This year my kids' ideas about racial equality did not disappoint. Both classes got me in an awkward corner, but in a good way. First, I had to explain that Martin Luther King did not free the slaves, which involved me drawing a very rough timeline and briefly explaining the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. This involved me trying to explain that even though there was slavery in the South not everyone owned slaves and we shouldn't feel guilty now; but, we should be aware of treating people equally and not repeating history.
When we moved onto segregation, I made all of the kids put out their arms and notice that no one is the same color, even those who are "white." My homeroom seemed touched and curious, but let the discussion kind of die out as I ended the lesson. The other class flew me for a loop asking lots of questions about assassination and if everything, including churches and police stations, were segregated. I couldn't answer every question, but I tried my best to give true but not too harsh answers. I was pretty upset though when one student mentioned that Obama would probably get assassinated next because of his race; however, I don't think the student wasn't trying to be mean just thinking out loud. It is so weird when kids make scary but real connections to the world...when they realize that the world isn't always a kind place. I hate to be the one to instigate that line of thinking, but it is part of developing a moral compass.
I tried to put a more positive spin on the lesson by having the students tell me what they dreamed about. I had to explain that these aren't dreams that happen while we sleep, but dreams that they have for the future. They started talking of how badly they wanted to become famous or rich, but I got them to think a little less selfishly and here were some of their more thought provoking ideas:
I dream that everything was 50 cents including "motin diwes" (Mountain Dews), "ditos" (Doritos), and "lan mawers" (lawn mowers). (This made me laugh for days and realize a lot about southern culture.)
I dream that everyone will get into heaven. (how sweet!)
I dream that the devil will be good and evil will leave. ( a little creepy)
I dream that there will be no more homeless on the street.
I dream that there will be no more war and the poor will be fed.
I dream that everyone will feel better and hospitals will make them healthy.
I dream that there will be a new president with no more high gas prices or Obama care. (This child's parents must tell him a lot about politics!)
After discussing all of their dreams, we ended up having a lot of snow/flood days, helping those big ideas sink in! Trying to play catch up, we have moved on to lighter topics. We discussed quotations, which aren't in the book until the end of the year, but they need to know them for writing narrative essays! So, I thought I would just touch on it. We started with doing air quotes...a lot...then, moved onto creating comic books. I was frustrated to find that most comics don't include quotation marks inside the dialogue bubbles so we had to make our own. It was really fun to translate their ideas into "real" looking comics. I was about as giddy as they were! See pics below ;) To make Marvel Comics, here is the website I used...it turns them into printable pdf's! Warning: Spider Girl does look a little scandalous. Lol!http://marvel.com/games/play/34/create_your_own_comic
