Week in Review: Week One

Are high school students capable of breaking down the ideological constructs of right and wrong that they have all be trained to seek? Are high school students able to seek answers that don't have a right and a wrong? When will I never hear, "Ms. C, how long does this need to be?" or "What do you want us to write about?"

I hope so, yes. I think that with enough teaching and constant 'unlearning' of objective thought, then yes they may. It has been a struggle, but not one without rewards.

My students started the week trying to answer the question "What is History?"
Throughout the week I proceeded to burst their very literal ideas of what history and started by simply asking questions. Some responded to that question by saying, "History is a record of past events." The ones who had just come from their AP World History class were very excited to know the 'answer.' I simply said, "Oh, great. Who records it?" Throughout the week I then explained bias in news reporting (which aligned nicely with my journalism class), the process of hero-making, how sometimes imagination fills in the blanks when history must be recorded, and how sometimes the truth just doesn't align with what is understood as 'important' content to learn, so writers of history leave it out. We thought about what this means for us as learners and citizens, as people with a natural curiosity about life and students of society. I have, in some cases been blown away by responses that bring together the many different ideas we have discussed when prompted with a new question. These kids are using learned knowledge to gain perspective on a new idea. Those are the Truth seekers. Those are the independent learners who will succeed in my class. I have been a bit disappointed by those who are concerned with being "right" and realize that this is a habit I must help them unlearn while in my class. I have also experienced the tragedy that is socio-economic division in my school. Certain students are in my class, an upper level Honors class, because their parents feel that they are smart enough, some parents simply don't want their children in a classroom as diverse as (somehow) our regular level classes tend to be; by diverse I mean primarily black and Hispanic. I am now torn with students who are not at all equipped to be in my class (i.e. a student who said, "Ms. C, what is bias?" and another who mispronounced the word "politic" and didn't understand it) with the students who are rising to the occasion. I had a very concerned student see me after school to inform me that his schedule was going to be changed and he feared that he would not be able to take my class...he told me that "he didn't want to lose this class."

My Dilemma: lowering the lessons and reading material to a level so that the kids who don't belong in my class can understand would mean doing the children who can thrive and grow in a setting such as my class a disservice. Because my class is one that students make a choice to be in, this is not an option for me. So I am left with the knowledge that those kids will not be able to grasp (not because they are stupid, simply because their brains are not yet ready for the material we are covering) the very important concepts and questions I am asking them all to consider, thereby, doing a disservice to them as well.

I suppose a lesson will be learned by both parent and student. It is a shame that a student who could succeed in a regular-level education class must suffer because his/her parents refuse to believe that s/he should not be in a regular class for, as I see it, a variety of unjustifiable reasons. You see, at my school, kids can be waivered into upper level classed by parents, no test needed. My school is funded by the wealthy community members and must appease parents by allowing behavior such as this.

I have spent my weekend reading a book that my students are reading chapters from for homework called Lies My Teacher Told Me. This book offers many hot thinking points by making truths out of the misconceptions found in most high school history texts. I have learned a lot by reading the chapters and I hope my students firstly, did their homework and secondly, will be able to discuss these chapters through the eyes of mature readers and thinkers. I am asking a lot out of them. Hopefully they will continue to surprise me.