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Kendall McCarthy
Professor Johnson
RAL 321
5/14/15
In My Hands Final Project
1. Planning Wheel
Language Arts: On the last paragraph on page 97 in In
My Hands, there is a paragraph that is filled with imagery
regarding a ghetto that Irene walks through, giving the
reader vivid details. The students would be instructed to
read the paragraph, focusing solely on the imagery. The
class would hold a discussion on the paragraph, discussing
the differing perspectives of the imagery featured in the
text. After the class discussion, the students would be
instructed to write a paragraph, including imagery, about a
memorable experience in their life, drawing influence from
Irenes personal account.

Social Studies: After the completion of the novel, the

students will be asked to create a map, demonstrating their
geographical knowledge related to the material in the
book. The students will draw a map on a piece of printer
paper, identifying at least five different locations where
Irene bravely traveled during the novel. After the students
have located at least five areas on a map, they will be
instructed to look up two facts from each location that
were characteristic of that area during the time period of
the Holocaust. Students may use computers as a way to
research the locations and the location characteristics.

The Use of In My
Hands in a Unit on
Female Heroism

Character Building: Irene goes through quite a bit of

development throughout her journey. After reading the
novel, the students would be asked to create a timeline
of at least ten major life events where Irene
demonstrated personal growth over the course of the
novel, starting at when Irene began her schooling as a
nurse and concluding when Irene was granted
citizenship in the United States.

Art: Throughout the novel, there are multiple scenes

that demonstrate acts of true heroism. After reading the
novel, the teacher would present an art project for the
students to complete. The instructions to the project
include the students identifying a moment of true
heroism in the novel. After determining one specific
event in the novel to focus on, the teacher will instruct
the students to create a diorama of their interpretation of
the scene from the novel. The diorama will serve as the
students best representation of the scene.

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2. Unit Rationale
The unit, The Use of In My Hands in a Unit on Heroism focuses on acts of true bravery
in the historical context of the Holocaust. The memoir, In My Hands, based on Irene Gut
Opdykes experience, portrays an honest account from the perspective of a Holocaust rescuer.
The memoir demonstrates what it is to be courageous, selfless, and passionate about an important
cause. The thematic contents of the book, weaved with the historical knowledge of the
Holocaust, create an opportunity for an effective, successful unit for the eighth grade classroom.
During middle school, students are constantly changing, trying to find their true selves.
Particularly in eighth grade, before students enter high school, it is crucial that students gain a
better personal understanding as they enter high school. In My Hands serves as a coming of
age novel that focuses on Irenes courageous journey. At the beginning of the novel, Irene was
a typical adolescent, but was quickly thrown into adulthood as a result of the dark time period of
the Holocaust and World War II. Irene was fearful of what her once perfect world had become,
but she faced the circumstances in the novel with acts of heroism. After destruction had affected
Irenes world, she still remained positive and true to herself. Students reading the novel will be
able to draw inspiration from Irenes experience, recognizing that it is acceptable to be fearful at
times, but that it is possible to gain the strength and courage to rise above ones fears and
become a hero.
In My Hands is a novel that has mature, complex thematic elements in relation to the time
period of World War II. Eighth grade students are mature enough to handle the dark, depressing
memoir in the context of the tough history. It is the responsibility of the teacher to educate her
students on the past history because it serves as a foundation for many other events that have
occurred afterwards, as a result. Irenes memoir makes the history of the book more powerful

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and tangible because it is coming from the perspective of an individual who is close in age to the
eighth graders. The perspective of the female hero, Irene, will act as a powerful tool in the
classroom because the students will understand what it is to be a hero during times of devastation
and sorrow.

