My field is English education, and I'm part of a team that prepares
preservice teachers for careers as secondary school English teachers. We
maintain the class listserves from each year to stay in touch with our
students. On Thursday I sent the following message to each listserve:
Hi all, I hope everyone's holding up under the weight of the week's events.
I was driving my kids to school yesterday (Wed.) and we were listening to
the radio. We started out with NPR, which had experts talking about the
economic impact of the attack, etc. We then switched over to Star 94 where
the hosts were taking calls from listeners--much more heartfelt and
important, I thought, than what the experts had to say. One caller was a
15-year-old girl who attended an Atlanta-area high school. She said that
within minutes of the attack, her administrators got on the PA system and
reported the events, then requested that teachers turn on CNN on their
classroom TVs. The whole school then watched as events unfolded throughout
the day.
The girl said that by being immediately informed and allowed to follow the
story, they were able to talk about the events and engage with their
teachers and other students in very constructive and important ways. She
said that friends of hers in other schools were never told about the
attack. Of course, people found out anyway and the news spread by
grapevine, with the usual distortions and misinformation. At these other
schools, there was substantially greater fear and anxiety among students
than at her school, where they were well-informed and had the
administration's blessing to talk about it, get counseling, and so on.
This girl was incredibly mature and impressive. So, I think, was her
school administration in their decision on how to handle the situation. I
hope that your school treated the students with similar respect and
concern. I'd be interested in hearing about the way the day went for you
and your students.
I can't imagine a more important time to be a teacher. Peter
A number of our students responded, most to the effect that their
administrators had demanded "business as usual" in the classroom--no
watching CNN, discussing the events, etc. I'll include a few below. And
we wonder why so many kids feel disaffected from school.
My fingers are shaky as I type this e-mail, partially because I am so
touched by the thoughtful, caring, and intelligent responses of my former
classmates on this issue and partially because I am still so angry about the
way my school's administration has handled this event. I, too, have seen
this as the most incredible teaching moment that we will ever experience;
yet, my school's principal served up the same order by e-mail to "conduct
business as usual, according to your previously-written lesson plans." How
can you refer to "previously-written lesson plans" that were written before
the world took a drastic change like the changes we're experiencing??? Like
Amanda, I didn't read the e-mail until after school on Tuesday. My classes
watched the news all day that day. On Wednesday, we discussed the events
again (without the benefit of breaking news all day). Then, we proceeded to
perform skits in which students acted out scenes to represent their
vocabulary words. Most impressively, nearly all of the students altered
their skits from the scenes they had planned earlier in the week, to scenes
that dealt directly with the terrorist attacks and the tragic loss of lives.
These changes came about without my prompting or even my knowledge . . .
until they stood before the class, representing the word "garb" by altering
their clothing to look like rescue workers, demonstrating a "citadel" by
stacking dictionaries in the floor in the shape of the pentagon, and
pretending to be "emissaries" by replicating the actions of victims' loved
ones walking the streets of New York looking for their missing friends and
family. At the end of that day, I realized that no matter how much anyone
tries to shield students in classrooms from the events that are taking
place, their interest and concern in the topic will not be swayed. They
will create their own space for discussion if it is not created for them.
This week's vocabulary skits were some of the best I've ever seen. The
students really expanded the possible uses of words on their own, adding new
connotations to these words that I'm sure they will never forget. I guess
my point is this: although I bemoaned not having permission to teach the
way I would have chosen that day leave the TV. on and discuss the breaking
news), my students and I found other ways to connect our learning to real
life experiences and what really mattered in our hearts and minds that day.
As a side note of additional frustration--we were supposed to have a moment
of silence today at 11:43 (NOT 12:00 like the rest of the nation, because
the almighty bell schedule couldn't be interrupted); however, our principal
was tied up on the phone and forgot to make the announcement!! We did
finally have our moment of silence at 1:30, though.
Keep your heads high and take every possible opportunity to make something
good of this situation. If nothing else, we have one common-ground
situation to utilize as a springboard to some awesome learning
possibilities.
> As I was driving home from work today in Augusta I was listening to talk
> radio and they were talking about this same thing. Apparently in Richmond
> County (Augusta Schools) the superintendent made the same decision to turn
> off all TVs and not discuss the events. The talk radio guy was outraged...I
> tried for 20 mins to call in and then the show ended. One woman called in
> who was a teacher and said she was thankful for the decision b/c she did
not
> know how to discuss such issues with her students and didn't think they
were
> capable of understanding the issues - she teaches high school. To me, it is
> frightening that there are people like this woman in the school system who
> can't even talk to the kids...and are afraid to even make the effort. I am
> going to try to call in again tomorrow - it is just outrageous to me that
> people think teenagers can not "handle" these issues - This is the kind of
> thing that makes me sick b/c it makes me so angry. This is exactly why this
> generation seems to be becoming more and more alienated from their parents,
> from adults, etc....
