School Bells - First grade current affairs - week 2
This is the second week for me to meet with the first grade class for their
weekly current affairs class. Last week some of the children shared
some of the concerns their families were talking about. I suggested that we
begin with Sam’s concern about someone beating up her friend Ahmed
just because she is Muslim. I had suggested the kids talk to their family
members or others about how we learn to judge each other on the basis of religion or
some other single factor.
Me: Good morning class. I did not bring cookies since I need to know that
all of you can safely eat cookies. I know that some people cannot eat
gluten, sugar or nuts. I am going to give you a slip to take home for
your parents to sign. You can bring them back next week. If I need to I can make gluten free and
sugar free cookies. Here are the slips.
Steve and Susie will you pass them out
Steve and Susie come and get the permission slips to pass out.
Me; I hope all of you had a good first week at school? Did you?
Class: Yes.
Me: Great. I had suggested that you talk to your families about how we learn
to judge each other on the basis of religion and or some other single
factor. Did everyone do that?
Susie: My father said that a lot of the terror - a lot of the
Me: Terrorists?
Susie: Terrorists are Muslim.
Steve: My mother said that most Muslims are not terrorists. Is that right
Mr. Jim?
Sofia: Some people think all Mexicans are drug dealers. We do not
deal drugs.
Tommy: My mother said that some people used to believe that women
could not fly planes. She is a pilot.
Sue: My grandmother said that some people used to think that
everyone with MS was dumb and kids with MS could not go to
school.
Sam: Are we going to do the blue eye game Uncle Jim?
Me: Suppose you tell the class about the blue eye game Sam.
Sam: One day Uncle Jim told us that we were going to pretend
that all blue eye kids were dumb and should stay home and do all
the work so they would not feel bad failing in school.
Me: Since you and your brother are blue eyed that was just the two of
you. How did that feel Sam?
Sam: It was terrible Uncle Jim We hated it. It was not fair.
Me: No it was not fair. We pretended that I and your parents did not
want to do any cleaning and made up this lie about blue eyed children
so we could pretend we were doing you a favor by not allowing you to go to
school. It was not true that blue eyed children are dumb.
Tommy: Is that what happened to black people Mr. Jim?
Me: Yes. We wanted cheap labor so that the owners could have more
money. We bought slaves and then told them they were too dumb to go
to school or live on their own. We white people said we would be kind and tell them
what to do and how to live. Then we did not let them go to school and they
felt dumb. So if we did not let Paul and Sam go to school they would not learn
and would feel dumb and stupid. Pretty soon everyone or most everyone would
believe the lie.
How does this example apply to Muslims class?
Sofia: Some terrorists are Muslims.
Me: Yes they are. Are all terrorists Muslims?
Steve: I do not think so. Are they?
Me. No some terrorists are Christians or Jewish or some other religion.
Some are not even religious.
Sam: We talked about the men in the hoods and white robes who hung
black people.
Me: Yes, they were members of a group called the Ku Klux Klan. Many of
them considered themselves Christians.
Tommy: Was Hitler Muslim Mr. Jim?
Me: No. He was not. So what happens if we are mean to
all Muslims?
Ahmed: That would make me mad. I think all my family would be angry.
Me: That is possible. Might some angry people become terrorists.
Ahmed: I don’t think we would Mr. Jim.
Sofia: If you treat someone mean for a long time are they more likely to
become terrorists.
Me: Possibly, but not all people who are mistreated become angry
and join terrorist groups. If we treated Paul and Sam very bad they might
get angry or they might become like a famous civil rights leader, like Martin
Luther King, Jr. He wanted to make changes but refused to be violent.
Susie: I remember him. We got to write essays about something he said
and I got to read my essay to a bunch of people.
Me: Yes, you did a great job Susie. I loved what your wrote.
Susie: You were there Mr. Jim?
Sam: Yes, me, Paul, Uncle Jim, mom and dad were all there. I liked your
talk too Susie.
Me: We seem to be saying that just because someone says certain
people are not good does not mean it is true. We go to school to help
each other ask questions and learn what might be true or a lie.
Steve: People used to believe the earth was flat. Right Mr. Jim?
Me: That is right Steve. For a long time no one questioned whether that
was true and even after Magellan proved it was not many people did
believe him. Once we believe something it can be difficult to quit believing
that.
Me: Oops. Time is nearly up. What have you learned toda?.
Sofia: Question everything.
Me: Well you might not want to argue with your parents about a lot of
things, but you can ask how we know certain things or which things we
need to question. Perhaps you can accept that it is important to
get a certain amount of sleep or to limit time on the X-box. On the other
hand we can question what we really know about different
religions or groups of people.
Talk more to your family members about this. I will send home another
paper to explain what we were talking about so that they do not get
confused. Here Sofia and Sam, will you pass them out. The paper also
says that next week we will talk about how we deal with fear. Tommy is
afraid that his mother is doing to die in her job as an air force pilot.
Good job. See you next week.
