Social Justice in Omaha Part II

Here's the second part to my previous post:

Q: What kinds of social justice issues do you face as an educator? What does that look like?
A: One big issue that I think all teachers face is that our classrooms are diverse, but the tests were so bound to by the government don’t take these diversities into consideration. While there is a need for standards in education, the current method of assessing these standards only looks at a very select skill on one particular day of a student’s life in order to determine if this student is “proficient” and if teachers are “proficient”. These test don’t take into consideration the whole student. They don’t reveal how far a student really has come in his/her learning. Our current assessments are stifling for both teachers and students (they often result in canned curricula that is separate from the real world) and the consequences of these assessments on districts often cause districts and teachers to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do.

Q: Are these issues specific to your classes or are these issues that most educators face?
A: I think this is an issue most educators face. Unfortunately some are just not aware of it. They haven’t been encouraged to be critical of these practices.

Q: Why should these matter the Omaha community? Why is this significant for the Omaha Metro Area?
A: As I mentioned, I’m new to Omaha---so I’m coming at this with a pretty limited viewpoint. However, a more equitable society should be important to each community. If we don’t learn to see the potential in all people, then we will continue to commit acts of injustice. We’ll continue to treat people unfairly, we’ll continue to remain divided by class and race...injustice is a vicious cycle. Omaha won’t reach its own potential as a community if we don’t learn to value one another’s potential.

Q: How do you approach the issue of social justice in your classroom? Why does this matter to you and your students?
A: I’m not perfect, but I try to set up a just classroom; one that is nurturing to all students and is a safe place for them to grow, create, and engage. We do a lot of character building activities and character study through the literature we read, the essays we write, and the disscussions we have. I always tell my students that I want them to leave my classroom a better person. I try to treat them fairly and I expect them to offer this same courtesy to their classmates. And I want them to be critical, so in relation to the literature we read, we discuss a lot of current events and socially relevant topics that explore injustice. Of course, I have to teach them how to discuss how to challenge one another civilly. We also discuss what might be the most effective way to speak back to injustice. It’s important me to teach this way because, it’s the right thing to do. Many students don’t learn these skills at home, and these are skills necessary to be a critical and participatory adult. I don’t want them to get caught up in a circle of apathy because that’s no way to live. I want them to learn how to live well in their communities (wherever they end up).

Q: What might justice look like in education? Can you paint me a picture of that?
A: Going back to one of my teaching role models, Linda Christensen, I think justice in education or life in general, might start with believing in people’s potential. When we are able to look past surface level and when we look at each person (no matter their appearances or their past) and truly believe they have potential and value, then our actions will change. We’ll start treating people more fairly. We’ll start teaching to each individual student, we’ll make education relevant to students’ lives and the lives they’ll take on in the future, we’ll start trusting our teachers more, and maybe we’ll begin to eliminate draconian educational policies.

Social Justice in Omaha Part I

Tonight I have the awesome privilege to help out our friend Micah with a project he's doing to promote social justice in Omaha. He and a crew are interviewing a few people tonight about their experiences and views on social justice; they'll use some of the clips to create a video to show at the church Micah works at (Christ Community) for a sermon on social justice. I would say that social justice is a fairly contentious issue among many evangelical Christians because of the connotations of liberalism that it arouses in peoples' minds. So, I'm interested in seeing the final product. I'm humbled that Micah asked if he could interview me to get my perspective about social justice in education because I really don't see myself as doing something out of the ordinary; I teach the way I do because it's just the right thing to do. Plus, I feel like most of what I've done from my classroom is to the credit of other people. I've learned to teach from so many other great educators.

Today I sat down for a few hours to process through the questions that Micah will ask tonight. In typical type-A English teacher fashion, I typed out all of my responses...so, I thought it would be interesting blogging material. My responses are long, so I'll break this into two posts.