I think the main flaw of that woman is feeling pressure to say something
intelligent. The important thing is sharing the emotion first, a natural human
thing, and let the kids learn by watching the TV (first time that ever
happened)
and reading articles and discussing the issues themselves. If you respond
first
as a person it can not be anything but beneficial for your kids. Yes, we
must be
supportive and strong to help our students be supportive and strong, but we
also
should so our concern and compassion for the those involved. It is not about
'saying the right thing' so much as allowing the kids to say something. How
can
bottling that up be good?
I am holding up as well as can be expected. I am
blessed to not know anyone hurt or killed. So far. I
have to tell you, though, what has helped me the most:
being able to talk to my friends and colleagues about
this horrifying event and attempting to make some
peace with my feelings; being able to watch the news
and get the information that we have been given so
that I can make some sense of the facts and
conjecture; and, finally, my patriotism and belief
that my country can and will rebound from this attack
and respond to it.
I am not naive. I know that there is far more
information out there than we are being given. There
always is. But I do feel that, all things considered,
we are being given an amazing amount of information.
It is comforting on a couple of fronts. First of all,
that our leaders are being this forthright with us.
And second of all, that if we are getting this much
information, imagine how much more our leadership must
know. It is encouraging, as well. This will be
resolved. It will never be erased, but it will be
resolved.
But I digress. My purpose for writing this note is to
voice my disappointment and concern for some of the
decisions made in my county. As many of you know
already, Gwinnett County Public Schools sent out an
e-mail ordering that all televisions be turned off and
business as usual be conducted.
How business as usual was supposed to be conducted, I
don't know. I could barely think straight, let alone
teach. I did keep the television off (when the kids
were in the room) most of the day, but kept open
communication with my students. If they had questions
or wanted to talk, we did. There is so much talk
about teachable moments and it appears that is all it
is--talk. When a moment like that arrives, tragic as
it was, we are told to ignore it. I couldn't igore it
and won't. How are our kids to learn how to deal with
tragedy and loss if we shelter them from it? They
can't.
Our kids are people, quite often, very mature and very
concerned. They have thoughts, feelings, and fears
like we do. Imagine the thoughts that went through
some heads when they knew only that something horrible
had happened. Imagine the feelings of kids who had
loved ones near one of the targets. I had loved ones
near; I was shaken. Some of my students, and I know
yours, too, had loved ones near the tragedy. What is
worse than not knowing? Not much.
We constantly complain about our bosses and leaders
keeping the truth from us. But what do we do? What
are we forced to do? Keep the truth from those who
trust us to give it to them. Wall our feelings away
from the kids who look to us as examples of how to
deal with life.
I realized, on Tuesday, what an awesome responsibility
we have as educators. Rooms full of kids at a time
looking to us for wisdom. Looking to us for lessons
in integrity and honesty. Looking to us for guidance
and answers. And yes, though most of them would never
admit it, looking to us for protection. Yes, I want
to protect my kids. But I want to protect them by
preparing them to deal with tragedy, not by sheltering
them from it.
As I wrote earlier, there are three things that are
making this atrocity somewhat easier to bear. Those
are: the ability to talk to friends, the feeling that
my leaders are being honest with me, and my trust in
them to do what is right. These are things that I
expect, that I demand. These are things that help me
deal with a tragedy and process it. Yet I am being
told to deny my students these very needs. I will not
deny my kids the chance to make some sense of their
confusion and fear.
To mangle a Michael Stipe lyric, "I think I've said
enough. I haven't said enough."
I will hold on with one hand
And all of my heart.
I will move on with my mind
Focused on what is to come.
I will march on with purpose
And determination.
I will fight on with resolve.
I will remember those who have fought
And those who have won.
I will remember those who have lost.
And I will remember those we have lost.
I probably just mangled one of my own lyrics there,
but oh well...
Thanks for humoring me and reading this rant. I guess
I needed to say these things. Thanks for not denying
me the opportunity to do so.
My administration sent out an e-mail that encouraged
us to conduct "business as usual" which I read
promptly at 3:00, after spending the whole day
watching CNN with my students. I teach ESOL students
right now and it is the first time I have ever seen
kids anxious to define new vocabulary and yell at each
other for blocking the world map on the wall. Each of
my classes were very interested in the actuality of
the events and the the history of the US. We mapped
the crashes as they happened and located them in the
US. We kept tracks of numbers, locations names and
anything else that might help us solve the mystery.
The Muslim students, Hispanic students, European
students, Asian students and myself were working
together to problem solve, make some sense of and
figure out how to deal with what we were seeing. I am
sorry that the events were so sad, but it was one of
the most effective learning days my class has ever
seen. I feel like my students are a little more
aware of the world around them and everyday I
encourage my students to discuss, ask questions and
share what they have learned. We write about the US
involvements in other countries and what choices we
have as a country now. Real life in the classroom. I
simply cannot imagine turning off the TV that morning,
as those are moments that are the most effective
teaching.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Oct 10 2001 - 15:49:14 PDT