EDLA 615      Language Arts and Technology

 INSTRUCTOR: Susan Silverman

 STUDENT:  ANTHONY MURRAY

 ASSIGNMENT: Mid Term –Literature Circles Extension Project

 DATE:  August 01, 2006

The Heaven Shop was written by Deborah Ellis mainly to dispel some of the myths associated with HIV/AIDS  The story revolves around three orphans struggling to survive in southern Africa which is being ravaged by the AIDS epidemic.

 THE PROJECT:

Select six myths about HIV/AIDS and where possible use events from the novel to distinguish between myths and facts about HIV/AIDS. Use resources from the Internet and present the project in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.

 REFLECTION

 I am very concerned about the HIV/AIDS epidemic from a general humanitarian perspective, so before I read the book I had good reason to believe that the book would be interesting.  However, I never thought that the book would affect me that emotionally, but it did, largely because it reminded me of the death of my own father when I was a little child.  At first I did not make the connection, but one day while reflecting on the book it hit me that I had an emotional connection with the children in the book. As a result, I was reminded of the emotional trauma involved in coming to terms with the death of a parent at an early age and needing the strength to making important decisions and move on with life. I have learned much from doing this project it gave me a greater knowledge and appreciation of the myths and facts surrounding HIV/AIDS. In fact as I reflect, my father may have died due to him believing myths about diabetes.

I think that like me, all members of my class now know the causes, effects, and methods of reducing the spread of AIDS. It is now less likely that we will become victims of HIV/AIDS, further we can use our knowledge to inform other people we come into contact with whether in school at home or in our neighborhoods

  Describe the processes you went through as you created your project

 I used the Google search engine to find reputable sites with information on HIV/AIDS I then reviewed the novel to determine what myths about HIV/AIDS were present in the novel. Next I paired up the myths and facts with events in the novel

 In what way does your project reflect an important part of the book?

 Much of the suffering of victims of AIDS is the myths surrounding it. Much of the suffering of the children in the novel can be directly attributed to myths the best example of this is the treatment of Junie and Binti by Uncle Wysom and his family.

 How does this project show what you have learned from the book?

 This project shows that I have read the book and analyzed characters and events. I was able to capture one of the main themes of the novel which was the harsh treatment of the orphans by their relatives, partly due to their erroneous beliefs about the transmission of the HIV virus.

 When someone views your project, what will they learn about your book?

 Someone viewing my project will easily be able to distinguish some of the common myths about HIV/AIDS and the facts. . It is now less likely tat we will become victims of HIV/AIDS I have included links to sites to allow the viewer to further explore the topic.

 SELF EVALUATION