Project Description

The Reading Across Continents project unites students and teachers from Washington, DC’s School Without Walls High School (SWWs) with their counterparts Abuja, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana through shared reading of the novels Copper Sun, Things fall apart, and The Girl Who Can.

• INTERRACTIVE EXPERIENCE:
  Students and teachers are matched with an overseas buddy to talk about the books through blog and e-mail.
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• CULTURAL EXCHANGE:
  Teachers in both countries promote cultural understanding and the power of literature to inspire and challenge.
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• PROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION:
  Teachers become colleagues as they talk about their own teaching and life experiences.

This pilot brings together students from Schools Without Walls in Washington, DC with students from Achimota School in Accra, Ghana; and Loyola Jesuit College in Abuja, Nigeria.
Students experience the cultures described in:

• Copper Sun by U.S. author Sharon M. Draper 
• Things Fall Appart by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe
• The Girl Who Can by Ghanian author Ama Ata Aidoo.

Via live feeds, author visits, student/teacher exchanges, blogs, email and the study of history, geography, and economy of the countries involved participants reflect on their lives, insights, and beliefs.

Students from Washington, D.C. will travel to Nigeria and Ghana to meet their counterpart students and teachers.  African students and teachers will also travel to Washington, D.C.  Teachers in both settings are planning the curriculum and developing a facilitator’s guide for use in Nigeria, Ghana, and D.C. and for use on future literature projects connecting students and teachers around the world via technology.  The Oracle Group is creating a documentary to be aired on PBS.