My students need a class set of this intriguing book by Rebecca Skloot that will work to improve their reading skills and also focus on STEM education.
How many teenagers like to read? Okay, how many teenage boys like to read for pleasure and I mean more than comic books? This book may just be the hook for all teenagers alike as it leads the way for discussion on who really owns your cells? You, your family, or the people who researched cures.
My students are a mix of freshman who come from over 75 different grade schools around the city.
They often are the only one from their neighborhood that has to travel so far and so early on public transportation to reach their school. They have a full load of seven classes each year and start earlier and end later during the school day then their counterparts in their neighborhood. My students have a low reading ability and often do not have opportunities to visit the library at night because of safety or no one at home to take them there. I also have a large Hispanic population wherein my students are the only English speaking person in their household.
My Project
The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks delves into an amazing true story of a young African American woman whose cells where harvested and used for research without her knowledge. It is an amazing read and compliments my lessons on cells so well. By reading this book in class, my students not only get to improve reading skills, reinforce their knowledge of science content but also dig deep into themselves and explore ethics, socioeconomic issues, past and current medical practices, the treatment of women and the separate but "equal" treatment of races during this time period. It also allows them the opportunity to think, reflect, discuss, and debate, whether something done for the common good is more important than the self. Who owns your medical waste? Is it still yours or the facility where you are being treated? Do you have a right to profit from someones research if they are using your cells?
These are such important questions and by exposing my students to the issues brought forth in this book, my students get the opportunity to see science common alive and touch them on a personal level.
I will be able to bring current STEM issues into the class in a challenging and thought provoking way. This project will help my students look at society and begin to understand the impact their personal views may have on the lives of others. I want them to talk at the dinner table about the book.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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