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I’ve previously shared several ideas on how I plan to respond to a Trump victory, if it happens, next week. In addition to bringing all those past posts together, I’d like to elaborate on two of those ideas.
Here are all those past posts:
How Will Teachers & Schools Respond If Trump Wins?
What Are Teachers & Schools Going To Do The Day After Election Day If Trump Wins?
The Best Resources For Developing Lessons On The Question, “Who Is An American?”
Now, here are the two ideas I’d like to discuss further in this post….
EMPATHY PROJECT
One of the idea I mentioned was The Empathy Project, an effort we’ve done before at our school where our ELL students share their stories with classes comprised of English-proficient students. You can find plenty of resources at the link explaining the process – it’s easily replicable.
I originally thought it would be a good way for our students to feel like they were taking some kind of action after a Trump victory. But we decided it would be worth doing even if he didn’t win, so we begin next week.
I’ve created some additional resources I’ll be using with my ELL Newcomers that I thought readers might find helpful:
* A list of ideas that Newcomers could write about
* A writing frame Newcomers can use.
SCHOOLS AS MEDIATING INSTITUTIONS
I’ve written about how schools have historically been “mediating institutions” in our communities.
These are groups that “mediate” between individuals with little power and government and other larger entities. They perform this function by bringing together these individuals to organize for their needs and beliefs. Edmund Burke called them “little platoons”; Alexis de Tocqueville described them as “associations”; and Richard John Neuhaus coined the term “mediating structures” (read more here).
I wonder if now would be an important time for us to really look at the historical role of schools as “mediating institutions” who “mediate” between people with little power and government and other entities. There’s a long history of schools doing just that, including during the civil rights movement in the south.
Perhaps school leaders and teachers could be asking themselves a number of related questions, including:
* Research shows that student fear of a family member’s deportation results in major hits to their mental health and academic achievement. What does that say about how we should respond to a massive deportation strategy?
* What does history say about those who supported or did nothing during similar efforts in American history to forcibly transport large numbers of people based on ethnicity or “legal” status?
* Given that research shows that schools on their campuses can only directly impact thirty percent or so of the factors impacting student academic achievement, are we satisfied with that percentage or should we consider what the historical role of schools taking action to influence outside factors says to us today?
* If one of the responsibilities of schools is to prepare students to be active participants in a democracy, what should that look like today?
Other ideas?
I’ve previously shared several ideas on how I plan to respond to a Trump victory, if it happens, next week. In addition to bringing all those past posts together, I’d like to elaborate on two of those ideas. Here are all those past posts: How Will Teachers & Schools Respond If Trump Wins? What best of the year, ESL Web Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…