Q: Tell me a little bit about your story and background? How did you end up in Omaha and how has Social Justice become a topic of interest to you?
A: In the fall I’ll be starting my fifth year of teaching high school English. My teaching experience so far has been in rural school settings in western Nebraska. I took interest in social justice primarily because of my experiences in my graduate work with the Nebraska Writing Project at UNL. I took classes with some of the best teachers in the state, and these people pushed me to think more deeply about education. Teaching is more than tests, it’s more than standards; the best teachers present their students with a diverse perspective of the world and then give them chances to and push them to think critically in order to develop their own opinions of the world, to be able to articulate these clearly and logically, and then to equip them to act. This kind of teaching is tough and it’s messy and it’s not always valued by administrators, teachers, students, communites, or educational policies. As one of my teaching role models, Linda Christensen from the Oregon Writing Project says, "Social justice is at the core of my work because it is a belief in people's potential.” I think why I took interest in social justice and continue to find ways to bring this work into my classroom is because it takes on this belief that everyone has potential (which I think is a good starting point for social justice), and as a teacher, it’s my responsibility to tap into this potential in students. It’s my job to find their potential and help nurture it. It’s just the right thing to do.

As far as how I got to Omaha, my husband and I have enjoyed small town, rural living, but as we got closer to growing our family through adoption, we decided that we wanted our kids to grow up in a culturally rich area. So we began searching for jobs and were blessed enough to land here.

Q: Tell me more about the work you've been doing with Social Justice in the classroom? What does that look like?
A: Originally I started small by introducing a variety of writers into my classroom. I moved from a primarily white dead-guy curriculum to one that included women writers and writers of different backgrounds and cultures as a way to introduce my primarily white students’ eyes to other ways of living and being in the world. I also introduced lots of non-fiction articles that discussed issues I thought kids needed to think about: issues like race, gender, oppression, activism, etc. Eventually by the time I left Ogallala, my 9th grade curriculum included an entire quarter devoted to social action where kids studied the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s four steps to non-violent direct action in his text Letter from a Birmingham Jail. My students interviewed local changemakers in our own community to capture their stories and then make them public via stories on our class blog, and then they were required to make some sort of positive impact on their community using their passions, talents, and resources. Their projects were research based as I required them to do some initial digging through primary and secondary sources to see if their project was valid. Their culminating activity was to create a visual presentation of their research to prove why their project was necessary to complete, the vocabulary learned along the way, and photos of themselves in action, as well as a summary of what they planned to do next. They planned a project night similar to a traditional science fair, and they invited community members to attend via business letters. The two years I did this was a success--I had close to a 100% completion rate, and this year over 100 community members attended our project night to support students in their own form of social action.

Social Action Project: News Clip and Photos

On Monday, our local news station from North Platte came out to interview some of my students (all because one of my students thought to write them a letter inviting them to come) about their Social Action projects and their project night. Here's a link to the video and text version of the story, or you can watch it below:


Project night was a success! All but three of my students showed up for the event, and there was an incredible turn out of community members, teachers, and family members. It was so great to sit back and watch my 13-16 year old students from all walks of life, some with all kinds of baggage--talk to adults about their projects. There were so many high points from the night that I can't even begin to list them all...but, I will share a few photos and captions from the night:

The two in this photo have taken on the biggest project...by far. Being XC runners, they're passionate about fitness. Naturally, they're planning and organizing a 5k race (the Leprechaun Chase!) that will raise money to benefit our local rec center. They have already been working on this project for a month. Their race isn't until March 18th, so they've committed themselves to working hard long after our Social Action unit is completed. Already they have met with rec center staff to pitch the idea, met with the city manager to gain approval, mapped out a course, contacted the police department and fire station to be sure they had the go ahead, created entry forms....you get the idea. The girl on the left is an 8th grader taking my English 9 class and the young man in green is a 9th grader...an 8th and a 9th grader are planning a 5k race! These kids blow me away year after year....

These young men have come SOOOO far in their lives. They truly are two of my heroes...they're just two of the kids that keep me coming to school day after day. They are pictured here with the Executive Director of SCIP (Sandhills Crisis Intervention Program). They sought to spread the word about the good work SCIP does to help victims of domestic violence. They handed out a ton of swag and were hits of the night!

That young lady in the blingin' shirt is Kelsey. Kelsey is passionate about her dog, Jack, whom she trained herself and shows in 4-H. She decided to take Jack to one of our assisted living facilities here in town to visit with some of the residents. Her presentation and project were simple, but what stuck out to me was the day after project night she told me she'd love to go back and do it again! The kid in pink made cookies and sold them at his church and at project night to raise money for new football helmets.

