It's time to start our next book, and what better way to celebrate than to start with a new teacher? Mrs. Deraps is going to let me take the lead as we start reading Trash by Andy Mulligan, and with your help, I hope to make it a memorable (and, of course, educational) experience for all of us!
Trash is the story of a group of children in a third-world country who live on an extremely large dumpsite, sifting through heaps of trash every day of their lives, searching for valuable materials that they can sell or trade to help their families. Places like the dumpsite in the story are all too real, however, and as this short documentary about a garbage dump in Cambodia shows us, there are untold numbers of sick and injured children who are abandoned or orphaned at a young age, forced to live amid the filth of city dumps for their entire lives.
Small Steps: Cambodia, Phnom Penh from Amy Hanson on Vimeo.
As we are watching this video, be thinking about some of the things you are learning and what can be done to help people in this situation. Part of the viewing guide requires that you ask two questions. You will be given a viewing guide to help you organize your thoughts, but be prepared to have a discussion over this video in class.
Also feel free to draw connections between Sold and Trash, including the danger of the character's lifestyles and their ability(or inability) to leave their locations. After the introductory video and a little discussion, we'll dig in and start reading!
Have a happy Valentine's day!
-Mr. Thomas
