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// A Long Way Gone // // Wikispace Research Supplements // Directions: As we move into novels, you will find that the more you know about the context of the story, the more you can appreciate what you are reading on a personal and global scale. As we examine one of the 21st centuries most controversial civil wars, it is important that we can fully understand the many factors that contributed to the tragedy that is Ishmael Beah’s story.

For your Wikispace page, you will need to create an educational lesson on your topic including as many graphs, pictures, and supplemental clips that you deem necessary in understanding your topic fully. Your page should be well organized and include a title and your summaries of the information you researched. Your presentation will run 12-15 minutes and typically will begin our class and afterwards, will fuel our class discussion.

*Sierra Leone Independence: Examine how earning independence changed the country.

RUF Presentations: Explain their initial goal, leaders, motivation, and tactics. Identify specific scenes in the book where Ishmael encounters the RUF and gage whether these scenes accurately match your research.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Provide a deeper understanding to the inner most needs of humans and apply how these needs are used and abused in the book so far. Identify specific scenes in the book that spark discussion about the hierarchy of needs. Also, provide the class with a bookmark that illustrates Maslow’s triangle.

Diamonds in Sierra Leone: Examine the history of diamonds in the country, define conflict diamonds, expose the strength of the diamond industry, detail the positive/negative effects on citizens, identify new laws and efficiency of these laws. Also, choose one song that discusses the topic of the diamond trade, provide lyrics, and play it for the class. (Bring in music or upload to site) Be ready to provide your analysis of the song.

PTSD: Describe the history of PTSD. Define the symptoms of PTSD and apply the stages to Ishmael. Identify specific examples from the book that match the symptoms. Locate a viewable video clip that will help audiences understand the impact of PTSD.

Child Soldiers Today: Elaborate on Sierra Leonean child soldier survivors, rebuilding, education, how new government helps, and aide organizations. Locate personal stories, video clips, photos, poetry, or songs that can give a ‘voice’ to these children.

Criticism: There are critics of Ishmael Beah and his memoir. This group will uncover both positive and negative sides of the criticism and ultimately gage their opinion on the credibility of the author and the value of the book. The credibility of your sources will be very important for this group so be ready to explain who your source is and how they can be proven reliable. Locate specific quotes and take names. If possible, locate an interview with our author talking about writing the book.

* We don’t do this topic because we had such great presentations on this topic already.

Wikispace Presentation: 30 points Final Paper drawn from the Wikispace lessons: 50 points