So - how do we best do that?
Do we avoid talking or teaching about situations such as violence that has occurred? Why or why not?
Does talking about these incidents exacerbate the problem?
Do we NEED to address situations such as the recent stabbings? (or not?)
If we do want to address the situation/incident, what are some ways we can do this within our classes and subject matter?
And - what, if anything, has your school done to address the recent stabbing incident in Dededo as well as other acts of violence on Guam?
I do believe that current happenings should be discussed in the classroom. I’ve have learned that if I do not encourage or support the conversation, the students engage in improper behavior such as side discussions and fist pounding. Earlier this week, I conducted a lesson on how the 9/11/01 attacks on the U.S. lead to the creation of new jobs. Through the lesson I found that most students thought they were not affected by the tragedy of 9/11/01 but when I asked who had family members in the military fighting the War on Terrorism 90% raised their hands. In the end the students had knowledge of how something in the past affected how their life is today. Some gained a deeper appreciation of the sacrifices made by others to maintain our freedom. I actually created the lesson as I thought that core teachers were emphasizing the 10th anniversary of the attacks in their lesson and I wanted to join them. In actuality only a handful of students mentioned that their teachers had a lesson about the same topic.
ReplyDeleteAfter that we pretended to BLOG using Microsoft WORD with the topic “Your Future”. Some students were on task but one student was more concerned about the killings that took place at Hanna Market over the weekend. This student shared his thoughts on his BLOG. Responses to his BLOG were at first sympathetic, showing in kind concern, and general support. Then student responses were off the subject and I could see from the different BLOGs that the students were getting off task and disrespectful. Then I stopped the activity and advised the class that the responses were inappropriate. I told the class that they were making great progress towards getting to know other people in the classroom and giving others respect. I related this to relationships in a workplace and then we talked about how the students felt about the killings. Some students shared and questioned why joining gangs were important. I could not give a definite answer to most of the questions but my classroom provided a safe venue where anyone could share their thoughts without being ridiculed.
Someone once shared with me that the school is a community. I do share that sentiment. If there is a subject that is of “community” importance then I believe that the concern should be addressed and not swept under the rug. How else can we provide a positive outlet for our future leaders to address concerns? Sure we can teach our content subject but I feel more importantly that we should arm the students with the tool s to live cooperatively with other fellow men, society, and nature.
We do need to address any sort of violence that affects the lives of our students. We had a talk in my class about the recent stabbings and one student commented that he was told that revenge was ok. He was told that it was ok to do something to someone if that someone did something bad to you first. I'm not sure who misguided him to think that, but we opened it up to discussion. Several students addressed that answering violence to violence does not make a right, that you're only stooping to a lower level, that it won't erase what happened, that it will only make you the bad person.
ReplyDeleteThis discussion was aside from my class lesson, but I felt several of my students needed to talk.
I am very impressed by your proactive measures taken to address this potential time bomb of sorts - and within the initial weeks of schools when you have no idea (exactly) about who your students are or the dynamics between the classmates. That was extremely brave of both of you! And, in my opinion, it says a lot about your teaching and life philosophies. You took a risk and it paid off - and will continue to reap tremendous results as the year progresses. The students know that you both are open and willing to embark on conversations that relate to their personal lives. They also learned that neither of you will allow others to put them down or to not respect their right to say what is in their hearts and minds.
ReplyDeleteWay to go, ladies!
I agree that this is something that should be discussed with our classes. For our students, most of them were very young when 9/11 happened so it is not something that holds an important spot in their history and minds. We held a moment of silence at our school. this allowed me to bring it up and discuss it with my classes. Unfortunately, we as adults saw it as is happened and experienced it so it is still something we think about and talk about. However, i think that eventually 9/11 will be to students as Pearl Harbor or Vietnam War, etc is to us. Just something we read about in a history book and maybe get a day off for.
ReplyDelete