I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives (1)
photo by: AudioBookStore
I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives
Reviewed By: Cynthia, Katie, Amanda, and Sylvia
Review:
The novel, I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda is about a friendship that evolved with the exchange of letters. The story of these two remarkable people begins with the life changing decision that Caitlin made by deciding to become pen pals with an unknown student from Zimbabwe. Caitlin is twelve-years-old and your typical almost teenage girl who is interested in all the new fashion trends and worries very little with her school work. Besides knowing where Zimbabwe was located, Caitlin chose this location because she thought it sounded “exotic”. Halfway around the world, Martin Ganda lives in one of the poorest slums in Zimbabwe where going to school is a luxury that his parents can barely afford. Martin is fourteen-years-old at the beginning of their exchange of letters and because of his good grades he was one of the lucky few in his class to receive a pen pal. His interest has always been to be the best student at his school and his goal in life is to go to college in America. Their correspondence through letter writing continues through the span of six years. In those six years Caitlin and Martin grow learn about how different the world is for everyone and that through their friendship they were able to overcome the difficulties of life together. It is an eye-opening novel that broadens the view of the reader to look beyond what they have in their own life and to see the world at large.
The cultural differences between Caitlin and Martin opens up a perspective on the different ways that people live around the world. This autobiography drifts between the perspective of Caitlin in one chapter and then changes to the perspective of Martin in the other. By shifting views, their contrasting cultural and economic backgrounds become an experience that can be lived through the pages of their stories. They invoke a reality of a bigger world that many ignore because they are oblivious to the lives of others, other than themselves. The value of possessions is greatly enforced to express the importance that an object could hold to different cultures. In Martin’s culture, everyone works tirelessly for the little that they can get so that they may survive another day. A dollar in Zimbabwe can buy his family two weeks’ worth of groceries whereas a dollar in America can barely get someone a candy bar. On the other hand, Caitlin grew up in a place where things are much easier to come by because of the success of her country. By using their life’s story, they conjure up a clarity to the realities of the differences in cultures around the world that can enhance one’s ideas of how the world works. The novel shows the definition of hard work, kindness, and generosity due to the relentless actions that each of them took to help one another.
This book is a wonderful source of education for teachers to use for their students because it carries many life changing values. These values are characteristics that can potentially change someone’s way of living. Educators can help their students develop better appreciation for their education by allowing them to see that not everyone has the same access to school as they do. Through this novel, educators will be able to reach their students at a different level by encouraging them to expand their view on the world and their place in it.
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| Obtained by: Mother Nature Network. Photo: Martin Ganda and Caitlin Alifirenka) |
Biography:
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| Obtained from: The New York Times |
Caitlin Alifirenka (Stoicsitz):
Alifirenka was born in 1985 in Chestnuthill, Pennsylvania. At the age of 12, she began writing letters to her pen pal, Martin Ganda, which began a lifelong friendship. She attended Abington Memorial Hospital’s School of Nursing after graduating from North Penn High School in 2003. Alifirenka now lives just outside of Philadelphia with her husband and two children and is an emergency room registered nurse.
Martin Ganda:
Ganda grew up in Mutare, Zimbabwe and started corresponding with his pen pal, Caitlin in 1997. In 2007, he graduated from Villanova University in Pennsylvania with degrees in Mathematics and Economics with a full-tuition scholarship. Ganda is now an African focused Advisor and Investor. He also holds an MBA from Duke University Fuqua School of Business and is the president and co-founder of Seeds of Africa Fund, which is a non-profit organization that supports economically disadvantaged primary and secondary students in Africa.Liz Welch:
Welch is an award-winning journalist that lives in Brooklyn, New York and has been a contributing writer at Glamour and Real Simple. Her pieces have also been published in Vogue, the New York Times, and The Oprah Magazine. The first book that Welch publish is a memoir, The Kids Are All Right, which she wrote alongside with her siblings Amanda, Diana, and Dan. The memoir is about the four siblings life after the death of both parents and the bond that they were able to keep despite all of their hardships and has won an ALA Alex award.
Works Cited:
Sources:26 Apr. 2018, martinganda.com/about/.
https://martinganda.com/about/
Our Story, 26 Apr. 2018, www.seedsofafrica.com/our-story/index.html.
http://www.seedsofafrica.com/our-story/index.html
“The Kids Are All Right by Diana Welch, Liz Welch, Amanda Welch, Dan Welch.”PenguinRandomhouse.com, 26 Apr. 2018, www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/188445/the-kids-are-all-right-by-diana-welch-and-liz-welch-with-amanda-welch-and-dan-welch/9780307396051/.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/188445/the-kids-are-all-right-by-diana-welch-and-liz-welch-with-amanda-welch-and-dan-welch/9780307396051/
Caitlin Alifirenka. 26 Apr. 2018, www.bookreporter.com/authors/caitlin-alifirenka.
https://www.bookreporter.com/authors/caitlin-alifirenka
Instructional Resources:
1. Click Here For a Martin Ganda interview: This interview with Martin Ganda is a good source for students to see and hear from the character himself. They can see how much he has grown and also get to hear him speak about his life through media.
