Katie Plourde's students at Talbot Innovation Middle Schools were asked to go beyond their reading of the novel in Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson, and create an authentic Pakistani Student Handbook.  Using their new knowledge of the Pakistani culture through close reading of the novel, researching, and primary source documents, students collaborated to create a student handbook that could be used at Greg Mortenson's Korphe School, from the novel. Through their research students explored American school handbooks and expectations as model documents and gained a deeper understanding of the Pakistani culture by creating lunch menus containing authentic cuisine, culturally appropriate uniforms, and student schedules with consideration of the religious practices of the Pakistani people. Students were also asked to take on the voice of Mortenson and village leader, Haji Ali to create Mission and Welcoming statements. Students used online links prepared and shared in Google Drive and created and shared their handbooks using Google Drive as well. This lesson worked out so well that Katie is exploring other search engine tools to add to her units such as Google Custom Search. Students will continue  to use technology to produce and publish writing.


Classroom Samples:
Korphe School Handbook by Veronica, Jeremy and Jalen
Korphe Middle School by Yasnerris, Genesis and Thais

Korphe Middle School by Allah, Destiny and Alex