Brinda Ambal

Coding a robot to better understand the perspective of characters in the class novel, sophomores Taylor Burns and Fatimah Hussain feel frustration at their robot due to their “character” limitations. This lesson taught students real-world skills such as trial and error, working together and teamwork. “There were some people getting really frustrated because they couldn’t figure it out, but they kept trying, kept experimenting and those were the sort of life skills that work their way into lessons like these,” Honors English II teacher Erin Fluchel said.

Small white and blue spheres crawl around the library as students in Erin Fluchel and Casey Holland’s Honors English II classes compete in a set of obstacles. 

Students were responsible for coding robots that experienced limitations representative of the ones each character faced in the Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

“One of the new district curriculum targets for sophomore year is understanding multiple points of view, so we wanted to think about how we could have [our students] get inside a character’s head,” Fluchel said. “Short of flying [students] to a deserted island, without adults, and just dropping [them] off, this allows them to do that.”

Some students who had more limited robots, such as sophomore Fatimah Hussain, felt frustrated at the challenges and obstacles that their robot faced. 

“We talked about how Piggy [a character in the novel] is also frustrated about his physical limitations and how people won’t listen to him because of them,” Fluchel said. “When the students write a creative writing piece as a follow up to the activity, which is also a new curriculum goal, the students will be better able to channel that.”