9th graders have just finished reading and studying the new novel, The Marrow Thieves, and have started researching for their inquiry projects:  a new project in which students dive deeper into the novel and take real-life situations that they want people to take notice of.

The inquiry project is a way for students to bring awareness to issues they believe need to be fixed by presenting all the information they collected to peers. How is it negatively impacting us? How can we mend this?  A call to action, is that all people need to start making changes?

9th  grade LA teacher, Ms. Kenzie, discussed how she felt about giving students this assignment and teaching them about it. She responded with, “I was hoping they would learn about an issue that is important to them and the ability to research a little bit deeper. I wanted other people to learn about issues that impact our world and our lives, so ways we can change the world and improve the lives of ourselves and others.” 

Students also shared their feelings about the project.   Gabi Moultrie said, “For my project, I researched dreams and how sleeping and dreaming affect how the person’s brain and body works, and when my other classmates presented to me I got to learn a lot about climate change, racial stereotypes, refugees, and other world issues. For my own sake, I hope people can learn the importance of sleeping and getting rest, and for other people I want them to bring attention to other problems in the world right now and get people to start making change.” 

In the end, this assignment is one that will be repeated in the years to come.  Students and teachers enjoyed the project and believe that it’s a great way to raise awareness and make changes for issues that face the world today.