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3. Pre-reading Activities
Social Studies:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.2
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,
including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.3
Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or
events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).
The activity will focus on Expert Groups in the class involving female historical
figures. There will be five groups of students in the class, each group receiving a different
female hero. Each group will receive an informational article found off of Learnzillion.com. The
female heroes assigned to the groups include Anne Frank, Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt,
Susan B. Anthony, and Joan of Arc. After the small groups discuss their specific female hero and
research multiple facts, they will present their information to the whole class. At the end of the
activity, every student will have knowledge of five female historical figures.
Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.3.B
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, and reflection, to develop
experiences, events, and/or characters.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.9
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
The students will be brought to the computer lab during class in order to conduct research
on famous historical women who impacted history in a positive way, through acts of bravery and
heroism. The students will be directed to the website:
http://www.biographyonline.net/people/women-who-changed-world.html, which includes a list
of important female historical figures. The students will be instructed to pick one female hero
from the list to research and gather facts about. After the students have had ample time to
research one female, they will be asked to write a narrative. The teacher will ask the students to

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write the narrative based on an act of heroism, written in first person as the female historical
figure, including dialogue and description as a way to develop the female hero.
Art:
1.1.8.D.1 - Describe the intellectual and emotional significance conveyed by the application of
the elements of art and principles of design in different historical eras and cultures.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1.D
Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their
own views in light of the evidence presented.
The students will be exposed to various pictures of female heroes, through computer
projection. The pictures will depict a specific event that the females are involved in. The teacher
will give a brief synopsis of who the female hero is in the picture, along with the time period that
the picture represents. The students will be given time after each picture to write down their
initial reactions and impressions of the pictures in their writing journals. After each picture is
shown, the teacher will lead a class discussion where the students will be allowed to share their
first impressions of the pictures and how it made them feel.
Character Building:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.4
Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with
relevant evidence, sound valid reasoning, and well-chosen details; use appropriate eye contact,
adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.2
Determine 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.
Before reading In My Hands, the students will have read Tangerine by Edward Bloor.
The students will be asked to keep track of the character development throughout the novel,
keeping record of the emotional and mental changes throughout the novel in their readers
notebooks. The main character of Tangerine develops throughout the novel, similar to Irenes
own development. The story of Tangerine is characterized by a theme of lies and secrets. The
students would be instructed to choose a side to debate on. One side being, It is acceptable to

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keep secrets and the other side being, It is unacceptable to keep secrets. The students will
have to use evidence from their readers notebooks to back up their arguments, ensuring that they
are including information about how the character developed throughout the novel.
Geography:
D2.Geo.1.6-8.
Construct maps to represent and explain the spatial patterns of cultural and environmental
characteristics.
D2.Geo.2.6-8.
Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships
between the locations of places and regions, and changes in their environmental characteristics.
As a class, we will look at Google Earth together to view satellite images. Google Earth
grants us the ability to look at regions of the earth over a span of years. We will look at Poland
and Germany during the year 1942 on Google Earth to visualize what the two areas looked like
during the time period of World War II. After the class gains an understanding of what the two
locations looked like, we will examine what both Poland and Germany look like presently. The
students will be able to recognize the vast differences between the two locations during World
War II and present day. After the class viewing of Google Earth, the students will be asked to
create their own maps with representations of what was in Poland and Germany during World
War II and what is now in Poland and Germany. Through the different maps, the students will
be able to visualize the changes in cultural and environmental characteristics over the years.

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4. Student Reactions
Throughout the unit, I would want to ensure that my students well being does not
diminish as a result of the tough historical topic of the Holocaust and the dark thematic content
of In My Hands. I would express to my students that they are allowed to react in any manner
when reading the novel because of the severity of the topic. I will offer multiple outlets for my
students to express their reactions, reinforcing the notion that none of their reactions will be
graded because I am looking for authenticity and honesty, not accuracy or completion.

One outlet that I will offer to my students is a reaction sheet in their writers journal.
After each opportunity the child receives to read the novel, they will be instructed to fill
in the reaction worksheet in their writers journal, explaining their reactions and feelings
related to the material that they just read. I will not be grading their reaction sheets, but
rather will be reading them to ensure that my students are not having an issue handling
the material that they are reading.

The second outlet that I will offer to my students is a blog site titled,
www.theedublogger.com. The site allows the teacher to create a post, related to a
specific topic. I would create a topic related to In My Hands where my students would be
able to post their thoughts, emotions, and reactions to the memoir. The students can read
each others responses and offer support to each other or words of wisdom. Another
component of the blog website is that the students can view other blogs from around the
country and even around the world. The students can browse through other related blog
posts, such as a blog post about In My Hands or even about the Holocaust. The students
will be able to gather other peoples reactions on the blog site, knowing that they are not
alone in whatever way that they are feeling or reacting to the tough topic.

