Writing from a Shoe's Perspective!

During our current unit, my classes are reading Night by Elie Wiesel. We have been studying The Holocaust, and as supplemental reading selections, "Walking with Living Feet" and "The Shoes of the Dead" were springboards for a writing activity they did. The first supplemental selection is from our textbook and the second is from one of last year's Scope magazine from Scholastic.

1. The assignment involved the tracing of students' shoes on brown chart paper and on a sheet of white lined paper.
2. Students cut out their shoes, and each student decorated one shoe to look like one of his/her favorite pairs of shoes, thus representing the individual student.
3. The white lined shoe cut out was pasted onto the other brown shoe and students wrote a response to one of the following options:

• What has affected you in your life?
• Overcoming a life-changing experience...
• Something in life that has "moved" you as a person...
• What do you stand for in life?

These are a few of our "shoes" that will join the remaining shoes from the rest of my students! They will be displayed on the wall outside the classroom....as a reminder of all the lives lost in concentration camps and death camps.

We have actually done this activity for several years now! Most of our 8th classes participate. The students always enjoy it! I can't take credit for the idea, but I did want to share what we are doing in class right now that is fun, creative, and "educational" for middle school! 

Regards,