This was one of the most endearing projects of the night. These two young ladies wanted to inform the community about our Community Based Education program at school, and they wanted to show that "Special Education students are people with feelings and hobbies." The CBE program provides our Special Education students with life skills training. They are pictured here with several greeting cards that one of our Special Education graduates made in order to sell and raise money for a new coffee pot in the Special Education classroom.

These strapping young men collected so many items for the Keith-Arthur County Food Pantry!

Meet Ms. Abigail. She's incredibly quiet and introverted, but when you give her a mission...watch out! She's great at public speaking, and for her project she decided to organize and host a soup supper to raise money for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). She raised $372 to donate to the organization!

A shot of the entire gym bustling with activity.

Social Action Project Night

Today is the day! In two hours my English 9 students will be sharing their projects with community members, parents, teachers, and peers. For the past few months we've been studying Social Action and what it looks like in the lives of everyday people right here in Keith County as well as what Social Action looks like in history--specifically, during the Civil Rights Movement. Students grappled with the horrifying injustices during the Civil Rights Movement, and they worked hard to understand Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's text Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Students were tasked with taking their own action in the community to help someone. They had to come up with a plan, research to prove that action needed to be taken, act, and then reflect on their action. Many of them have worked SO hard on these projects. I have 13-16 year olds taking on projects that many adults wouldn't or haven't taken on! A few weeks ago they wrote business letters to people in our area informing them about and inviting them to project night, so tonight they'll get to show off their hard work to those interested.

It's been an exhausting process. I woke up about 1 or 2 AM last night and tossed and turned with nerves until 5 when I finally fell asleep again. I about went crazy today as I tried to answer all the last minute questions students had and keep track of all I still needed to do for tonight. But...to see students working so hard to make positive change in the community is totally worth it. Even if it's not 100% of my students working hard....I have so many who have really thrown themselves into this project: two students are planning a 5k fundraiser run, two students used their passion for music to perform on the piano for residents in a local nursing home, one student organized a soup supper benefit to raise money for our local CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) group, two students who are passionate about treating SPED kids equally created a totally endearing poster featuring some of our SPED kids doing things they love to show that they're people with emotions and hobbies, one student who struggles so much in school read to pre-schoolers a few weeks ago and then created the coolest poster over her project, two girls I wrote about last week put on the youth basketball camp, two boys put around plastic bottle recycling containers around the building and took their first load to the recycling center today and recycled 7 lbs of plastic bottles....I could go on and on. Even if I'm nervous about those few students who may not show up or even complete a project, tonight I'm beaming with pride at the kids who have worked their tails off on their projects. I can't wait to see them show off their stuff!

I'll post photos from the evening later this week...and the news station from North Platte visited my classroom today, so if they post the video on the news, I'll post it here.

I went to basketball camp...sort of

Last night my husband and I spent our evening in our school's gym surrounded by 38 girls in grades 3-6 (yikes!). Two students in English 9 (Maaika and Jenna) chose to put on a free basketball clinic for girls in the grades mentioned above for their Social Action project.

Both of these girls are passionate about basketball. They've played for years, and as freshmen have seen their fair share of Varsity court time. Both of their parents are involved with coaching either youth leagues or high school basketball, so it was natural that their project involved basketball. They've been planning the clinic for several weeks. They had to get permission to use the facility, create a registration form and liability waiver, plan the schedule, promote the clinic, etc. As of yesterday afternoon they had only received five registration forms and they expected to have about 15 girls at the clinic. Nate and I walked into the gym about ten minutes after the clinic started to see 38 little girls dribbling basketballs in a big circle while Maaika and Jenna walked around correcting form and offering encouragement. These two girls are so quiet in my class, so it was awesome to see them in leadership roles being vocal. They were definitely in their element last night. The girls were super organized and even had snacks for the girls to eat halfway through the clinic. They made cute little gift bags to give out to each girl at the end of the clinic.

After talking to a few parents last night, I discovered that our community or school hasn't offered a basketball camp or clinic for girls in years...no wonder these girls came in droves! One parent last night thanked me for having this project for the kids (I had his oldest daughter in class last year) because "The kids are really learning the importance of public service."

