Tuesday, June 22, 2010

How?

How can I show students that lynching is not something to joke about?
How can I teach students about the Holocaust and have them read literature about it when those same racial and ethnic prejudices are present in their own minds?
How can I teach compassion?
How can I teach students to imagine when all they want to do is stuff earphones in their ears and drown their thoughts with mindless songs?
How can I teach student to critically think? No, not just think, but really really think for themselves without me telling them how?
How can I make them open to poetry?
How can I make them open up to the world around them?

I am saddened by what kids surround themselves with. But more than anything, I am sad to witness the new trend of lets-not-think-I-want-everything-to-be-easy-and-spelled-out-for-me mindsets. Granted, every student is not like this, but I am realizing the challenges that are before me.