“The task for me is not only to comprehend the world, but to change the world. I would like to see a world where America lives up to its ideals, and resolves the contradiction between reality and principles.” Ronald Takaki, historian
Write about where you see America living up to its ideals. Where do you see contradictions between American reality and American principles? How would you like to see the world change?
So, what are those great experiences that are waiting out there for you? What do you hope to do with your one small life? Where will you go? Many of you will have used your passport for travel, but a middle school diploma is your passport to high school experiences. Write about some life changing experience and what helped you get there or a wished-for, hoped-for experience in the near future and what will help you get there.
What do you think? Should The Book Thief be a movie? What would some advantages and disadvantages of turning Markus Zusak’s book into a movie be?
What is the writing process? How does it work best for you? What are the easy parts and what are the hard parts? What do you do to make your writing get easier or more interesting to read?
“I question sometime, actually, has any of these people that hate so—which is the white—read anything about the Constitution? Eighteen hundred and seventy, the Fifteenth Amendment was added on to the Constitution of the United States that gave every man a chance to vote for what he think to be the right way. And now this is ’64 and they still trying to keep us away from the ballot. But we are determined today, we are determined that one day we’ll have the power of the ballot.”
Fannie Lou Hamer, “We’re On Our Way”
There we were, all 110 of us from City Neighbors Charter School, marching in the light drizzle and the heavy drizzle, singing Freedom Songs we’d heard about in documentaries and from Ms Paylor, our music teacher, holding up our signs exhorting all those around us to “Remember 1963,” and echoing that we, too, “Have a Dream!” As we joined others from around the country, we flowed through the streets of Washington, D.C. on August 28, 2013 like drops of water becoming a river, exactly 50 years to the day that the original marchers paced the national mall on their way to the Lincoln Memorial to bring about such lasting social change. It was the third day of school… the third day. What school sends their 11-14 year olds into a crowd of 75,000 on the third day of school?
Our school. That’s the kind of school we want. One where all of us, parents, students, teachers, are still marching-for justice, for equality, for constitutional and human rights and for access to all this is an education in itself. Our immersive field trip experience in civil rights marching, like all great and profound experiences, was a pivot, pointing back toward the Civil Rights Marchers of the past, back toward Jim Crow and countless injustices of the last century, and pointing forward, knowing someday soon these young people will be testifying on Capitol Hill, arguing before the Supreme Court, Voting in elections just around the corner. And I have a feeling, that in that future, we old folks may still be called on to march by these young whippersnappers who will continue to fight injustice. A sixth grader told me she would be there at the 100th anniversary of the March on Washington if I would be. I wouldn’t miss it.
We are headed to DC for the 50th anniversary march on August 28th, 2013.
Hard to believe that in less than 48 hours the new 2013-2014 school year will be underway! I’m getting butterflies and do not anticipate sleeping very well the next few nights. I wonder how many of my students are full of these same anticipatory feelings? It’s a big mash-up of emotions: dread (we forgot how to get up at 6 am), excitement (new year: new us), sadness (time goes by), happiness (time goes by). Maybe that’s why my mind is a big jumble of ideas of how we can best learn this year. It’s ok, I can spend some of those sleepless hours dreaming up great lesson plans.
seidlclassblog 