Sunday, July 14, 2013

Hate: A Title Character in Society Today

I'm spending some time this morning reflecting on the senseless death of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent not guilty verdict of George Zimmerman (whose life is also ruined now, no doubt). Many want to claim that race plays no role in this verdict. Even the prosecutor wants to claim that race is not an issue.  How is it not?

If Trayvon had been named Danny and had his hoodie over his blonde hair and blue eyes, would the news be splitting time between the Zimmerman verdict and the death of Corey Monteith? I claim no. Had it been a blonde-haired Danny, he would have been observed as he went along his way, but ultimately left alone. Zimmerman's actions were racial profiling, plain and simple.

If George Zimmerman had been black, would we be having such outrage at the verdict? Would there have even been a trial? Most claim that there would not have been. Another black-on-black shooting would have been chalked up as typical. Sad, but typical.

If Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville had been a white woman, would she be preparing to spend the next 20 years behind bars for defending herself against an abusive spouse who had a restraining order against him or would the stand your ground defense work for her as well?

These recent events only demonstrate the role racism plays in our society. There are many types of hate rearing in our society today. In fact, hate is becoming a major player in our world. As people fight for the rights to love and marry someone of their own choosing, they are met with so-called Christians who claim that if you love differently, you don't have the same rights as others. And women in Texas are face a hate crime against their own choices as Texas recently voted to pass one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the nation.

I don't have children. I am white. I am Christian and I am heterosexual. But I still remain appalled at the role that hate plays in our society. My heart aches for the victims of senseless violence. I will not even pretend to know that Trayvon's motives were purely innocent. But we'll never know, will we? George Zimmerman played arresting officer, judge, and jury when he followed a young, black teenaged male on a Florida evening.

Saturday, July 06, 2013

Presenting New Knowledge to New Teachers

I'm currently working on a presentation for the CERRA Induction Symposium--a conference for teachers who have just finished their first or second year in education. I signed up to present on strategies for keeping students engaged. At this point, I'm wondering what was I thinking?!?!

So I have been reflecting on the most engaging lessons from my classroom this past year. What is engaging instruction rooted in?

Let's start with anticipatory sets. Getting students to anticipate the lesson helps them to get excited about their learning. Before dealing with Romeo and Juliet, students can examine value statements that deal with the major themes from the play and decide if they agree or disagree with the statements. Once they realize how much they can relate the major themes of the play with their actual lives, the classic piece of literature becomes much more attainable. Teachers can also use questioning strategies, word webs, songs, and videos to get students engaged in the lesson before it starts.

Once the lesson begins, strategic instruction is a powerful, student-centered approach to learning. Using strategies help students access the tools that adept learners are able to readily access. One great strategy for teaching new concepts is the concept map. This graphic helps the learner to understand relationships between the concept and other thoughts/ideas. I have used this to entrench knowledge of figurative language. A history teacher has used the mapping process to further explain the amendments to the Constitution. Strategies can be extremely engaging for learners, and they help students tap into the cognitive strategies that will help them as they encounter new knowledge.

Mixing in music and video to lessons also helps increase student engagement. Keeping clips short and relevant is all students need get that technology fix that this generation seems to need. A US History teacher working with the Jim Crow South could introduce "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday and "The Flowers" by Alice Walker. This incorporation of both music and a short literary piece will help fire up the dendrites to increase student learning and comprehension.

Engaging instruction is vital in teaching today's youth. There are many options teachers can tap into to help create connections to enhance learning. I only hope that I can come up with a few new ideas to help new teachers this week.