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NorthJersey.com: Tenafly students take action
Tenafly High School senior Michelle Koles approached the podium in the school's library and used her hands to introduce herself.
Her use of sign language helped to demonstrate a project she has researched on how deaf people survive in a hearing world.
Koles and other 12th-grade students in her English class, along with Paramus High School students in two English classes, displayed their work and presented speeches at an Inquiry and Action Fair last week.
The projects began in late January with the students selecting an issue that concerned them and researching it through works of literature and other sources such as interviews, articles and journals.
They were then required to take some type of action to be part of a solution to that problem. The seniors' topics varied from animal cruelty and urban education to school shootings and obesity.
The students from both high schools also were linked by serving as pen pals who learned about and supported each other's projects.
"This is about kids identifying their passions and causes and perhaps developing lifelong goals for making an impact, being problem solvers and recognizing their own power to make a difference in the world," said Dana Maloney, who teaches the AP Literature and Composition class at Tenafly.
Koles said she has been learning sign language and underwent a day of silence to "see what it was like to lose another sense of communication."
"That was difficult," she said. "At the end of the day, I was feeling depressed and alone."
She interviewed Trix Bruce, a deaf storyteller and poet, and read, "A Loss for Words" authored by Lou Ann Walker as part of her research.
Tenafly High School senior Michelle Koles approached the podium in the school's library and used her hands to introduce herself.
Her use of sign language helped to demonstrate a project she has researched on how deaf people survive in a hearing world.
Koles and other 12th-grade students in her English class, along with Paramus High School students in two English classes, displayed their work and presented speeches at an Inquiry and Action Fair last week.
The projects began in late January with the students selecting an issue that concerned them and researching it through works of literature and other sources such as interviews, articles and journals.
They were then required to take some type of action to be part of a solution to that problem. The seniors' topics varied from animal cruelty and urban education to school shootings and obesity.
The students from both high schools also were linked by serving as pen pals who learned about and supported each other's projects.
"This is about kids identifying their passions and causes and perhaps developing lifelong goals for making an impact, being problem solvers and recognizing their own power to make a difference in the world," said Dana Maloney, who teaches the AP Literature and Composition class at Tenafly.
Koles said she has been learning sign language and underwent a day of silence to "see what it was like to lose another sense of communication."
"That was difficult," she said. "At the end of the day, I was feeling depressed and alone."
She interviewed Trix Bruce, a deaf storyteller and poet, and read, "A Loss for Words" authored by Lou Ann Walker as part of her research.