Freak the Mighty

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. How have different marginalized groups taken terms that were meant to harm them and used them for empowerment?

Teaching Suggestion: Facilitate a group debate or conversation about terms originally intended to harm being reclaimed for purposes of empowerment, as well as the role of such terms in the interactions of Friends vs. Bullies. Discuss the impact of words on people and why words matter.

• This article from The Inquisitive Mind looks at the possibilities and limitations of taking back harmful terms as a means of empowering targeted groups.
• “The Power of Words” is a video produced by Common Sense Media on how the power of words can affect others, specifically within the realm of video games and social media.

2. How do you define teamwork?

Teaching Suggestion: Discuss the importance of teamwork and what it looks like through different stages of life and situations. Share how teamwork is present in your own life and ask the group to think of situations outside of school where their teamwork is required. Explore how teamwork inspires Discovering Strengths through Friendships.

• A DOGO News article highlights the way two friends with disabilities work together to make a living and includes a video slideshow of the men working.
• A teamwork comic series from Got Questions Kidz looks at how teamwork functions within a group and how it breaks down.

Short Activity

Write a letter to a friend, family member, or influential person in your life and tell them what they mean to you and why.

Teaching Suggestion: Ask students to reflect on the people who impact their lives the most, what these people do, and why they thought of the people they did first. Have everyone share at least one person who affects them and how they’re changed by that person’s presence. Use the traits highlighted by the group to transition to a discussion of Differences Among Friends.

• “The Power of Words” is a TEDxNSU video about how one person’s impact helped inspire a student to begin a campus-wide initiative to spread kind words.
• “Do You Like Your Friends?” is a New York Times Learning Network opinion piece that considers what friendship is and provides post-reading questions to encourage further reflection.