May 19, 2006

For most classes, we are finished watching the movie.  I will spend next week preparing them for the speeches that will begin on Friday.  I suggest they work on them this weekend.

Not surprisingly, many students still do not know what they will write on.  Procrastination.  I suggested they write on their genetic disorder they are researching for science.  They can explain what they thought before they learned about it, how they feel now, and what they will do with that information.  What should we do now that they have taught us about it?  One girl says that students should be kinder to Meadowood students.

Another idea would be to argue for or against the Malcolm X unit.  I will argue that it is a great unit.  In fact, I am rethinking my original idea.  What if I could write a speech that I could read to students BEFORE we begin the unit next year?  What if I create a speech that fires students up and makes them anxious to begin the unit?  That would be cool!

Malcolm X died 41 years ago, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.  I am 37; therefore, I was not around during that time.  But I am a child of parents who were, and their parents fought in WWII.  The history of the struggle is in my family's time.  I do wonder about students today.  Do they understand the struggle, or are they free of the effects whites imposed on blacks all those years?  

I do wonder if the Civil Rights Movement is still relevant.  But I do not see total equality.  But after watching the movie, I do see progress today.  I am not sure if America is racially blind.  And I do beleive there is a class system that separates people socio-economically.  I am not proud of that fact.

I look forward to writing my essay.  I especially look forward to hearing what the students have to say!