Week 12: Baa baa, black sheep. Have you any wool?

Lisa, Sam, and I meet weekly to talk about plans for the 5/6 science program. We've been working through the human body systems for the first half of this year, and while we have done a number of cool demonstrations and simulations, it can be difficult to reconcile abstract images with the reality of flesh and bone. Our brainstorming eventually turned to the idea of dissections. It's hard to get more hands-on and experiential than an actual dissection. 

Lisa, the consummate biologist, had no qualms at all. Sam and I, however, were the kids who opted out of the dissection labs as squeamish high schoolers. (See last week's blog entry on fear.) We have a particularly sensitive and thoughtful group of kids, so we naturally assumed that many of them would take issue with the notion of dissection for a host of reasons, ranging from ethical to squeamish. We decided to ask them if they were interested. 

In our group, the answer was a resounding and unanimous YES. They were very excited about the prospect, and when Lisa arrived with a lamb pluck, they were very eager. 

Visit Lisa's Science Blog for her entry (featuring a few graphic photos. Be advised!) on the activity. (She gets points for the best blog title as well: Hearts and Minds.)

I also got some fly-on-the-wall video footage. Take a look: 

Week 11: Fear itself

As with much of the rest of the world, Paris, Beirut, Syria, and the United States were on our minds this week. 

When we left school on Friday, the news from Paris was just starting to break, which meant that we hadn't discussed it at all at school. By Monday, almost everyone had already talked about the terrorist attacks with their families, which allowed us to talk about some of the fallout of these tragic events, as well as some historical context.  

An example of the fallout was the domino effect of United States governors declaring that Syrian refugees were unwelcome in their states. 

Article: More than half the nation's governors say Syrian refugees not welcome

Our kids have been raised to believe that being charitable and kind is a core value, so this development required some conversation to understand. We talked about why so many people might object to the arrival of these immigrants, and we eventually got to the idea of fear. What follows is a stream of images that we had conversations about: 

First, I introduced them to the following very famous quote: 

Everyone had heard the quote, but no one knew who had said it or why. When told that it was a quote from FDR's inaugural address, some people guessed that it might refer to World War II.  

In fact, it was in reference to the Great Depression. The economy had crashed, unemployment was up, and people were scared and desperate.  

Though there was some help available, it was far from enough, and people weren't always welcoming. Many Americans had to travel far and wide in search of food, shelter, and work. The images of Hoovervilles, breadlines, and groups of desperate people looked very similar to images that we're seeing in the news of late. 

Not long after, something happened that really stoked fears in the United States. 

When the Japanese attacked the United States base at Pearl Harbor, fear and suspicion reigned, with drastic consequences for many Americans. Though many Japanese Americans had lived as citizens of the United States for their entire lives, they were distrusted and ostracized. 

Despite their protestations, their allegiances were suspect to their countrymen. Xenophobia and fear led to Executive Order 9066 (signed by President Roosevelt, apparently giving in to the fear that he had earlier warned against), which laid the ground for the internment of over 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent. 

We talked about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Again, the camps looked familiar. 

Every wave of immigrants has generated some degree of backlash. We're also seeing evidence of this in Esperanza Rising, our current read aloud novel. 

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The kids who are in 5th and 6th grade today were born after 9/11. They are coming of age in a world where terrorism is a looming specter. Those of us who are older were raised with a different fear. 

The fear of nuclear war was a potent one for many who came of age from the 1950s through the 1980s. In addition to a cultural anxiety, it also inspired a wealth of literature. We delved deeper into the idea of metaphor by reading a short story called 'The Wheel' by John Wyndham. On the surface, the story seems to have nothing to do with nuclear annihilation. Upon reading it a little more closely, we found a portrait of a culture crippled by its own fears. We are finding that each generation is confronted with issues unique to its time. How will these young citizens react to the challenges of their time? 

Week 10: What makes a border? Why do people want to cross them?

As discussed last week, we're taking a deeper look into the nature of geography and borders. 


On Monday, we spent some time examining and discussing this image, making note of the various physical features. 

People pointed out mountain ranges (green on one side, less so on the other), lakes, rivers, areas that seemed greener than others, and coastlines. We then started talking about these features in terms of what it might mean to live there. Rivers irrigate crops. Oceans allow ports. Deserts can be inhospitable. Where would you want to live on this map? Where would you want to avoid? 

We also talked about how these features might form natural borders for people (and other life!). Oceans, mountains, and deserts have historically been difficult to cross, thereby separating people, cultures, languages, and religions through long stretches of history. People living on one side of a vast desert or giant mountain range might have very little in common with the people who live on the other. 

