by Ariel Donohue
As most people know by now, the Virginia Tech community and people across the country are in the wake of a terrible tragedy. It is difficult for many of us to cope with this type of incident or to imagine the same thing possibly touching our own school. I cannot help but think of how I felt when hearing about violent acts as a child, particularly when they occurred in school settings. It always made me fear the idea of someone entering my school and harming my peers. At a time like this, I begin to wonder what is appropriate to bring up in an elementary classroom and how a teacher should handle fragile situations like this one.
This semester, I have witnessed students asking the classroom teacher questions about current controversial issues, but I have not been satisfied with her reactions so far. Is it acceptable to try to explain these issues to 5th or 6th graders? I think that this might upset some students' parents and there is also the chance of providing them with inaccurate information. However, the idea of ignoring their questions or refusing to satisfy their curiosity is just not an option for me. Students need to be exposed to what is going on in the world around them. They should be constantly encouraged to ask questions about their surroundings and the discourse surrounding current events. It gives students such a different view of their place in society and also gives them an advantage in terms of their understanding of their own lives.
As a teacher, how should situations like these be handled?
Skills like these are not normally part of our curriculums in TCNJ classes. Important social and political issues like come up quite often and I definitely think that it is something worth discussing. I assume that judging how to appropriately deal with these situations will become easier with time. The more time I have spent in the classroom with my students, the better I have already become with answering their random questions. Hopefully, the same will happen with discussing controversial, and often scary, topics with my classes.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Discussing controversial issues with elementary school students
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2 comments:
by Amanda Gramcko
It is inevitable that students are going to bring up questions about controversial topics in elementary grades. Many teachers will, like you said, quickly address them and move on. I too believe that that is simply unacceptable.
I'm positive that some 5th and 6th graders are thinking about the Virginia Tech tragedy and wondering why it happened or if it could happen to them. It is completly unfair to the students if a teacher chooses to ignore an obvious need in the classroom.
It is also very difficult to be impartial and sensitive to all beliefs when discussing controversial issues. For instance, one student might have a brother who goes to Virginia Tech and would find some of the comments by his/her peers insensitive. It is truly a hard balance to find.
One solution I can think of is to ALWAYS be known as a safe and accepting teacher for your students. While, yes, controversial issues need to be discussed when they come up in class. However, I think it is equally important to assure students that you, as the teacher, are always there for them if they want to discuss the issue further.
I do not believe that students in this intermediate school are too young at all to be questioning current issues. My family knew someone that was killed at Virgina Tech. My sister's students (they are in sixth grade) found out on their own that one of the students killed was from the same town she was. They began asking questions and were curious as to why the school never even mentioned anything that happened. The students decided to start a petition asking for a moment of silence. This request was denied by the administration. I understand reasonings for teachers and administration wanting to keep this information from students, but this is unrealistic. Students will find out and they should! Students watch the news, they hear adults talking, etc. If they are not confronted with these issues, they will ultimately be a lot more confused with what is going on and may not gather all accurate information.
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