Re: Fwd: Talk in the Classroom & on Campus

Using last week's incidents was an important moment in my classrooms;  students had an opportunity to express their feelings, thoughts and behaviors (what did you do to cope).  Every class expressed alarm that innocent members of Islam and those who looked mideastern would be scapegoats and be treated coldly to harshly for the acts of a splinter group.   The students , themselves,  brought up this concern and by doing so alerted each other to be on guard for negative stereotyping.  I also think that they needed to talk about their concerns prior to academic activities.  The other pleasant surprise is that on their own, they had already performed positive coping activities from giving blood  and donations to the Red Cross to holding informal meetings just to discuss this tragedic happening.  As Cole says in performing community service, it is we who are aided and enriched.

 

Joann Jelly

 

 

 

Glenn:

Don't feel that the challenge you confront is tame compared to the mass violence we've seen on TV. It's part of the same problem.  Work that you do could contribute to preventing future violence by undermining racism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, or whatever is the basis for the stereotyping.   

We all have specific opportunities to make our presence felt.  Jeanne's ideas sounded pretty good to me.  I hope that you can adapt them to your situation.

Bob