Thursday I had a wonderful meeting with Mrs. Morris-Long, where we talked about ways in which I could help support her in creating the "curriculum" for SING for the rising 9th graders next year. She shared her concerns with the way SING currently runs. She feels that it currently doesn't accomplish its "mission" of being a service-learning experience. Oftentimes students leave feeling like they've done something falsely impactful or meaningful because they didn't have context, or didn't have time to reflect on the experience afterward, or connect it to their own lives. She and I both feel that it in no way engages the teachers, either. It's simply something they have to "get through" to start the year off on a good note. We'd both like to change this, and I especially feel like I have a unique perspective having gone through SING and being a student four years later. So, my first order of duty (and what I will be spending the next few hours/days of my project working on) is to create a reading guide for the book the rising 9th graders will read as a part of their summer coursework called "Outcasts United." They are reading this book because next year's SING will be created around helping and understanding Atlanta's large refugee population. I spent 2 hours reading on Thursday night, and then two hours finishing up the book on Friday. As I read I marked important pages with a post it note for reference. I think the key thing about crafting the reading guide next week will be asking questions that get the 9th graders to somehow relate to the characters in the book. The purpose of the book is to teach empathy in a unique way by telling lots of different stories that make the characters relatable. I think a lot of students can relate to playing soccer when they were younger- and to get them thinking "that could be me" is essential. So, I will be looking at reading guide examples and making my own this upcoming week! I will attach this link along with a more in depth summary of the book when it is complete! I look forward to a productive next week!