Written August 17 2016
This is the second week for me to meet with the first grade class for their
weekly current affairs class. Last week some of the children shared
some of the concerns their families were talking about. I suggested that we
begin with Sam’s concern about someone beating up her friend Ahmed
just because she is Muslim. I had suggested the kids talk to their family
members or others about how we learn to judge each other on the basis of religion or
some other single factor.
Me: Good morning class. I did not bring cookies since I need to know that
all of you can safely eat cookies. I know that some people cannot eat
gluten, sugar or nuts. I am going to give you a slip to take home for
your parents to sign. You can bring them back next week. If I need to I can make gluten free and
sugar free cookies. Here are the slips.
Steve and Susie will you pass them out
Steve and Susie come and get the permission slips to pass out.
Me; I hope all of you had a good first week at school? Did you?
Class: Yes.
Me: Great. I had suggested that you talk to your families about how we learn
to judge each other on the basis of religion and or some other single
factor. Did everyone do that?
Susie: My father said that a lot of the terror - a lot of the
Me: Terrorists?
Susie: Terrorists are Muslim.
Steve: My mother said that most Muslims are not terrorists. Is that right
Mr. Jim?
Sofia: Some people think all Mexicans are drug dealers. We do not
deal drugs.
Tommy: My mother said that some people used to believe that women
could not fly planes. She is a pilot.
Sue: My grandmother said that some people used to think that
everyone with MS was dumb and kids with MS could not go to
school.
Sam: Are we going to do the blue eye game Uncle Jim?
Me: Suppose you tell the class about the blue eye game Sam.
Sam: One day Uncle Jim told us that we were going to pretend
that all blue eye kids were dumb and should stay home and do all
the work so they would not feel bad failing in school.
Me: Since you and your brother are blue eyed that was just the two of
you. How did that feel Sam?
Sam: It was terrible Uncle Jim We hated it. It was not fair.
Me: No it was not fair. We pretended that I and your parents did not
want to do any cleaning and made up this lie about blue eyed children
so we could pretend we were doing you a favor by not allowing you to go to
school. It was not true that blue eyed children are dumb.
Tommy: Is that what happened to black people Mr. Jim?
Me: Yes. We wanted cheap labor so that the owners could have more
money. We bought slaves and then told them they were too dumb to go
to school or live on their own. We white people said we would be kind and tell them
what to do and how to live. Then we did not let them go to school and they
felt dumb. So if we did not let Paul and Sam go to school they would not learn
and would feel dumb and stupid. Pretty soon everyone or most everyone would
believe the lie.
How does this example apply to Muslims class?
Sofia: Some terrorists are Muslims.
Me: Yes they are. Are all terrorists Muslims?
Steve: I do not think so. Are they?
Me. No some terrorists are Christians or Jewish or some other religion.
Some are not even religious.
Sam: We talked about the men in the hoods and white robes who hung
black people.
Me: Yes, they were members of a group called the Ku Klux Klan. Many of
them considered themselves Christians.
Tommy: Was Hitler Muslim Mr. Jim?
Me: No. He was not. So what happens if we are mean to
all Muslims?
Ahmed: That would make me mad. I think all my family would be angry.
Me: That is possible. Might some angry people become terrorists.
Ahmed: I don’t think we would Mr. Jim.
Sofia: If you treat someone mean for a long time are they more likely to
become terrorists.
Me: Possibly, but not all people who are mistreated become angry
and join terrorist groups. If we treated Paul and Sam very bad they might
get angry or they might become like a famous civil rights leader, like Martin
Luther King, Jr. He wanted to make changes but refused to be violent.
Susie: I remember him. We got to write essays about something he said
and I got to read my essay to a bunch of people.
Me: Yes, you did a great job Susie. I loved what your wrote.
Susie: You were there Mr. Jim?
Sam: Yes, me, Paul, Uncle Jim, mom and dad were all there. I liked your
talk too Susie.
Me: We seem to be saying that just because someone says certain
people are not good does not mean it is true. We go to school to help
each other ask questions and learn what might be true or a lie.
Steve: People used to believe the earth was flat. Right Mr. Jim?
Me: That is right Steve. For a long time no one questioned whether that
was true and even after Magellan proved it was not many people did
believe him. Once we believe something it can be difficult to quit believing
that.
Me: Oops. Time is nearly up. What have you learned toda?.
Sofia: Question everything.
Me: Well you might not want to argue with your parents about a lot of
things, but you can ask how we know certain things or which things we
need to question. Perhaps you can accept that it is important to
get a certain amount of sleep or to limit time on the X-box. On the other
hand we can question what we really know about different
religions or groups of people.
Talk more to your family members about this. I will send home another
paper to explain what we were talking about so that they do not get
confused. Here Sofia and Sam, will you pass them out. The paper also
says that next week we will talk about how we deal with fear. Tommy is
afraid that his mother is doing to die in her job as an air force pilot.
Good job. See you next week.
Written August 17 2016
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