Final project-My Lesson Plan

For my final project in this class I chose to create a curriculum based on African Literture. Since I am hoping to become a teacher after I graduate I based this on the grade I want to teach. My course is geared towards junior AP English students who which to pick up my class as an elective. I had many ideas for this project but my true feelings and concepts came out when I was typing my final draft up.
For this course I have made the class a writing intensive class with a lot of emphasis on current events and common issues. I would like my students to complete two current events a week which would be similar to how we have done blogging in this class. My students would have to write half a page about they read about or learned about and submit it to me, the teacher. My students would also have a paper due a week with an exception of the first week. The papers that they write for this class are all part of the final project I have developed. So in total my students will have written five papers by the end of the semester. I chose four of the five topics: introduction to Africa, a paper on a certain country, a paper on child soldiers which they should tie the books they have read into, a paper on what is being done to help the people of Africa, and then I left the final topic up to my students.
Though there may be a lot of write for this class there will also be other activites for them to enjoy. I have planned to have a guest speaker come in and talk to my class. The speaker I have "lined up" has lived in Africa and wants to discuss with them who it is like to live there, what the housing is like, the crime, and social issues like AIDs awareness. On top of that I will also be taking my students on a field trip to Chicago. Like I mentioned in one of my exploration the Field Museum in Chicago had a large exhibit on Africa. So I planned to take my students there for the day and let them see first had some artifacts and pictures from Africa. My curriculum has many more elements these are just a few that I wanted to share with you. This assignment was a great learning experience and I enjoyed writing it.

Child Soldiers

Child soldiers are not a no idea in todays' world. This concept has been in places for way to long and finally people are starting to talk out about it and do something. In the past few years there have been many orginizations set up to try and help the youth of Africa. These groups provide help to those who have been attacked, those who were child soldiers, and also they are working on bring to justice those rebels who have allowed youth in combat.
I say these groups but who do i mean...There are many out there but here are just a few:
1. "SOS Childrens Villages" which helps children in need and tries to give them the love and care they need. They have four prinicples and those are every child needs a mother, every child grows up most naturally with brothers and sisters, each child has a home and each child grows up within a supportive village environment.
2. "Outside the Dream" which works in Uganda and offers edcation to orphans, the homeless, and former child soldier. This project is based on volenteer support.
3. "International Medical Corps." this project was the most interesting not only do they try and help child soldiers overcome there horrible times and battles with mental health but they also focus on other areas. They also help spread awareness for AIDS/HIV and health care.

These programs may not be the answer to this problem but they are a start.

Johnny Mad Dog

Johnny Mad Dog illistrates for us the horror of the rebel army child soldiers but also gives us a look at the other side. This book is effective because of the dual narrators showing you both sides of the story. The two main characters Johnny Mad Dog and Laokole are both about the same age but have very different views on life. Johnny just wants to be an intellectual and in charge while Laokole just wants finish high school and keep her family safe. They both present of us with inner stories which adds to the big picture.
Johnny Mad Dog was very intersting. Since we got to look into his inner thoughts it was easy to tell something wasn't quite right. Mad Dog would convince himself of something that wasn't true and this happened on numerous occasions. We really don't learn a lot of truths from him; we don't even know how long he really was in school.
This novel not only was able to show us both sides of the story but it also enlighted us with what was really happening in the attacks. It was bothersome that the people there seemed used to the attacks and raids. Because of Laokole story we are able to see how they hid the things they can't carry and had decoys for important things. Mad Dog shows us the crulty of raids when he rapes women and shoots people down in the middle of the road. The life these children are leading are hard unchanging lives. These attacks need to end.
What gets me the most is that these things actually happen and there isn't an end in sight. Young children are given guns and basically told go have fun shoot anything. This abuse of children and life needed to be stopped. This novel is eye opening.

The Bleeding of the Stone

This was my first time reading this book and it has turned into one of my favorites of the semester. I found this novel to be a bit confusing at times with the mixed up timeline and the unusual names. Asouf, the main character, was my favorite character and the life he lead was inspiring.
It was odd to read about Asouf and his family when it's compared to the other readings we have done this semester. Most of the other novels we have read were about the community or showed aspects of it. This novel was more about the individual and ones inner thoughts and turmoil. Asouf and his family lived in the desert and had little to no interaction with other people. This was his fathers belief and doing. From what I understood it seemed that he found this the only way to escape the evils of others. Based on this life of secluction Asouf did not know how to deal with other people and when he did he was to shy to talk. For this is mother called him a girl, it didn't really help the situation.
Another theme I found in this novel was that of biblical thought or comparison. The author Ibrahim Al-Koni could have based this story off of the bible. There are stories or references to things such as the great flood, Cain-the murderous brother of Able, crusifiction, the endless deserts and there were also many biblical quotes. Al-Koni did a spendid job intigrating these examples into his novel. I liked it because it shows us that Christianity has been picked up in Africa and with things such as this novel, it is spreading and being accepted.

