Lesson
2
:
Learning Courage from a Nonfiction Text
Grade
Grade 8
UNIT
5
•
Courage
In Unit 5, Lesson 2, “Learning Courage from a Nonfiction Text,” students will develop their reading comprehension skills and learn examples of courage by reading a memoir about the youngest Nobel Laureate: I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick. Additionally, students will develop their critical thinking skills by answering questions about the text and advance their academic dialogue skills by participating in a class discussion about the book.
SUGGESTED TIME:
- 1 class period to introduce the book; 1 class period to discuss the book
- If desired, additional class periods can be devoted to in-class silent reading of the book.
- The book, I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick, is 265 pages and is divided into five parts: “Before the Taliban,” “A Shadow Over Our Valley,” “Finding My Voice,” “Targeted,” and “A New Life, Far From Home.”
- Suggested reading assignments, to be completed either in class or for homework, are 3 chapters per session:
- Assignment 1: Prologue-Chapter 2
- Assignment 2: Chapters 3-5
- Assignment 3: Chapters 6-8
- Assignment 4: Chapters 9-11
- Assignment 5: Chapters 12-14
- Assignment 6: Chapters 15-17
- Assignment 7: Chapters 18-20
- Assignment 8: Chapters 21-23
- Assignment 9: Chapters 24-26
- Assignment 10: Chapters 27-29
- Assignment 11: Chapters 30-32
- Assignment 12: 33-34
- Assignment 13: 35-Epilogue
- Have students complete the worksheet questions as they read.
- Allow at least 50 min for in-class discussion of the book.
RELATED SUBJECT:
English Language Arts
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Read a nonfiction text and demonstrate an understanding of the central ideas
- Write answers to questions about the book, demonstrating an understanding of standard English sentence structure and grammar
- Engage effectively in collaborative discussions about the book
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
- Book: I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick
- Video: Malala Yousafzai On Her Life's Work To Help Girls Around The World by the Today Show (~6 min)
- Video: Malala Yousafzai Nobel Peace Prize Speech (2014) posted by Malala Fund (~27 min)
- Prohuman Grade 8 Unit 5 Worksheet 2: Learning Courage from a Nonfiction Text
ELA COMMON CORE STANDARDS MET
CHARACTER AND SOCIAL EMOTIONAL (CSED) NATIONAL STANDARDS MET
LESSON PROCEDURE
Step 1:
- Without providing any information or showing the caption, show students this photograph: https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/15/asia/afghanistan-taliban-takeover-anniversary-women-intl-hnk-dst/index.html
- Ask students what they wonder about this photograph.
Step 2:
- Explain that this photo was taken on August 12, 2023. It shows women in Afghanistan holding signs protesting for their right to education.
- In Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, women are banned from going to high school and college. (Background: “Taking a Terrible Toll: The Taliban’s Education Ban.” The United States Institute of Peace.)
- Explain that another group of Taliban militants was active in Pakistan, and they banned women’s education in 2007.
- Show a map of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Step 3:
- Explain that we will be learning about a young woman from Pakistan named Malala Yousafzai who, while a teenager, spoke out publicly against the prohibition on the education of girls by the Pakistani Taliban.
- Malala gained global attention when she survived an assassination attempt at age 15. In 2014, she was the youngest person awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- Play video: Malala Yousafzai On Her Life's Work To Help Girls Around The World by the Today Show (~6 min)
Step 4:
- Explain that this is a video of the speech she gave when she received the Nobel Peace Prize. Have students take notes as they watch the video on the answers to these two questions:
- What are the problems that Malala explains?
- What does Malala say she is fighting for?
- Play video: Malala Yousafzai Nobel Peace Prize Speech (2014) posted by Malala Fund (~27 min)
Step 5:
- Explain that we will be reading Malala’s memoir: I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World.
Step 6:
- Have students read the book, I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World, either as a series of in-class reading assignments or for homework.
- Have students write the answers to the worksheet questions while reading the book.
Step 7:
- Set aside a class period to discuss the book. Invite students to a whole-class discussion of the worksheet questions.
GRADE 8 UNIT 4 WORKSHEET 2: LEARNING ABOUT CURIOSITY FROM A NONFICTION TEXT
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER WHILE READING THE BOOK by Malala Yousafzai and Patricia McCormick:
- Who was Malala named for, and how did this person inspire her countrymen?
- What does Malala’s father say about how women are treated in Pakistan?
- What is purdah?
- How did Malala’s father encourage her?
- In Chapter 2, what does Malala explain happened in Afghanistan under the Taliban?
- In Chapter 5, why was Malala’s father’s school threatened?
- In Chapter 5, what does Malala say is the meaning of education for her?
- In Chapters 6 and 7, what does Malala explain that Radio Mullah banned and how they enforced their rules?
- In Chapter 8, how did Malala’s father show courage in his response to the Taliban’s threat to close his school?
- In Chapters 11-19, Malala explains how she became an activist. What was she fighting for?
- In Chapter 22, what does Malala say she wants to be when she grows up?
- Why did Malala end up in the hospital?
- In Chapter 31, what does Malala see as the moral of The Wizard of Oz?
- Why does Malala say that the Taliban will not stop her and what is her goal?
- In the Epilogue, what does Malala say about courage?
- Look at the Malala’s Fund website: https://malala.org/ and explain one thing you learned from it.
Prohuman K-12 Curriculum © 2025 by Prohuman Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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