Even in the age of social media it is easy to feel small and unseen. This is twice as true for my students who have very little control over just about everything. On the other side of things, they’re told from birth that one person can change the world and that anyone can do anything they set their mind to doing.
We revere stories of someone challenging the status quo and persevering against all odds, because it feels unlikely that we can affect that level of change. We want it to be true, even when it doesn’t feel true.
We say one day. We tell students they can make a change one day. Not today, but someday, and that’s supposed to be enough for them. For many, it is.
The problem with “one day” mentality is that we aren’t preparing them for that day. If we want to create citizens that will impact the world, then we have to facilitate their evolution.
Do your students love to complain? So do mine. This is a direct result of feeling as though the rules don't serve them. So they resort to complaining, or flagrantly breaking the rules of a system they don’t believe applies to them. They feel imposed upon and without a voice. They feel as though they are being dictated to without real understanding of the rhyme or reason behind policy. They don’t feel as though the people creating those policies “get it”.
It all started with a bagel in someone’s lap.
When my school made the decision to return to campus amid Covid19 fears this August it was with the caveat that this year would look different. Chief among the policies put into place for our protection is an eating ban. Students may not eat in the main school building under any circumstances, which has created more problems than it has solved thus far. Which brings me to the bagel.
I scanned my eyes across my 11th grade college prep classroom and there it was, plain as day, under the table. A bagel. In someone’s lap. “You can’t have that in here, you know that,” I said.
This was the tipping point for my students: These rules are so stupid -- I’d like to see the principal go all morning without eating -- I don’t see what the big deal is -- What did they expect -- It’s not fair -- Why can’t we eat in the building -- I just sneak bites under my mask when the teacher looks away -- until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Is this the way we change things?” I asked them. They froze, utterly and completely. So I repeated the question. “None of you are above the rules. If you don’t agree with them, change them. How do we change them?”
One student timidly raised a hand half way off her desk, “You talk to the administration.”
“Good,” I said. “How do you just go in there? Just walk in there now and get it done?”
They grumbled -- no. “Why?” because they need to have time to compile a presentation, to gather their thoughts.
“Is that what you’d like to do?” I asked. They looked at each other, side glances to test the temperature of the room.
Yes, they said. “We want to prepare a presentation.”
“I can get you a meeting with the administration -- the rest is up to you,” I said.
And with that they were off. They pulled up the student handbook and pulled out the offending pieces of policy.
“The handbook doesn’t even say we can’t eat in the building!”
“There’s no updated cell phone policy! Why can’t we have our phones? Does anyone have it in writing?”
“The sweatshirt policy is so vague!”
And so we have embarked on a project that will carry us through the rest of the semester. They are engaged, excited, and they’ve promised me they “won’t throw away their shot.” They feel seen and heard, they feel like what they have to say matters, and they’re ready to see this through to the end.
My other classes also ask how they can make an impact. They research social injustices and contemporary misuse of power and evaluate community response -- maybe not quite as juicy as cell phone policies and eating in the main building, but important nonetheless.
These are small revolutions, granted, and variations on the same theme, but my students come away from these experiences feeling empowered to affect change. In the end, that’s what education should do. I’m not preparing them for college -- they’re already plenty prepared for that. I want to believe that I am preparing them to be active and aware citizens. I want to believe that they will remember these lessons when one day finally arrives. I want to believe they will look back on their experiences in high school and think, someone saw me, someone heard me.
How do you make your students feel seen and heard? How do you give them the tools they will need for their one day? I’ve linked mine for you below -- just in case you’d like to keep the revolution going.
Keep calm and pretend it’s in the lesson plan,
Dr. O
AP: Social Justice Essay Unit
H: Misuse of Power Essay Unit
CP: Policy Change Essay Unit
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Dr-Os-English-Class
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