Need online book group partners -- High School -- A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

I am working with a high school book group and we are looking for partners to enter into a discussion around the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. We are an urban high school and the book group is made up of a diverse group of students. A class or group of students from a third world country would be ideal but the book is so powerful, insights from anywhere would be welcome. Our students begin reading or listening to the book next week: October 6th. It will last probably until the then of first semester. As a librarian, I hope to post initial prompting questions and am thinking that some will involve the theme of forgiving oneself and others for childhood events. Can anyone out there gather a group of students together to share the experience of this powerful book?

Tags: book, discussion, high, school

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Permalink Reply by Robin Von Schwarz on October 12, 2008 at 7:31pm

Hi,

If I don't get laid off this week, (Dallas is laying off around 550 teachers), my students will begin reading "A Long Way Gone" tomorrow, October 13. Most of my students are either Hispanic or African American, though I have one student from Sierra Leone, and most are ELL. I know that my student from Sierra Leone has been in the U.S. about 4 years, so he would have left when he was 11 or 12. He is my only concern in reading Ishmael Beah's book. I am not sure if it will make him uncomfortable or not.

Most of my students, because they are ELL, need a lot of work on grammar, but should be able to express themselves well enough to share their experiences reading the book. I know you are looking for students from a third-world country, but if you don't get any other responses, let me know. Thanks! Robin Von Schwarz

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Lawrence on October 13, 2008 at 6:31am

That is awesome. We will talk to anyone. I need to talk to my IT department about the medium we will use to chat. We have moodle, but I don't believe that guests can comment. Ning is blocked but Classroom 2.0 should have been opened up. I know that PB wiki has a new feature allowing you to have a very controlled classroom setup where only the teacher gets the mailbox. What are your preferences?
Thanks so much for responding. I am going to email the principal and teacher involved in this project.
Kathy

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Permalink Reply by Jacob Polgar on December 10, 2008 at 8:24pm

I am a student at North Forsyth High School and we are reading the book A Long Way Gone and I will talk with my teacher about the online book discussions

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Lawrence on December 11, 2008 at 6:48am

Thanks Jacob. One group of students at our high school has already finished the book. I had a whole online experience going in Moodle but unfortunately the school that responded in Texas never got online. There is another group of our students reading the book though and I would be happy to try again with your school. Put me in touch with your teacher - my email is k_lawrence(at)chuh.org.