by George J Elbaum
Valley View Middle School, Snohomish, WA, is a public school with 684 students in grades 7 and 8. Its students’ demographics are: White 70%, Hispanic 11%, Asian or Pacific Islander 9%, two or more races 6%, Black 3%, Native American 1%, and 15% of its students are from low income families. Its academic test scores vs. state averages are very respectable: English 65% vs. 53%, Math 51% vs. 40%., and Science 55% vs.49%. Its GreatSchools.org overall rating is therefore 6/10 and 4.1 out of 5 stars.
My audience was 30 8th graders who have read The Book Thief in their English Language Arts class and also learned about the Holocaust by viewing historical video clips. The presentation was organized by their teacher Lori Laghaeian and arranged by Lexi Jason, Education Program Manager of Seattle’s Holocaust Center for Humanity
