So I know, it's been a while! Sorry about not posting in a while but life got in the way (the holidays, a new addition, etc) But I promise that this post will make up for the lack of posts in December and January! Oh and sorry it is long...but its worth it....especially the video at the end!
After the San Bernandino shootings at the end of last year I was stuck to the news like a lot of other Americans. As I was watching one of the press conferences I was cringing. The poor police chief was answering stupid question after stupid question. You could tell that he was getting annoyed. Then someone changed everything. Rather than ask the same question, this reporter thanked the police, first responders, firefighters, etc who were there helping save lives. This struck me and I knew I had to talk about this with my students.
The problem was that I didn't know how to go about this. Then it hit me. My brother had done a mini documentary where he interviewed three people from different generations. He called it quite simply "Age". A week or so before these shootings, he uploaded part 4. In this segment, he asked this simple question "If your younger self saw the world today, what would they think?" This struck me and I knew this would be how I would talk about these shootings.
I went into this talk not knowing what to expect. Remember, I teach 8th graders. You never know what you are going to get. Sometimes they can be so very kind but sometimes they can be so insensitive. We began talking about the latest shootings and the blame that was again being put on the Muslim community. (I was really nervous because I do have students of the Muslim religion.)
I prefaced my talk by making students list some silly stereotypes they have heard. The plan was to get them laughing....and it worked! I told them that by all of us laughing at these silly stereotypes, we knew that nobody was here to offend anybody else. After this exercise, I open the class up to a free discussion about the world today, what they saw in the video, and all the violence/racism in the world.
What happened next astounded me. The nerves I had before about their insensitivity was immediately thrown out the window. I was no longer in the presence of a group of teenagers, I was in the presence of young adults who were having great discussions. They were offended by the racism, the violence, the blame on the Muslim community. They didn't agree with the way the world was going and they wanted change. It made me so happy to see a generation that actually saw right and wrong in the world. It made me happy to see my class (which was like a mini United Nations) come together as one to stand up for what they truly thought was right and believed in! So anytime you lose faith, just remember that this generation is amazing and will do amazing things!
Be sure to check ou the video below of "Age" by Steven Sims.
After the San Bernandino shootings at the end of last year I was stuck to the news like a lot of other Americans. As I was watching one of the press conferences I was cringing. The poor police chief was answering stupid question after stupid question. You could tell that he was getting annoyed. Then someone changed everything. Rather than ask the same question, this reporter thanked the police, first responders, firefighters, etc who were there helping save lives. This struck me and I knew I had to talk about this with my students.
The problem was that I didn't know how to go about this. Then it hit me. My brother had done a mini documentary where he interviewed three people from different generations. He called it quite simply "Age". A week or so before these shootings, he uploaded part 4. In this segment, he asked this simple question "If your younger self saw the world today, what would they think?" This struck me and I knew this would be how I would talk about these shootings.
I went into this talk not knowing what to expect. Remember, I teach 8th graders. You never know what you are going to get. Sometimes they can be so very kind but sometimes they can be so insensitive. We began talking about the latest shootings and the blame that was again being put on the Muslim community. (I was really nervous because I do have students of the Muslim religion.)
I prefaced my talk by making students list some silly stereotypes they have heard. The plan was to get them laughing....and it worked! I told them that by all of us laughing at these silly stereotypes, we knew that nobody was here to offend anybody else. After this exercise, I open the class up to a free discussion about the world today, what they saw in the video, and all the violence/racism in the world.
What happened next astounded me. The nerves I had before about their insensitivity was immediately thrown out the window. I was no longer in the presence of a group of teenagers, I was in the presence of young adults who were having great discussions. They were offended by the racism, the violence, the blame on the Muslim community. They didn't agree with the way the world was going and they wanted change. It made me so happy to see a generation that actually saw right and wrong in the world. It made me happy to see my class (which was like a mini United Nations) come together as one to stand up for what they truly thought was right and believed in! So anytime you lose faith, just remember that this generation is amazing and will do amazing things!
Be sure to check ou the video below of "Age" by Steven Sims.