Living Legacies:
​Honoring Local Voices of Courage
By:  Jaime McCool

Project at a Glance :

Students will study In the Time of the Butterflies and then use the themes of the novel–resistance, sacrifice, identity, and human rights–to research and showcase local stories of courage. These may include activist, immigrants, educators, veterans, or ordinary citizens who have taken bold action for what is right. Each student or group will create a multimedia profile of a selected community member to be shared in a Community Night Exhibit or published digitally. This unit is roughly 8 weeks.

Driving Question:

How can we connect the legacy of the Mirabal sisters to the stories of people in our own community who have demonstrated courage and resistance in the face of injustice?

Standards:

• Analyzing character development and theme: RL.9-10.3, RL.9-10.2
• Conducting short research projects: W.9-10.7
• Integrating multiple sources to support analysis: W.9-10.8
• Writing narratives and explanatory texts: W.9-10.2, W.9-10.3
• ​Beyond the content standards, this project intentionally fosters real-world communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.

Team / Culture Building:

• Students completed a quick interest and skills inventory.
• Teams were intentionally created based on a mix of student strengths, interests, and working styles to ensure balanced groups. 
• Team Norms Protocol
• Role Assignment Protocol
• Team Contract Protocol ​

Entry Event:

• Students visited Herrick District Library and the Holland Museum. These two experiences launched project conversations on what makes a story worth telling, how to create an engaging exhibit, what tools they might use, and how to plan for a public audience. 
• In the classroom, students were introduced to an immersive scenario to set the tone and lead to the driving question. 

Herrick District Library

Stakeholders:

• Students
• Interview subjects & community members
• Families 

Empathy Building:

• Empathy Map​
• Students participated in interviews or listened to recorded stories to understand their subject's emotions, struggles, and motivations
• Students reflected on how the story of courage connects to universal themes and how to honor the human experience through the events

A museum exhibit

• Students considered how museum visitors might feel when encountering an exhibit 

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Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Need to know lists were made to guide research and interviews based on the themes in the book (resistance, courage, and injustice)
• Students determined what technical skills they needed to complete their exhibit
• Students discussed what information the audience would need to understand their exhibit and used this to refine their research focus
• Research Carousel

Generous donations from community members used for exhibit materials

Gaining insights:

• Students conducted research on historical and cultural context of their chose person's story of courage
• Students analyzed primary and secondary sources to understand challenges, events, and systems that shaped the person's experiences
• Students examined how museum exhibits and digital storytelling tools communicate meaning  which, in turn, helped them understand how to present information effectively. 

Incubation:

• Students stepped back from their initial research for this stage to participate in brainstorming activities to allow for new connections and creative ideas​​

• Concept Mapping
• Storyboarding
• Think-Pair-Share​
• Gallery Walks with sticky notes

es Checking in:

• Quick team check-ins throughout the project: Fist to Five, Readiness Checks, Pluses/Delta Reflections
• Teacher will check-in formally and informally throughout the project

• Quick Writes & Exit Tickets
• Think-Pair-Share
• Need to Know chart updates
• ​Concept Mapping/Visual brainstorm

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Solution Building:

• Teacher guided students through a process of sorting and evaluating their ideas from brainstorming to actionable solutions. 
• After using a grouping and categorizing protocol, the students used Dot Voting. ​​

Critique and Revision: 

• Students shared drafts of exhibit elements and received feedback from peers and teachers. 
• Students identified strengths, clarified confusing sections, and refined their creative choices.

The Way I See the World

Authentic Audience:

• Community members and individuals featured in the project
• Families, peers, school staff

Solution Examples:

• Several different types and styles of exhibits were created by the students.​

• Tree of Legacy​

• Through the Fire: The Journey​

Click here for teacher's full plan.
Reflection and Feedback:

• The rubric for assessing student work will focus on: Understanding/application of Theme, Interview preparation/execution, Final product quality/presentation, Process and Collaboration
• Students will provide reflection throughout the project in journals, midpoint self-assessment, post-presentation reflection, and a personal written reflection.

Community Open House

What the Heart Holds

Click here for the teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

Meet the Educator:

​Jaime McCool is going into her 6th year of teaching, 4th year at Black River. She has taught English 9-12, but now teaches English 10 & AP Psychology. She also works with the music teacher and directs some of the plays and musicals at her school.

"Project-based learning and design thinking energize my teaching because they empower students to take ownership of their learning through curiosity, creativity, and real-world problem solving. I love watching students connect literature and language skills to meaningful, authentic tasks–it transforms the classroom into a space where critical thinking and empathy thrive."