I had so much fun watching my two students corral and lead nearly 40 energetic little girls last night. It gave me a renewed energy to get me through the last week of working on our projects. Here are some photos of the night:

Maaika (left) and Jenna (right) working up some last minute plans while the little girls eat snacks

All the girls

Jenna trying to corral the 3-4th graders

Running dribbling drills

Dealing with resistance

We have one more week to finish our Social Action projects in English 9. We've examined song lyrics for societal issues, listened to 14 local activists talk about change they've made in the community, students have interviewed and written about a community member working hard to make positive change, we've studied the Civil Rights Movement and examined Dr. MLK Jr's four steps for non-violent direct action from his text Letter from a Birmingham Jail, and now students are working on their own change projects. Students were instructed to tap into their passions, find a need in the community, and then do something about it. Not only do they have to take action, but they have to gather research about the issue to prove their project is legitimate, compile a vocabulary journal of words learned along the way, and then compile this all into a presentation of some sort to chronicle their journey and show at our English 9 Project Night on February 20th. They've composed professional business letters inviting people to attend our project night---so now they simply have to finish up their projects.

All week I've been meeting with students, helping them brainstorm, problem-solve, and plan. It's been exhausting for a few reasons. First--more students than usual still don't have project topics or ideas. However, this doesn't surprise me. This year has been a challenging year due to the group of students I have. I have several high-needs students who come to my class with lots of baggage. For a few, attendance is sometimes poor. It's been tedious work to inspire these kids to do this project, and I've had to get very creative (many of these students haven't completed too many assignments for my class or their other classes this year). Secondly, I've met resistance from a few colleagues regarding this project. Of course this resistance has never been directed to me, but has instead come in the form of snarky comments, eye rolls, and shoulder shrugs towards the kids' projects. I feel like apathy is the worst form of resistance because I just don't know how to address it. Yesterday I reached a breaking point when I found out another teacher in my building posted a rude comment on someone's Facebook regarding the legitimacy of this unit (just another reason why my life is Facebook free at the moment...). Of course I was pissed, but more than that---I just was awestruck that this teacher can't see the benefits of this project. This unit aligns with more of the state Language Arts standards than most of the other units we teach; it's grounded in sound research (so far I have 20 pages of my thesis and a shelf full of books to prove it); students are learning valuable skills that will transfer beyond the classroom, etc. etc. As I packed up to leave my classroom yesterday, my mind was spinning with thoughts. I passed by poster above of quotes hanging in the front of my room, and I keyed in on one that I've used as a journal prompt and point of discussion with my students:

  "The first resistance to social change is to say it's not necessary." --Gloria Steinem

This project IS necessary for so many reasons. I won't convince all of my students, all of the parents, or all of my colleagues of its importance. But after four years of research, I'm convinced this project is good for kids---so in the words of Joe Dirt, I'll keep on keepin' on doing what's best for kids.

My students are blogging

I've carried my love of blogging into the classroom. For the past two years my 12th grade students have kept blogs, but this year I've expanded my horizons and have decided to create a blog for a project my English 9 students are working on. We're just getting into our Social Action unit--one of my favorites--but this year I've expanded it just a bit to include this blogging component. The blog is still a work in progress; students are currently working on creating a description for the About Us page (that should be posted by Friday). I'm also happy to report that The Keith County Chamber of Commerce and Grow Keith County have agreed to link our class blog to their websites, so we can share our work (and the good work people of Keith County are doing) with more people! Anyway, check out the blog if you're interested in seeing what students are doing...

My Attempt to Plug The Rural Brain Drain

As mentioned in a previous post, for a little over a week I've been reading Patrick Carr and Maria Kefalas's book Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brian Drain and What It Means for America, hoping to find inspiration for my thesis. And guess what? I found it today...at about 1:00 this afternoon when I finished the book.

My guiding question for my thesis has emerged as: How does social action develop deeper connections to community for rural students? I'm aware that to most, this is dreary material. As I've grown to kind of like living and teaching in a small town (shhh....don't tell!) though, this question has become increasingly important to me. Until this year, I've basically treated activism and place consciousness as two separate units within my curriculum. Last year I listened to kids (particularly my seniors) lament about our town wishing they lived somewhere more exciting making declarations that they will probably never come back to Ogallala because A) it's boring and B) there are no jobs here for them. While I believe these claims are due in part to the natural longing to experience the world, when I prodded them about their civic involvement, I discovered that these experiences were few and far between. My seniors really didn't have a clue as to how decisions about the community were made and lacked involvement with the community. Many of these students were bright and involved heavily in extracurricular activities and most would likely fit into Carr and Kefalas's category of Achievers (students bound for college, destined to move away and never come back). So I began to wonder: would more civic involvement help students consider the possibilities of eventually returning to our small town?

