The students, 8th graders, agreed with me that discrimination, racism, homophobia, etc. could all lead down a negative path where we inadvertently offend people. The class has decided to do gossip and divided into two groups - trash talk, and telephone rumor mill. Even still I had concerns. How could we possibly do anything relevant yet stay totally school appropriate? How can we honestly walk the line of being truthful and avoid all conflict?
Well. Yesterday we had a meeting and I mentioned this project and my concerns. The best idea one group has is to have a student act silly. Then another student jokingly says, " Are you high?" They would then show the progression from the joke to "Student A is addicted to drugs." I thought this was brilliant because it's so real, but not okay because it doesn't represent the school well. Plus, I don't allow drug talk in class because it is obviously not school appropriate. Surprisingly (at least to me), all my coworkers love the project and the principal gave me the green light! She said something like, "This is real to them." Love it!
Today, I started class with our usual check-in and a game. We then sat in a circle and I talked openly with them about the meeting yesterday and my concerns. The students were attentive, needed a little guidance, and did an impressive amount of work. They feel very much like I do. They are shown PSAs all the time that are created for kids by adults, but adults don't know how to communicate effectively with them. We all agree they may be able to get through to their peers in a way that all of us well-meaning adults just can't.
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