2. Click here for a Caitlin Alifirenka Interview: This interview with Caitlin Alifirenka is a good source for students to see and hear from the character herself. Caitlin’s interview provides insight on her friendship with Martin, a reflection of her past, and the positive advice she has for the young population (including kindness and cultural awareness of other students).
3. Click here for advice on how to instruct on the Importance of Cultural diversity: This online blog post by Dr. Matthew Lynch provides emphasis on how promoting cultural diversity in a classroom is beneficial to teachers and students. This is additional input on how students should embrace multiple views apart from their own and also feel comfortable sharing their stories in a positive learning environment.
4. Click Here to learn about Zimbabwe: Good for when instructing the book that way students to get an idea of Martins life in Africa.
What's included in this link above?
5. How to Write a Letter: Good to begin class instruction of novel with explaining how letters are written and how to write one this way students know how their penpal letters should appear
6. Anticipation Guide: This exercise is a good way to introduce a lesson of I Will Always Write Back to draw students into the new content and get them ready and excited to learn. The statements relate to the novel and assess the critical thinking of students.
7. Activity handout: This worksheet has an exercise for each day of the week and could be used as a progress-monitoring assessment. The exercises help to keep students engaged with the book.
8. Goal Worksheet: Martin works really hard to achieve his goals. Why is it important to have goals? How did it help Martin? What are some of your goals? A good way to bring questions such as these in to the discussion of the novel and the theme of goals for yourself presented in the novel.
9 Compare and Contrast: This Venn diagram compares and contrasts the characters of Martin and Caitlin. This worksheet is beneficial to the book as a way for students to recognize the differences and similarities of the culturally diverse characters.
10. Graditude WS: This worksheet is designed to demonstrate the theme of wealth in the novel. Wealth is not always in terms of finances either. In this excersize students list what they are thankful for. It can be things that iters have done for them, things they have done for themselves, or simply the things their family has that they are grateful for.
Who Am I? : The Pen Pal Project
Instructional Activity:
Preview:
Activity Time: 2 weeks (incorporated within the lesson)Student Objectives:
Students will:
- Learn how to formulate a friendly letter
- Learn to inhabit diverse experiences/perspectives different from their own
- Engage in other cultural experiences/perspectives through reading and writing
- Learn to constructively evaluate other points of view
- Demonstrate comprehension by reading a literary text and formulating facts revealed about characters into questions that could be asked for their own pen pal experience
- Demonstrate comprehension by taking what is learned of their pen pal through writing and turning those words into a visual art piece that depicts how they see their pen pal
California Common Core Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.2Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using an effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.10
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.6
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
Resources and Preparation:
Resources:
- I Will Always Write Back novel
- Index Cards
- Any form of camera for student portraits
- 5 x 7 (or any size) portrait of each student
- Poster board
- For worksheet activities, see Instructional Resources link above!
- Examples of poster projects provided at the end of the Instructional Plan
Preparation:
1. Schedule a meeting with a fellow ELA teacher whose class would be participating in the activity as well (this will provide a larger mixture of students, which makes for a better anonymous effect and outcome). Share plans on how many letters will be exchanged and what kind of information should students share on the index card to better arrange the pen pal pairs.
2. On the board, write a list of what students should include on their index cards once they are issued at the beginning of the lesson. Suggestions: Name (First and Last), Ethnicity, Goals, Likes/Dislikes, How You Spend Your Free Time, Fun Fact About Yourself, etc.).
3. Prepare any camera source (digital, iPad, camera phone, etc.) to take portraits of each individual student. A suggestion would be to begin taking the photos as soon as possible to assure that every student gets a chance to have their portrait taken before they are needed (in the event of absences).
4. Once the index cards are filled out and collected, meet with the collaborative teacher to arrange the pairings. Based on the students’ answers,pen pal pairings should be as different as possible to assure that students get the most out of learning about diversity by seeing life through someone else’s experiences that are different from their own.
5. Make a organized list of the pen pal pairings for your reference.
6. Look over the “How to Write a Letter” resource, as well as the link to “Promoting Respect for Cultural Diversity in the Classroom” for background information before getting started with the activity.
Instructional Plan:
WEEK 1: Introduction to I Will Always Write Back and Activity1. Introduce students to the book using the “Anticipation Guide” handout
- Explain the directions on the handout and give the students a moment to do the exercise.
- Ask students to share their responses with those around them for a few minutes before asking for volunteers to share their responses with the class.
3. Give a brief description of the book, so that students are aware of how the activity will connect to the text.
4. Distribute the blank notecards to students and have them write down the following (should be written on the board as an example): Name (First and Last), Ethnicity, Goals, Likes/Dislikes, How You Spend Your Free Time, Fun Fact About Yourself
5. Collect the student's notecards and explain the activity. Explain that they will be assigned a pen pal that they will be exchanging letters with. They will learn about another student through another perspective/experience different from their own. They will examine other points of view through written letters just like they will see in the book. After a few letter exchanges, they will then create a creative collage on a poster that reflects what they learned about their designated pen pal and represent them through this art piece.