Over the past four years, enrollment at our high school has dropped, and we've gone from a class B school to a class C school. My music teacher husband and I have sat on edge as discussions of RIFfing swirled around the district resulting in just a few (luckily) positions eliminated. Each year when contracts are issued I grow a little nervous thinking about the possibility that either me or my husband could be issued the dreaded pink slip due to declining numbers in enrollment. I haven't done any deep census studies, but from listening to locals chat, I hear worry and concern in voices as they talk about how Ogallala once was compared to its state now. And as I listen to my students' state that Ogallala is fine to grow up in, but not fine to move back to--my concern for the town's well-being is growing.

So, this year I've decided to merge activism and place consciousness in my curriculum; I guess it's my own little attempt to plug the rural brain drain....

In my next post I'll include some of Carr and Kefalas's findings and ideas that support what I'm doing in my own classroom...bear with me as I work through research and try to navigate my way back on track for my thesis. I promise to try and post something this weekend that is non-thesis related :)

Merging Place Consciousness with Social Action

Note: As promised, here's another post about my thesis :) This is a brief, scattered overview of the project my English 9 students will be engaging in after Christmas...another post will follow about my intentions/goals for the project.

This morning I watched an amazing Ted Talks video (see below) where Natalie Warne, a 20 year old, shares her journey of catching the activism bug at the age of 17 which caused her to devote the next few years of her life working as an intern for the organization Invisible Children. Natalie refers to the people she worked with along the way as " Anonymous Extraordinaries," people who work to make a difference without want of recognition for their actions. I've decided to start my unit with this video clip. After discussing the concept of activism, I'll allow students to brainstorm local people and agencies who are "Local Anonymous Extraordinaries." Students may struggle with this, especially if they or their families are not connected to the community. So, I'll have to come up with my own list as a way to spark discussion. Once we've generated a pretty good list, I'd like for students then to interview these people who are quietly, yet passionately making a difference right here in our own community and then create a journalistic style piece of writing featuring said activist. My plan is to model this off a few different projects. The first is the Foxfire Project, popular in the 60s and 70s in Appalachia in which students recorded stories told by their elders. The second is from Central City native, Wright Morris, who used photography and writing to capture the essence of local places. So in addition to writing, students will candidly photograph these people and/or their work. If all goes as planned, I'll set up a class blog for students to post their pictures and compositions so we have a giant collection of "Local Anonymous Extraordinaries." I'd like the blog to be linked to our school's webpage and the city's webpage as a way to promote the good work our citizens do.

After this portion of the project is completed, students will launch into Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "Letter From a Birmingham Jail" and our study of the Civil Rights Movement in order to introduce them to Dr. King's four steps for non-violent direct action (which are awesome, practical steps to follow when trying to spark change). Then, my favorite part of the unit: students will choose a local issue to research and support. Students will be required to act on an issue that is important them. In the end, students will create a visual presentation that includes background information about their cause, an overview of what they did to help and photos to prove it, vocabulary they learned along the way, and they'll end with what they learned in this journey. These will be presented to community members during our Social Action Project Night that students organize.

Here's the Ted Talks video I referred to earlier:

Theis Update

Note: The next few posts will be devoted to my thesis. I'm in the process of "working out" the beginning part of the class project I'm using to write about in my thesis. I'll break the posts up so people aren't overwhelmed by the nerd wavelengths radiating from my writing :) I'm posting my thoughts here because I'd love feedback on how to make this project or my thesis more effective.

On Friday I met with my amazing thesis committee on campus at UNL. There are three faculty members helping me with this huge project, and they have been nothing but a healthy balance of encouraging and critical. I admit, I'm still nervous about this undertaking. I don't feel like I have anything to add to the intellectual conversation surrounding place consciousness and social action as a way for students to invest in their communities and hopefully appreciate the place they come from a little more. I feel comfortable researching and utilizing these concepts in my teaching, but writing about it in a coherent way and sharing it with three of the smartest people I've ever met is a different story.

