In the Eyes of Jill

WHO: Jill 

WHAT: Jill’s loss of some relationships and gaining of others 

WHEN: The march 

WHERE: Police Plaza 1 

WHY: Jill is one of the leaders of the organization of the march and is white, which causes a shift in her as a person. 

The view of the sea of people in front of Police Plaza 1 was more overwhelming than I ever could have imagined. The chanting of “Spring-field P-D, we don’t want brutality” was enough to cover me in goosebumps from the beginning of the march until the end of the die-in. I couldn’t tell if the lump that I felt in my throat was formed from pride, fear, or the feeling of relief that all of this might’ve actually been worth making my entire family hate me. I’m sure it was some combination of the three. Throughout this process I couldn’t believe how radically different the two sides of the argument were. I was shocked and saddened by the fact that some of the people I was closest to in the entire world not only had different views than me, but were also capable of hating me for it. And what’s worse is I could probably hate them for it, too. I’m thankful to have gained new friends from all of this in Quinn and Tiffany. I’m thankful that throughout this entire week, I’ve grown more than I have in the last year. Maybe my mom or my aunt can’t see that I’ve grown (or maybe they don’t want to), but one thing is for sure—the growth will not stop here, my fire will not dim after this march, and I will always refuse to stand with them on the wrong side of history out of loyalty. If anything, it’s time for me to be loyal to myself and my beliefs no matter who I upset in the process. 

This assignment would be great for middle and high schoolers for a variety of reasons. One of which is because it really allows the student to think outside of their own box of experiences and viewpoints. By assuming the role of someone else, the student must think about how they might be feeling and how the experience might be affecting them. Sometimes, the thoughts and feelings of the character might mirror those of the student, but more often than not, the student has to truly dig deep to understand the character. They can combine real world ideas and experiences and combine them with creativity and complex thinking/understanding of the character. This leads to another reason why this is a great assignment is it fosters complexity, agency, and autonomy as discussed in Buehler’s Chapter 1. She writes, “We can foster complex reading experiences and promote reading autonomy if we devise classroom tasks that invite students to engage in these forms of blending and connecting” (11).