Energy Consumption in Africa

When Africa is compared to other continents we can see that it has the lowest energy comsumption rate. Even thought Africa uses energy in all of its day to day activites it's rank as a third world country places it at the bottom of the totum poll in comsumption. But that doesnt mean it's not the rest of the world they to have to deal with economic development, basic living standards and the need for energy.The rates of energy consumption are constantly changing due to things such as advances in technology or population growth. Since technology isn't as advanced in Africa many still rely on wood and charcoal as a source of energy. But, even with those changing rates Africa just can't compete with the more developed continents. Africa also holds the rank as lowest in the world average TOE (ton of oil uquivalant) they only have 0.6 ton per capita. "This is three times less than the average, seven times less than in Europe and fifteen times less than America." (ADEA-ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENERGY IN AFRICA)

According to the US Department of Energy (1991):Per capita modern energy consumption has been declining over the last 10 years and is set to decline even further as population continues to increase and electricity generation continues to show a downward trend. The generation of hydrogen-based electricity has dropped by more than 20 per cent in the past decade.

According to the ADEA: If one considers that the Republic of South Africa accounts for 40% of Africa's energy consumption on its own and that North African countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) also have a relatively high level of demand, this means that the average consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa is so low that it does not make possible the economic development required to reduce poverty.

A few plans have been put into action for developing energy in Africa. There are going to be attempts to bring populations who have been left out into a commercial system of energy. There are going to be attempts at numerous actions to make this happen. They hope to make produce that would be easier to recycle while promoting natural gas consumptions which is an abundant reource in parts of Africa. These are just a couple of the plans that are hoped to go into effect.

Waiting for an Angel part 2

There are two themes that really stuck out to me in this novel. To be honest I don't really know if we can call them themes but the subject of religion and how Africans have worked numerous values of the American social culture into their own lives.

Christianity seems to fill these characters hearts and beliefs for even when they are at their darkest moment there is some sort of biblical reference or comparison made. The most powerful bibical reference I found was when Lomba was taken out of solitute to help the warden but in return the warden doesn't release him for his own selfish reasons. "He was just man. Man is his basic, rudimentary state, easily moved by powerful emotions like love, lust, anger, greed and fear, but totally dumb to the finer, aquired emotions like pity, mercy, humour and justice."(pg. 41). We all have a self vain running through us and we can see this in the quote made, we are just man.

In the chapter, "The Angel," we are given many glances as African Christian views there is even reference to the winged angel with flight. The man who is shot and killed talks about death and the beliefs of christians as if he could feel no pain, as if the angel were blocking him from the harshness of reality." He made his death out to be heroic or christian like, he compared it to the christians in the Colosseum. Thought I disagree with the idea of waiting for death, asking for it, I found his faith to be inspiring.

Religion wasn't the only thing that stood out to me it was America and Europe in Africa. African people, or at least the ones in this novel seem to be seeking the comforts of other coutries achievements. They were finally able to dream, to obtain their desires. Bola's sisters wanted jobs (broadcasting for CNN, a fashion designer) that not to long ago Africans could only dream of. It gives me hope hearing these dreams. Because now, unlike a time not to long ago, they have a chance at reaching them. Though there are still not every family is as well off as Bola's but it's a start.

Waiting for an Angel part 1

This was my first time reading, Waiting for an Angel, and so far I've found it to be disturbing but informative. The writing style threw me off a bit at first with a bit of character confusing and story placement. For those exact reasons this books seems more powerful than it would be if it were written with a single storyline through time. Coming in behind that I find the characters to be the mutually interesting and informative.

Lomba from what i've already witnessed is a man of many stories and great talent. I found the poetry to be very powerful in meaning and are a great way of showing emotion. The part in the first charter where he places an S.O.S. his poetry is a desperate but beautiful way of showing how he knew he wasn't going to escape, "It was just a message in a bottle, thrown without much hope into the sea..."(pg39). The cells here both on a regular day or a day in solitude are a place of hell that for these people inescapable.

In the second chapter, the story of "The Angel," though I do not yet know who the character is; I can't help but dislike him. I did like the story of the fortune teller but the way this character faced death seemed wasteful to me. Yes, he may have felt death coming but he did not have to walk right into it. All I could find in this character is weakness and to much trust in the "beliefs/predictions" of another.