Nonetheless, on Friday night I utilized some free time at The Mill to throw myself headlong into researching. Place consciousness and social action are topics I've studied throughout my Master's program, so fortunately I have an adequate grasp on the concepts and have read many of the major pieces written about the topics. But tonight I began Gregory Smith and David Sobel's book Place-And Community-Based Education in Schools. I confess--I'm a total geek and love reading books about pedagogy. I'm two chapters in and have already begun to scribble down ideas. Since school started I've been grappling with how to merge place consciousness with social action. I've treated the two as separate two entities for the past two years. In an attempt to make my social action unit more effective, I want to merge the two. So the next post will outline my idea (it's tentative, and I need feedback on if this is really getting students to think locally and appreciate the local before they move to make change)......

Teaching is Activism

Abusive parents, feelings of abandonment, serious illnesses, death, stories of kids growing up way too fast, pressure to fit in, court cases, unhealthy relationships. I just finished reading a batch of student journals. Of course these heavy topics were sprinkled among entries about golf tournaments, learners permits, life philosophies, to-do lists, drawings of spaceships and talking pizzas, song lyrics and other light-hearted subjects. But it's the burdensome journals that stick with me for weeks. It's these that drive me to tears at my kitchen table with my trusty purple pen lingering over the paper as I try to come up with a set of soothing words to comfort each unique student. But somehow, "I'm sorry you have to deal with all of this. You shouldn't have to. Keep your head high and hold on to hope. If you ever need to talk, my door is open" just seems shallow and contrived. These entries keep me up late at night as I mill over what I should've done better to let each student know I care. These journals remind me why that one student sleeps in class and why the other never turns in his homework. Most of all---these journals and the students behind them remind me that to teach is to be an activist.

Anyone who is a teacher has these utopic visions of what teaching is like while they are an undergraduate student aspiring to be the next Erin Gruwell or John Keating. I never thought I'd deal with homelessness--run-away parents--abuse--and the other gamut of issues I deal with daily. I always thought I'd retire as a teacher. But now I'm not so sure. I love my job. I love my students. But I'm not sure how many sleepless nights due to that one "headache" child (who is a headache because that's the only time she gets attention) I can handle. I've heard that the life of an English teacher is five years, and after year three---I believe it. I've had it set in my mind that I'd do something different in five years--I'd go back to school full time to pursue a PhD so I don't have to deal with the hassles that sometimes come with teaching public education.

But if teaching is activism, then it's also service. And sometimes service sucks. Serving others isn't glamorous. It's not an 8-5 job. Serving sometimes requires us get dirty and wash grimy feet--to humble ourselves. And after reading those journal entries (even though it took me two hours to read 24 out of 75), I feel like I can't give up. My students need me to be there for them--to help them form productive words and actions that will spur change; they need me to be the voice that will speak for them when they can't or when nobody else will listen to them; they need me to speak about their amazing potential. I can't give up that responsibility. I can't walk away from them like so many people already have.

Unfortunately--many are leaving or will leave the education profession. Some, because they're not cut out for it while others will leave because politicians will push them out. And though it's emotionally and physically draining to teach in a day and age where teachers are not respected and students are treated as test-taking-robots, I'll continue to walk into my classroom with a smile on my face (though it may be burdensome) and love to pass out to each kid--even those who make me question my career path.

My Students Were in the News!

A news reporter from KNOP News in North Platte came to my classroom a few weeks ago to interview students about their social action projects. We've all been anxiously watching the news each night; the students have been a little disheartened as KNOP hadn't played it....until last night! The class featured in this video was SO excited when I showed them it this afternoon.

Social Action Project Reflections

We survived our project night! The kids had a great turn-out on Thursday night--many people came to see their projects and listen to what they had to say about issues they care about. My face hurt so bad at the end of the night from smiling---I was SO happy for them!

The Keith County News published an excellent article about the kids and their projects, and KNOP News from North Platte came out on Thursday to interview us. Our story will be on Monday night's news...I'll post the link on Monday night.