6. Meet with collaborating teacher to arrange the pen pal pairings.
7. Begin taking portrait photos of students and explain that these photos will be part of their pen pal reveal at the end of the project.
WEEK 1: Reading of I Will Always Write Back and Activity Progress
1. As the class continues to read the book, talk about the format in which it is written (dialogic epistolary novel; alternating first person narration). Explain the importance of multiple perspectives/point-of-views.
- What effects do writing letters have?
- Would you still understand the characters of Martin and Caitlin if you were only receiving their letters without their additional first-person narration?
- Remind students of the pen pal activity. They have all been paired up with an anonymous classmate who will be their pen pal for the next two weeks. They must include the things in their first letter that they included on their notecard EXCEPT THEIR NAME (be sure to check).
- Offer other suggestions to include in their letters (remind them that they are getting to know more about this student). If there is something in the book that Martin or Caitlin mentioned about themselves, suggest that they ask the same question.
- Examples: family, favorite books, favorite candy, favorite movies, if you can have any superpower, what would it be?, favorite color, favorite animal, favorite thing about the book so far and why? Something interesting that has happened to you this week? If you could visit any place in the world, where would you go?
- As the students complete their letters, make sure to find a way to keep track of which letter belongs to which student (since they will not have names on them when delivered to the other teacher’s students). The use of sticky notes, sandwich bags with their names on it, individual envelopes, etc. could be used to assure there are no mix-ups for you or the other teacher prior to delivery.
- Provide information on Zimbabwe
- “Compare and contrast” exercise of Caitlin and Martin’s lives
- Reintroduce statements in the Anticipation Guide accordingly and discuss if students’ thoughts remain the same from the beginning.
- Use the “Discussion Guide” at the end of the novel as a progress-monitoring assessment
- To assure that all students stay on task with the pen pal activity, set aside some class time to have students continue writing their letters while their minds are still in literacy mode. (This will also assure that students are actively participating in the activity. Some students are able to turn in their letters quicker, so that they do not forget them at home or fail to do the assignment. This will also help the progress as teachers see to it that every student gets a response on time, there are none left without a letter).
1. Ask students how their pen pal experience is going and if they are starting to learn a lot from their pen pals.
2. Remind students that after the book is finished and they have exchanged letters two more times, they will be creating a poster that reflects their pen pal based on the facts/stories they have been provided.
- Explain that they have creative freedom when it comes to their posters. They can draw pictures, use appropriate magazine clippings, form collages of photos, etc.
- IMPORTANT: Let students know that they must leave a space on the poster that will dictate where their pen pals portrait will be placed after they turn in their poster. You will be placing the photos on the posters, but it is completely up to the student where they would like the photo to be placed (Suggestion: To give students a better idea of the size of space they need to leave empty on their poster, provide construction paper of various colors already cut in relation to the size of the portrait. Students could then pick a color as their border for the future photograph).
- Remind students that they are to respectfully represent their pen pal to the best of their abilities. Make the posters fun and unique.
- Since this poster project is being announced early on, remind students that their last two letter exchanges should be used to their advantage so that they may get as much information about their pen pal as they can.
4. Continue to allow time in class for students to complete their pen pal letters so that they have exchanged twice and obtain enough information to begin their poster project.
WEEK 2: Poster Presentation and Summative Assessment
1. Be sure to print out the portraits of the students so that they are ready to be placed on their projects.
2. Students will turn in their completed posters at the beginning of class.
- Instruct students to make sure their name is written on the back of their project so that they can get credit for their work and so their pen pal will know who created their “Who Am I?” poster.
- What did you learn about your pen pal?
- Is their life different from your own?
- What are some differences/similarities that you noticed?
- What did you learn from reading I Will Always Write Back?
- What is something you would say to Caitlin or Martin if you were writing them a letter?
- What do you think it means to be kind? How will you exercise kindness in your everyday life?
5. After the grading, ask a responsible student/TA to deliver your posters to the other teacher constructing the same activity and swap posters. Once the other class’ posters are brought back, begin putting the student’s photograph on the appropriate poster according to the list made when the pen pals were arranged (This means that the other class made the posters of your students, so your students’ photos are going on their biographical poster about them created by a student in the other class).
6. When students complete their final reflections, collect them.
7. Close to the end of the class period, pass out the posters to the appropriate student that is being dedicated. Inform the students that their pen pal’s name is revealed on the back of their poster!
8. After the students learn who their pen pal is and get to look at their own poster dedicated to themselves, collect the posters. They can be displayed on the walls for future back-to-school nights/parent conferences/open house events. Students will then have an option at the end of the year to take home their dedication or donate it for future classes.
