about how bullying people, at any level and for any reason, can explode into a very negative situation.