I loved seeing how invested some of my students were in their projects---and I only had one student not show at the project night. This unit was definitely successful enough to do it again next year.

Here are a few pictures of the kids and captions about their projects:

These guys created a presentation on school shootings. They researched recent school shootings, then they interviewed students, teachers, and administrators to hear their thoughts on the safety of our own building and what we can do to prevent a tragedy like this in our own building. They also passed out an article from the North Platte Telegraph that outlined details of LB5166.

These twin boys scooped all the sidewalks in their neighborhood during our last snowstorm.

Three ladies sold food to raise money for the Perkins County Humane Society. Below is the main doctor from the PCHS with her dog (who was adopted from the shelter!); I was so impressed that the girls thought to invite her and her dog to our project night.

These five ladies put together a cancer walk (it's tonight at our track). I'm amazed at how organized and into this they are. The banner hanging behind them is a mural that one of the girls made to help advertise for the event. They spoke with our AD to organize it all, gathered donations (water, food, and prizes to raffle off), made ribbons for people to wear to remember those affected by cancer, hung fliers around town to advertise for their walk, and created a poster to raise awareness for cancer. These girls are 14 and 15! They've shown more initiative than many adults I know!

These strapping young men did an awareness project on recycling.

Two students put on a car-care clinic at one of the car dealerships teaching students how to change a tire and the oil.

These girls did a presentation on the importance of taking education seriously. For the action portion of their project, they worked with our guidance counselor and created certificates and small bags of candy to hand out to students who improved their GPA from 1st-2nd quarter.

The two students in the middle had a supply drive for Sandhills Crisis Intervention Program. They met with a volunteer coordinator to come up with a plan of attack, and then went door to door gathering supplies.

This isn't the greatest picture, but these two guys went door to door collecting food for the food pantry. They collected over 100 items in just a few hours!

This student had a clothing drive to gather clothes and other supplies for foster families. They have been a foster family for quite awhile, and she noticed that often the kids come to them with not much more than the clothes on their backs. So...she did something about it! She set up drop-boxes at a few locations around town and hung flyers and ended up gathering quite a few donations!

A table of students

These two spent a few class periods baking cookies with the special education students and then sold them at the project night to help them raise funds to buy a new coffee pot for their department.

These lovely ladies made and sold hemp bracelets with purple beads to raise funds and awareness for teen dating violence (February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month).

This student interviewed several people and created an iMovie on the importance of parents spending time with their children.

This student created a presentation to help eliminate negative stereotypes of our local skatepark. It was an incredible presentation!

Social Action Project Update 4

Nate and I just got home from a soup sampler lunch benefit that two of my English 9 students put on to raise money for a neighbor of theirs who has a rare blood disorder. I have to be honest, I didn't expect a good turn-out, so when we pulled up to Martin Bay Church, I was so impressed to see a full parking lot! I wish I would've taken my camera so I could've posted a few photos. The girls had managed to get 13 large pots of soups, sandwiches, bread sticks, and several desserts donated to them for the event--they had more than enough food. When we left they had already raised $700!

As we sat and ate our soup, I about cried several times just thinking about all the work the two girls put into their project. It's such a big deal for two 15 year old's to put themselves aside and think of another person. They had to go out of their comfort zones so many times for this to happen: they made phone calls to reserve the church, asked people to bring food, stood in front of their church congregations and announced the event during Sunday service, hung posters around the school, etc. Incredible. I really don't think we adults give teenagers enough credit. Now, did all my students do this amount of work for their social action projects? No. But, I do have about 25-35 who have really risen to the occasion. If we give kids a chance to do something big, many of them will. I pray that this project will stay with them for years to come!

Social Action Project Update 3

It's time to turn the heat up on the social action projects.

Three out of four of my English 9 classes composed professional business letters inviting community members to attend our project night next week (one class is missing out on this lesson because of all the late starts we've had...sad). So in addition to the letters I sent out to parents/guardians last week informing them of the event, nearly 55 letters went out today composed by students requesting that others come to the event as well.

Today I told my students that KNOP News from North Platte, the Keith County News (our local newspaper), and KOGA (our local radio station) are all covering our project night in some form. On a whim, I sent an email to KNOP News last night explaining what the kids are doing and asking if anyone could come interview a few kids. Through a series of emails this morning, we worked it out so a reporter will come to one of my classes next Thursday to interview students. One of the local news reporters is also coming next Tuesday to interview more students for our community's newspaper.

