Reflection
This multigenre project was actually pretty difficult for me to create. I wasn't sure what to expect because I had never heard of this type of project before, but I didn't anticipate how hard it would be to try to create so many different projects from one text, especially a young adult novel. The Hate U Give is a rich novel but I still found it difficult to come up with ways to respond to all the different prompts for the genres. Part of this stems from the fact that as a high school and undergraduate student I rarely responded to texts through genres other than essays or papers, and I never produced multiple genres for one specific text. I appreciated how responding to one text in all of these ways really forced me to think differently. I felt like I had to shift my brain from thinking artistically to analytically and many points in between.
I feel similarly about the question I posed (What power do individuals have to challenge systems of injustice?) as I did when I started this project. Then, and now, I feel like the answer is "it depends." I certainly was able to think more deeply about the question and the details of when and why it depends, but I think I might choose a more open-ended question if I was going to do this project again. I did like one direction I went with my question, which was to consider how specific individuals in the novel and in real life orient to the question. I found it interesting to consider all of the factors that go into one person's agency or lack thereof, and how it might change from one situation to another. I even incorporated that idea into a separate unit plan project.
I loved the endless possibilities for genres in this project. I certainly intend to give my students opportunities to demonstrate their thoughts and ideas about a text in ways other than an essay or paper. I also plan to challenge students to think in different ways through genres that may differ from what they are used to. For example, I found it natural to write a poem and paint a painting, but I struggled to think of ideas and make my ideas a reality for the infographic genre (Visualizing Militarization of Police). I learned from the struggle, so I want to make sure my students experience a balance of expressing themselves in ways that are comfortable to them and challenging themselves to learn in new ways.
I feel similarly about the question I posed (What power do individuals have to challenge systems of injustice?) as I did when I started this project. Then, and now, I feel like the answer is "it depends." I certainly was able to think more deeply about the question and the details of when and why it depends, but I think I might choose a more open-ended question if I was going to do this project again. I did like one direction I went with my question, which was to consider how specific individuals in the novel and in real life orient to the question. I found it interesting to consider all of the factors that go into one person's agency or lack thereof, and how it might change from one situation to another. I even incorporated that idea into a separate unit plan project.
I loved the endless possibilities for genres in this project. I certainly intend to give my students opportunities to demonstrate their thoughts and ideas about a text in ways other than an essay or paper. I also plan to challenge students to think in different ways through genres that may differ from what they are used to. For example, I found it natural to write a poem and paint a painting, but I struggled to think of ideas and make my ideas a reality for the infographic genre (Visualizing Militarization of Police). I learned from the struggle, so I want to make sure my students experience a balance of expressing themselves in ways that are comfortable to them and challenging themselves to learn in new ways.