Lesson #1: This was the first lesson in our ‘Stranger than Fiction’ unit. The lesson was about identifying central ideas of ‘Hidden Figures’ (a book we were reading as a class) and  the chapters in our book.  My book was called ‘Just Mercy’ by Bryan Stevenson and a central idea that I think fit chapter 1 in that book was “African Americans had less opportunity [opportunities] and were treated unfairly and differently than white people.” I chose this as my central idea because chapter 1 “Mockingbird Players,” talked a lot about how African Americans won basic civil rights but still faced a lot of other problems. They had limited eduction, faced new economic challenges, poverty and other. Chapter 1 also talked about a man named Walter McMillian, an African American who was accused of a murder, even though there was no evidence. of that except for the fact that he was involved in an affair and was possibly dangerous, even though he had a good reputation and had no prior criminal record.

Lesson #8: ‘Descriptive Passages’: In this lesson we were looking for descriptive parts in informational texts and we were doing the ‘Setting, See, and Think’  activity for ‘Hidden Figures’ (we did that together as a class) and for our book club books. My book was ‘Just Mercy’ and for that activity I chose to do the scene in the courtroom, that held the final hearing of Walter McMillian’s case about the Ronda Morisson murder where he was finally pronounced NOT guilty and was finally free. I chose it because I think that was one of the major scenes in the book and it teaches us a lot of lessons like how you should never give up and loose hope because at the end, if you try really hard, you can get out of any hard situation. If Walter McMillian got out of death row after 6 years in prison, you can do it too, just don’t loose hope.

Lesson #9: ‘Cause and Effect’: In this lesson we were doing some ‘Challenges’ activities for ‘Hidden Figures’ and cause + effect activity for our book club book. Chapter 15 in ‘Just Mercy’ talked about Walter’s recovery and how 6 years in prison affected his life, so I decided to do a big cause + effect mind map for that chapter.

Lesson #10 ‘Rereading’: This lesson was about rereading and researching, and how that can help you understand the text even better. 3 things that I chose to research from chapter 16 (last chapter) in ‘Just Mercy’ were a book called ‘Slavery by another name,’ “Jim Crow,” and a ‘Miller v. Alabama’ case. On a sticky note I also included an implicit bias that I noticed in that chapter because in this lesson we also learned about it in addition to rereading and researching.

My book club book ‘Just Mercy,’ is a book by Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer, a social activist, and a Harvard Law and Kennedy school graduate. He is also the founder and the executive director of EJI (Equal Justice Initiative) and has helped many voiceless, vulnerable, and poor people get justice, which he writes about in his book ‘Just Mercy.’ In this book, Bryan Stevenson gives us a glimpse of his life as a lawyer and shows how he saves lives of wrongfully convicted people including children, women, African Americans, the poor and others. One of the main stories that he talks about in this book is the story of Walter McMillian, an African American man who got wrongfully accused of a murder he didn’t commit and got sent to death row. The story of Mr. McMillian and other people teaches us many important life lessons. For example, a theme that I think would fit this book is “You should never give up or loose hope, because at the end, if you try really hard, you will make it.” And one of the central ideas for this book is “Many people don’t care about others, about what’s wrong and what’s right, and about justice. They only do whatever is the safest to maintain/gain a good status, that’s why there is a lot of injustice happening. However if you choose to do the right thing, it pays off at the end.”

I really liked this book and I recommend it to everyone because I think ‘Just Mercy’ is a very informative book and it gives us hope even in the darkest times of our lives.