What My Students Could Teach The DOE

I teach 7th grade students.  Our topic is Social Studies.

We begin the year with Concepts under which most of the curriculum fall.  One concept is Movement.

What they have to know: Movement or migration of people or ideas affects all societies involved.  Fine

It's 3rd period.  I ask how many students were NOT born in our town.  Half the hand raise.  I choose one young lady and I ask, "Why did YOU move to Dalton?"  I emphasize YOU, because I need for them to understand that some people move because they are forced to move (like children with their parents).  So I await the common wrong answer, because I like wrong answers more than right answers (that's when the learning happens).  She looks up at me.  Squints a little.  And within a second replies, "Fidel Castro."

Well...there goes my plan.  But teaching is an ART not a science.  So I stare at each face in my classroom.  Totally quiet for what must seem to them hours, but was really only about 5 seconds of glaring silence.  Then I whisper, "What was your answer?"

"Fidel Castro. I'm from Cuba."

They students learned about Castro's Cuba last year.  They had an idea.

So I asked how old she was.  "Little" she said.

My next class period, I teach her twin sister.  Wanting to find out more about the family without outright asking (it's an art, you know), I ask the same series of questions.  I get to the sister's seat.  "Why did YOU move to Dalton?"

Her reply, "Fidel, Mr. Murry."

The girls had not spoken to each other between classes.  It is who they are, who their family is, and they comprehend more about this concept of movement than most anyone from the DOE could possibly understand from an experiential level.

I thought the day would be a less emotionally charged in my final class.  I just had two heavy classes in a row.  But it was just the experience of one family.

Next period arrives, and I go through my happy-go-lucky pace of questioning.  "Who in this class moved here from somewhere else?" I query.

Half the hands raise.  It's the end of the day, and frankly, I a little exhausted, so I choose a girl up front.  I know her sisters, I taught one in Computer class 6 years ago.  I knew they were sweet kids, and have met their mother once.

"So, why did YOU move here? Tell the class, but be careful this could be seen as a trick question.  No one has answered correctly (based on the curriculum) yet today.  This is our last chance," I say as I draw the urgency of getting an easy correct answer.

"Saddam Hussein," She says.  "I'm Kurdish."

This was our Tuesday.

So the next day, I feel it is important to debrief my first two classes with what occurred.  Word had gotten out (they follow my Facebook posts with their parents), but I wanted to make sure my students knew who was next to them at their lockers.

My first class understood, as I told them we have living history in our midst.  Treat each other right.

Second period comes in.  I tell them the story, and I notice a young lady, who saw my post on Facebook the evening before, crying.  Not teary eyed - crying.  I asked if she was hurt.  No.  "Are you okay?"

"My parents, grandfather, and uncle came from Cuba in a small boat.  My uncle did not make it.  The sharks..." she told us.  I was born in Miami.

So I concluded my classes knowing that my kids' families have experience more than what they are expected to know.  There were some tears shed this week in class.

My mantra is louder than ever.  No matter what people will say, like math and reading are the most important subjects (those are the test scores that count), or we must compete globally in math and science or we will lose more ground in economic (social studies) dominance, I still maintain SOCIAL STUDIES IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT WE CAN BE TEACHING THIS GENERATION. 

So I ended my classes by saying, "Social Studies isn't just a class you take, it is a matter of Life and Death and Survival.  Welcome to Mr. Murry's Class."

By the way, people move because they are forced (children, slaves, etc.), out of necessity (disasters), and for opportunities (jobs).  Kind of sound like low expectations all of a sudden, doesn't it?

Posted via email from Room 755