Teachers who plan a unit to help students understand varying perspectives to better understand their world will find these reflection topics useful.

Middle school students are at an age where they are struggling to define their world and understand their role within it. Teachers can help students appreciate diverse perspectives by guiding their thinking through well-crafted writing assignments. One way to accomplish this is to find an essay writer online or assign thought-provoking essay topics. The following topics relate to two Holocaust literary works, Night by Elie Wiesel and The Diary of Anne Frank. These questions can be easily modified to reflect different texts.

Scaffold Independent Writing Assignments

Middle school should provide many opportunities for young teens to question, create and reflect on their lives. However, all too often teachers expect students to write about challenging topics after just a few minutes of brainstorming – which may only occur in the vacuum of each student’s mind. To help scaffold these writing assignments and ensure better results, teachers should create several opportunities for students to interact with a topic. Then, they can formulate their thoughts and opinions on the page.

These opportunities can include paired discussion, where students are instructed to have a conversation about a specific topic. They can use guiding questions provided by the teacher or simply discuss questions that arise through natural conversation. Teachers could also arrange students in cooperative groups and ask them to each generate two questions about the topic and answer at least one question posed by the group. Finally, students might draw a picture or construct a cartoon that explores the topic from a specific angle. Students can exchange their drawings and interpret their meanings.

Point of View Essay Topic: Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

The following essay topic relates to this overarching unit question: how do my experiences and point of view influence my perspective? In this case, the best essay writing service reddit points out that students will be expected to demonstrate their understanding of either Night or The Diary of Anne Frank when responding to this topic.

Consider the situation: Both the play and novel students have read were presented from the view of a first-person narrator, which allowed readers to creep inside their heads and view the world from their limited perspectives. Now, think about how each of these texts may have been different if they were presented from another character’s point of view.

Writing assignment: Students can either rewrite one section of a chapter in Night or one scene from The Diary of Anne Frank from another character’s point of view. Students can consider both major and minor characters. Here are several examples of possible characters to explore.

  • Madame Schacter, the woman who screamed that she saw a fire while riding in the cattle cars
  • Mr. Wiesel, Eliezer’s father
  • Mr. Dussel, the dentist who is assigned as Anne’s roommate
  • Margot, Anne’s shy older sister

These minor characters whose perspectives would be interesting to explore from the first person are excellent options; however, students may choose a different character if they wish.

Students should be offered opportunities to brainstorm by exchanging ideas and questions with other students before delving into a writing assignment about literature. By scaffolding learning through a variety of activities, teachers can assist students in formulating their opinions. This process of pre-planning will enrich their writing experience.