We eventually looked at this image with the political labels turned on: 

Before the labels were revealed, a few kids had recognized the region we were examining, but they knew little about it. For example, no one knew about the longstanding tensions between Pakistan and India. We discussed some of the current and historical issues in this part of world as a way of illustrating how the physical and the cultural can intersect and influence a border. 

With all of this in mind, we then examined maps of a fictitious landmass. Everyone was tasked with the following challenge: 

Given these physical features (coastlines, rivers, and mountains):

... and these regions of differing religions:

... and this map of the languages spoken in each region: 

... what borders do you might imagine would exist on this landmass? 

Here's a sampling of what people came up with: 

As you can see, there were plenty of ways to divvy things up. 

Later, we shared and discussed our maps, making note of similarities and differences. We talked about what was challenging about creating borders, and what influenced our decisions. How important was it to have a river or coastline for each country? How did religion or language enter into each borderline? What role did the mountains play? 

Then we extrapolated further: What would it be like in the countries where there was one predominant religion, but also small pockets of another? What about countries with more than one language? Would citizens coexist peacefully, or would there be friction? What if a country with a minority population in its borders lacked a sufficient water source? What if there was a scarcity of farmable land? 

We unanimously agreed that this was indeed a tricky process. It was easy then to see how the evolution of nations and states in the real world has been even more complicated and messy. 


All of this informed a discussion about a contemporary issue that is currently on the minds of many: The mass influx of refugees to Europe. 

Visit this link to view an astounding animation of the number of refugees entering Europe from 2012 to the current day. Here's a screenshot of a moment in time, but you'll really want to check out the animation in motion. It's a little staggering: 

Each white dot represents 25 people. We watched the animation a few times and discussed many questions: Why are so many people going to Europe? What causes someone to leave their home country for another? Why are so many people fleeing Syria? What about Somalia? What's happening in sub-Saharan Africa in general? And why are so many people going to Germany? Why France? 

We discussed some of what's been going on in those parts of the world, which hopefully provided at least some small amount of context for the tragedies that have since been in the news over the last few days. I'm sure there will be many more conversations to come next week. 

The latest development in our current read aloud book Esperanza Rising has given us another view of this issue, as Esperanza and her family have just crossed the Mexico/United States border, fleeing their own troubles for the promise of a better life in California. It will probably come as no surprise that things get complicated. 

Week 9 in review

Yet another newcomer has taken up residence in the Middle School Commons. Drop by to take a peek at the lovely new habitat the next time you're in the building!  

It was a short week, as we had parent/teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday. What time we did have was very heavy on Art. In addition to our two regularly-scheduled sessions, we also had an additional all-middle school gathering to hear about and see the work of visiting artist Leslie Sobel. Check out Monica's Middle School Art Blog for more info (and to see some of Leslie's work). 

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In my Journalism elective, we unveiled the very first issue of the Summers-Knoll Wall Paper, which is our school-newspaper-on-a-wall. We opted to publish one large edition in a public space, rather than printing out individual copies in order to minimize the use of resources, as well as to create a space where students can gather to read and talk about the articles and features. (A blog version is also in the works...) The S-K Wall Paper is located right across from the large community chalk board as you enter the school. Take a look!  

As you can see, it's a team effort from kids ranging from 3rd grade to 8th grade. 

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Last week in homeroom, we decided as a group that our collective geography skills could use some substantial work. There are a lot of ways to address this, and something that clicks for one kid doesn't necessarily work for others. One thing that has worked for at least a subset our group is a very competitive (but friendly!) attempt to get the highest possible score in the shortest possible time (with 100% accuracy) on this online Place the State game. (It's sort of like Tetris, but with states.) 

There are a few kids who have gone from near complete ignorance of the 50 states, to borderline mastery of them. (Of course, knowing the names and locations of the states is fairly arbitrary without learning more about the states themselves, but this has been an excellent first step for many kids.) 

Two kids who have consistently achieved excellent scores have been tasked with a new project: Freehand drawing all fifty states without a reference. Here's Kaz delighting in how challenging it can be: 

He has pleaded with me not to show a close-up of his work, but I can tell you that his first draft is probably substantially more accurate than most people in the country could manage. (And his second draft will be excellent.) WARNING: I've suggested that kids start challenging the adults in their life to try their hands at this. Study up! 

For inspiration, here's Senator Al Franken drawing a map of the United States of America freehand and from memory: 

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Finally, in addition to making progress in our class read aloud Esperanza Rising, we're also making sure to devote chunks of class time to free reading. Student choice in reading material has a significant impact on their motivation and enjoyment. Here we see Eva flaunting the gendered implication of this anthology of short stories: