#mfol

Nothing is more patriotic than recognizing your country is imperfect 🇺🇸Happy 4th of July🎆

Today was a bit squirrely because everyone’s anticipating a snow day tomorrow (a real snow day, not a remote learning day, because the storm that’s coming will most likely knock out the power in large chunks of the district). We all got through it, though. 

I started my Block 1 class off with some time to read the books they chose for the book paper assignment. Then, by popular request, we played the vocab game we’d played on Friday, and did a bit more vocab practice with a little fill-in-the-blanks assignment I whipped up this morning. After that, I introduced the first major project of the semester- the Subculture Project- by going over the instructions and letting students look at a few finished examples. They had the remainder of class to choose a subculture to research and get started (any distinct group within a larger culture works, really, but I did give a list they could choose from because some students get overwhelmed by too much choice). They used the time so well, and I’m very pleased with the work I saw. 

I switched up the sequence in Block 2. I did vocab practice first, which went well, and then I introduced the project. That also went pretty well. I figured I’d save reading for the last twenty minutes of class because that’d put it after lunch, so there would be a natural break and transition. That did not work very well, and the more rowdy students in the class, who had mostly behaved up until that point, started getting disruptive. So I’ll do reading time first in the future. Lesson learned.

The last half hour of the day is supposed to be for advisory and flex time, but, due to the Covid-induced limitations on travel between classrooms, it’s really just a half hour study hall, and that’s a real struggle. Few students use it well, and several of mine keep trying to do inappropriate things (throwing stuff at each other, making dirty jokes, whatever...). It was frustrating today because I was trying to videoconference with the MfoL kids, but I couldn’t really juggle that with minding my classroom. I had to get up and talk to students individually to get them to settle down, and it took two tries in most cases, and I kind of think they’re just trying to see if I’ll lose my composure, at this point. Unfortunately, they’re used to teachers yelling at them when they misbehave, but I almost never yell, so... It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes them to realize it’s not going to happen. 

Anyways. 

Parkland review

Author: Dave Cullen

Let me start this off by saying that if you think the Parkland kids need to stay in their lane, are crisis actors, or don’t support any kind of gun reform, stop reading. This post isn’t for you.

I was in my first year of teaching when Columbine happened. I came home from a day with my sixth graders to terrible news. I was riveted, watching children running, crying, climbing out of windows, and I had no idea how much my world would change. We had drills, needed key cards to get into locked doors, students had a stricter dress code with no black, no concert shirts, no trenchcoats allowed. Even though we had drills, I have taught in some very unsafe buildings, though.  Doors were unlocked, no police presence, and it terrified me. And the thought of arming teachers is sickening, as one teacher says in this book, (paraphrasing) “how can you ask me to kill one of my own students?” and it’s true. Teachers are nurturers, provide guidance and support, and in an instant, we would be expected to shoot one of ours. It’s unthinkable.

I followed the Parkland story closely, but I had no idea what all these kids accomplished. And I call them kids with the utmost respect. They are. It’s simple. Most of them were 16 or 17 when they were forced into adulthood, well before they were ready. Many didn’t handle it well, although some did, finding their voices overnight, some within hours, even. A dozen of the survivors came together in a perfect storm of media and made a life-changing decision. They were going to tackle gun reform.

These kids handled themselves brilliantly. They took on lawmakers and politicians. They rallied millions in March For Our Lives. They recruited other teens across the country to join their cause. And they did it with very little adult help. Simply, they are a true inspiration. I was absolutely in awe of these amazing young people.

Written by Dave Cullen, the same author who wrote one of the most important, yet harrowing books I’ve ever read, Columbine, this book has a very different tone. Columbine is hard to read. It is as gut-wrenching and painful as it is gripping and horrifying. The story is about HOW. How could the Columbine shooting have happened? How did the shooters come together with this plan? How did the survivors manage their lives? How have we changed because of this event? Because it was published ten years after the shooting, Cullen had plenty of time to research and draw conclusions. Parkland is simply about these kids and all they have accomplished. Clearly, Cullen supports gun reform (just check out his twitter feed) and this book makes no bones about what the kids are trying to accomplish. But Cullen also simply reports. He watches the kids, follows them on tours, interviews them, and, on occasion, gets into their inner sanctum office. This book isn’t a profile of any particular kid, even though the movement definitely has it’s more well-known faces, but an excellent portrayal of how they worked together to change the country, and I’m a firm believer that these kids have.

March For Our Lives  | Tumblr

In 2018, we saw the social climate shift rapidly towards youth activism. Tumblr's Creatrs have been making social justice content since 2015 with an ability to communicate complex topics through visual imagery. Our March For Our Lives campaign featured artist protest packs that showed art as action. The Creatrs showed our support for and solidarity with the Parkland community and our global community through personal statements and posts. The campaign was featured on Mashable.

Featured Creatr