Teacher instructions for Golden Boy Unit:
I created this powerpoint to use with the novel, Golden Boy, by Tara Sullivan. It’s meant to be used as a read aloud, because I only had one copy. Other teachers since have used it as a read aloud and with students that have their own novel sets. It gives the kids visuals into a world they wouldn’t already know, and the journal entries help them explore some tough topics. At the end of the novel, my team of four teachers held an African day. Students could sign up for a station for the morning. We had two different African art projects, our music teacher taught African drumming, I was in the home ec room making ugali and Tanzanian stew with thirty students, and we had a google earth scavenger hunt of Africa. In the afternoon, we all came together to share our meal (stew and ugali) and hear stories from Africa.
During the novel study I arranged to skype with the author, Tara Sullivan, who was really wonderful. I also had Peter Ash from Under the Same Sun come to our school to speak with our students. If you can arrange to skype with Peter, I highly recommend it. He is a person with albinism, who grew up in Quebec, and has founded this incredible organization to help people with albinism in Africa. He can explain what it is like to be legally blind, to face discrimination, and what it takes to create an NGO. He has travelled to Tanzania countless times.
I would also recommend watching all the videos that are in the slide show before you show them to your students. You may decide that they aren’t appropriate for your group. Feel free to edit the slide show so that it works for you.