The Only Road

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“A Warm Welcome at School”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of the struggles faced by students like Jaime and Ángela by creating their own welcome program for Jaime’s or Ángela’s new school.

Imagine that you are a student leader at one of the New Mexican schools that Jaime and Ángela will be attending. You know that there are several new students who have emigrated from Central America, and you want to make sure that they feel welcome in their new school. What kinds of programs could students create and run that would help students in Jaime’s and Ángela’s situations feel less homesick, understand how their new school functions, or make new friends? After the kinds of traumas these students may have experienced, how might their new school community best reach out and show compassion toward them?

Identify a Need

• Think about the different kinds of obstacles students like Jaime and Ángela might be facing.
• Choose just one of these obstacles to focus on in your program.

Create a Program Outline

• Decide on a plan that students can accomplish themselves (with perhaps a little support from school staff).
• Write an outline of your plan. Be sure that your outline explains which need the program will address, how the program will function, and what makes you think the program will help your new classmates.

Share Your Plan

• When you are finished, you will present your plan to a small group.
• The small group will function like a student council, and at the end of your presentation, they will offer feedback and then vote on whether your plan is practical and likely to succeed.

Write a Reflection

• After the “student council” meeting, write a paragraph explaining why your plan was adopted or not adopted.
• Turn in your program outline and your reflection paragraph.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity asks students to connect with the book’s thematic concern with Compassion and consider how even young people can be a part of a community’s humanitarian response to a refugee crisis. You may well have students with political views that make this activity difficult for them; encourage such students to see the activity as an intellectual exercise and assure them that coming up with a clever way to help migrants feel welcome in a new school is not the same thing as endorsing migration. You can decide whether students should write a traditional outline or a more informal one. If you would like students to practice formal outlines, this is a good source for them to review.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with conditions that limit their theory of mind or ability to feel empathy may need some coaching to complete this activity. You might ask them what it would be like for them to undertake a frightening journey and then be alone in a new country where they do not speak the language. Then, you can ask them to think about what they hope others might do to help them. Students who struggle with abstract thought or organization may have trouble with the outline format as they may not immediately understand how their ideas relate to one another. They may require one-on-one coaching as they create their outlines—you might assign these students a peer partner to offer guidance on this step of the activity.