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The third outlet that I will offer to my students is an individual meeting. I recognize that
some of the material in the memoir can be depressing, particularly for students who are
typically more sensitive than others. There are tough thematic elements in the novel that
I need to make sure that my students can handle. I will leave a notebook out in the
classroom, where everyone can access it, with available times and dates that I can meet
individually with the students. The students can fill out their name next to an available
time and date to meet with me privately in the classroom. I will be able to offer
individualized attention to any student that may need a little extra support in relation to
the topic.

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5. Assessments
I would have the students take on the role of a journalist who is secretly following and
documenting Irenes story. The student will have to imagine that they are reporting on an
event that occurred in World War II through the perspective of Irene. The student will
have to be creative in reporting on the event, drawing details from the text. The student
will also be expected to explain how the event they chose affected the bigger picture of
the Holocaust. The student will be instructed to include images from the Internet that is
related to the event that they are reporting on. An example of an event the students can
draw influence from, is the Lightning War featured in the text. The students should
compile their information into a newspaper article format.

At the end of the memoir, Mr. Opdyke, a U.N. delegate, spoke to Irene. Mr. Opdyke was
curious to discover Irenes courageous experiences and even ended up offering her
American citizenship. I would have my students complete the creative writing prompt:
As students, after having read Irenes memoir, what kind of questions do you feel Mr.
Opdyke would have asked Irene and why? My students would be required to write at
least six questions that Mr. Opdyke would want to ask Irene, backing up their responses
with textual evidence.

After the memoir, the students will have been exposed to all of Irenes selfless, heroic
acts. I will ask the students to pair up and choose at least four heroic, brave events that
occurred throughout the memoir. After choosing the four events, I will ask the students to
work together and reenact the events through visual representations. One student will set
the scene background and act as Irene, while the other student will take a picture with a
camera of the reenactment representation. The students will have to work their best to
represent the event from the text in just one simple picture. At the end of the project,

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every pair of students should have four separate pictures, representing four different
heroic events in the memoir. For the creative students, this is an opportunity for their
creative side to show.

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6. Extensions
After reading In My Hands, the students will gain a perspective of the Holocaust from a
female rescuer; however, their knowledge may be lacking when it comes to the
perspective of a victim of the Holocaust. Students will read The Diary of Anne Frank,
paying close attention to Anne Franks thoughts and emotions as she remains in hiding
to avoid being taken to the concentration camps. After reading both personal accounts,
the students will compare and contrast Anne and Irene, writing an essay highlighting the
differences and similarities between the two.

I would have my students research various Holocaust rescuers, similar to Irene. Using
this website: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/five-rescuers-of-those-threatenedby-the-holocaust-55112043/?no-ist the students would be able to gather background
information on a few Holocaust rescuers. After reading general information on the
rescuers, the student would be allowed to choose one rescuer that they would like to
further research. The student can use any means possible to research a rescuer, writing
and recording their information in the format of a research paper.

Another extension upon In My Hands involves students attending the new National
Womens History Museum in Washington D.C. The students will have their notebooks
as they travel throughout the museum, taking notes on each female historical figure that
they come across. After the field trip when the students are back in the classroom, the
students will present their findings, summarizing one female historical figure in a
presentation in front of the class.

A fourth extension includes inviting back a female survivor, or potentially, a daughter, or

cousin of a victim of the Holocaust into the classroom for an interview. An example of a
female survivor is Jeannine Burk. The students would be able to integrate their

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knowledge of the Holocaust learned from In My Hands and ask informative questions
during the class interview. As a result of the class interview, the students will gain an
understanding about the Holocaust from differing perspectives, enriching their overall
knowledge of the topic.

The last extension activity would involve the students completing a project at home.
The teacher would instruct the students to watch TV as they normally would, but to pay
close attention to any female heroes or strong female characters that they note in any
shows that they may watch. After the students have identified at least one strong female
character, they will print out a picture of the character from the Internet. On the back of
the picture the students will include a description of why they feel their character is
strong or brave. The students will bring in the pictures with the descriptions to class.
Every picture will be displayed on a bulletin board in the classroom.