There are many themes present throughout the novel Amina's Voice. In this activity, students will identify themes and illustrate examples from the text. Students can explore by identifying these elements themselves or in an “envelope activity”, where they are given one or more to track throughout their reading. Then, they'll create a spider map illustrating what they found!
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Due Date:
Objective: Create a storyboard that identifies recurring themes found in Amina's Voice. Illustrate each and write a short description below each cell.
Student Instructions:
Encourage students to share insights and connect themes to real life in guided group talks. Open-ended questions help promote deeper thinking and allow everyone to participate.
Introduce key concepts and vocabulary related to the novel's themes. This supports comprehension and makes it easier for students to spot important ideas as they read.
Demonstrate your thought process by reading a passage aloud and explaining how you spot a theme. This helps students see practical strategies for theme identification.
Create a visual chart together that lists themes and adds examples as you read. Refer back to this chart to help students make connections and reinforce learning.
Invite students to make posters, digital slides, or short skits to represent a theme from the novel. Creative expression deepens understanding and builds engagement.
Amina's Voice explores important themes such as anti-Muslim bigotry, courage, speaking up for oneself, friendship, family, culture, and what it means to be a Muslim-American. The novel also addresses the difference between being an upstander and a bystander in the face of prejudice.
Students can identify themes in Amina's Voice by tracking recurring ideas, actions, and character decisions as they read. They can use activities like spider maps or envelope activities to organize and illustrate examples of key themes from the story.
A spider map is a visual organizer that helps students break down a central theme and connect it to specific examples from the text. In this activity, students place the theme in the center and draw lines to scenes, characters, or events that illustrate it.
Discussing anti-Muslim bigotry in middle school literature fosters empathy and cultural understanding. It helps students recognize prejudice, learn how to be allies, and reflect on the impact of discrimination in real life and fiction.
An upstander is someone who actively supports and defends others against injustice, while a bystander observes but does not intervene. Amina's Voice highlights the importance of choosing to be an upstander, especially when faced with prejudice or bullying.