When we were discussing the Holocaust example, I remembered a documentary I saw a few years ago, but I was unsure of the title. It’s called “Paper Clips” – an excellent film.
Here’s a synopsis: “Whitwell, TN is a small, rural community of less than two thousand people nestled in the mountains of Tennessee. Its citizens are almost exclusively white and Christian. In 1998, the children of Whitwell Middle School took on an inspiring project, launched out of their principal's desire to help her students open their eyes to the diversity of the world beyond their insulated valley. What happened would change the students, their teachers, their families and the entire town forever… and eventually open hearts and minds around the world.”
One minute clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDJ70lp0SmA
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3 comments:
I really believe that something like that can change people. Doc Pope asked us what obligations do we have to the student in our classroom? Is it preservation, disontinuity or avoidance? This is really sticking with me because I REALLY DON'T KNOW. I think that human beings do all of those things. How will I discern when I am not doing the right thing. AKA our entire class. We are bound to make mistakes. Just one thing could change the way a child feels about his education or even the world around him. We wield alot of power within the classroom. It should not be taken lightly.
I can honestly say that in class the other night I wanted to avoid the conversation. But when Iwent home I was kind of mad at myself for not speaking. I know there will be times when a student will not agree with me based on what their parents have taught them and how they have grown up. I don't want to be a teacher who just avoids the student when they don't agree with me. I want to show them how to learn from what is in the classroom and how important the facts that I am teaching them are. I do believe what Billie said is right. We have a lot of power in the classroom, but we have to keep that power when debating whether what they learn in the classroom is relevant. The holocaust may never be an issue in Pre-K thru 3rd grade, but, like Dr. Pope said, triangles or sentences structure may be and we need to show the students how important the skills they are learning in the classroom are.
I found the article on the link below in USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/life/2003-03-31-chat_x.htm
that discusses how the youth of America are moving away from using proper english and going towards shorthand, internet lingo, that is unprofessional and unacceptable when writing assignments in school.
Is it the job of the parents, as discussed in this article, or the job of the teachers to correct the ways in which technology today has many students usiing poor grammer and bad spelling.
Students are in older grades are showing little regard for formality, and the article goes on to state that, "many scholars say the problem isn't that kids are developing an alternate form of the language; it's that some don't keep in mind when it's inappropriate."
How do we continue to teach our students professionalism in an age that promotes laziness and many students don't understand the difference between proper spelling and english and the ways in which they type to their friends over text, or instant message.
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