Out of the Dust

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.

“Out of…”

In this activity, students will reflect on challenges they have overcome and positive activities that help them.

Billie Jo faces losing her mother and baby brother, getting burned herself, surviving the Dust Bowl, and experiencing the Great Depression. At the end of the novel, she begins to heal, emerging “out of the dust.” One activity that helps Billie Jo heal is playing the piano. Although all of us are different, we all face and/or have faced difficult times or choices. Take some time to reflect on a challenge you have faced and what helped you overcome it.

• Free write/journal:

o What were you coming “out of”?

o How did this experience affect you?

o What activity or activities helped you as you faced this challenge?

o If you have not experienced such a challenge, write about a character you have read or learned about or seen in media (a movie, for example) who has overcome a challenge.

• Find or create an artifact to represent the healing activity(ies).
• Share your artifact and as much as you want to about the healing activity(ies).