It was cool to see the kids' reactions. This is a big deal for many of them! I really hope this added pressure just causes them to kick it up a few notches and really invest in their projects.

Social Action Project Update

Well---my students are well into their social action/awareness projects. We finished reading MLK Jr's Letter From a Birmingham Jail on Thursday, completed a Socratic Circle over the text, and students composed RAFT Writings (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) where they selected a role to write from the perspective of, a targeted audience, and an appropriate format over some topic within the Civil Rights Movement. They turned them in today, and of the ones I've read--I've been impressed. One student re-told the story of Emmitt Till to an audience of current students from the perspective of the cousin who was with him at the grocery store, another student wrote a journal entry about wanting to be white from the perspective of one of the little girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, AL--the student imagined the journal entry was written just hours before her death. Another student wrote a letter to the University of Mississippi from the perspective of James Meridith (first African-American student to enroll at Ole Miss). It was a cool way for students to exercise their creativity and show me what they learned about specific events within the Civil Rights Movement.

While students composed their RAFT Writings, I conferenced with each one of them about their social action/awareness projects. I've been so impressed with several students. Of course, there are a few bumps on logs who will do bare minimum. But if even five students gain from the project, then I think it's worth it. I have two students who are putting together a soup supper benefit for a community member who has a rare blood disorder, three students are investigating the security of our facilities and recommending ways we can become more secure in order to prevent school shootings, five students are putting on a run/walk to raise funds for the American Cancer Society, two are planning a tire-changing workshop (how to change a tire) at a local dealership, three more are having a bake sale to raise funds for the Perkins County Humane Society, and one is interviewing students and teachers about their thoughts on respect and then is putting together a multi-step process of how to be more respectful. I love talking with students who are passionate about their projects; it's invigorating.

We are currently in the process of planning our English 9 Project Night scheduled a week from Thursday where they will display these projects to community members, parents, and teachers. I'm not going to lie---it's stressful! But, I'm so excited for this opportunity. I hope there is a good turn-out for the kids--especially those who have worked their rears off already.

I'll post more later!

Social Action in the Classroom

So I have to share what's been going in on my English 9 classes the past few days. My classroom has been alive, and students' energy for our current unit has been inspiring to me.

On Friday we started a unit on social action in my English 9 classes by brainstorming what issues were important to students--we had a nearly 45 minute long discussion in each class where all of the students participated either in the face to face discussion, or the online discussion that followed. It was great to hear what concerns they have....they're pretty insightful for 15 year olds!

We continued the unit today by listening to and examining the lyrics in a few songs of change--Where's The Love by the Black Eyed Peas, Testify by Rage Against The Machine, and Ani DiFranco's Subdivision was mentioned--but unfortunately, we ran out of time. The majority of my students ate this lesson up---they loved talking about what issues were raised in the songs. Their homework for tonight was to find a YouTube video of a song that has themes of social injustice, social change, activism, or issues that matter to them. I gave them about 5-10 minutes of class time to begin searching for a song---it was great watching them get so into the assignment. As they left the classroom, many of them were sharing song ideas. Tomorrow we'll listen to songs that students bring into class, and on Thursday students will begin watching Pay It Forward (it actually works out perfectly since I'll be gone from school for three days). My hope is that the songs and the movie will spark an idea for a project they want to tackle.

Next week we'll explore Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From a Birmingham Jail. Once we are finished with that, we'll start working on their change projects. The project is pretty open-ended for now, but students will be required to choose an issue they're passionate about (encouraging students to stay in high school, respect, promoting literacy, encouraging parents to take an active role in their child's life, eliminating negative stereotypes of the skate park, and encouraging the community to offer more to teens are just a few issues students mentioned) and complete a project that either raises awareness about the issue OR takes action to move the issue forward. Then--together we'll plan a project display night similar to a good, old-fashioned science fair where students can show off their work to community members, teachers, and parents.

I really thought I'd have some resistance with this, but most of my students (there are always a few apathetic beings) are bonkers for this unit! I'm anxious to see what they produce and how they connect with Dr. King's piece.

I'll try to post more updates about this project later!