Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Transforming Helplessness into Hope with Writing




Image result for teaching tolerance


By: Jessica Kobe
October 3, 2016
Teaching Tolerance


Key points:  Following the many tragic events that have occurred in the past few months, Jessica Kobe, a teacher educator, wrote a poem to reflect and process the events.  This provided an opportunity for her to start discussions with her family, friends, and colleagues.  Not only can creative writing result in dialogue, it can also lead to gaining a sense of hope and empowerment. 

Relevance:  With the many horrific events that have happened, educators can set aside time for students to engage in creative-writing as an outlet to sort through injustices and tragedies they see and hear about.  Hopefully this prompts various conversations, and fosters a positive learning environment for students.  If anything, students should be given a voice; this can begin with writing.  

          
Audience: Students, parents, and educators

4 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed reading this because as you stated it allows people to use a creative outlet to sort through recent tragic events that have taken place and are still happening today. At a high school level I think this could be shared with a class as an example of how writing about events that effect us can help you get your ideas across to other people. When it comes to writing some students have a formal process in mind but if students are given freedom of how to express their voice more students would be willing to write I believe.

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  2. As a Special Education English resource teacher, I really enjoyed this article and am thinking about how I could implement something like this into my lessons. The biggest challenge with students I work with is getting them motivated to write and to put their thoughts into words and on paper. In today's social media driven lifestyle, our students are constantly hearing about the world's tragedies and I believe they can be used as opportunities for discussion and as you said, can foster a positive learning environment.

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  3. I enjoyed this article and the honesty with which the author recorded her feelings and thoughts. I have witnessed first hand, the difficulty that students have processing all that is going on in their lives. From divorce to fear of "clowns" students have a lot on their plate. I like the idea of having students use poetry or creative ways of "writing" to get their thoughts on paper. My students have some difficulty with writing and this might be a good strategy to have students process their thoughts and work through some of their fears. It can also lead to some positive discussions in the classroom.

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  4. I really enjoyed the Poem and the end and I wish I worked with older students where I could try and implement this in a lesson. It does make me wonder if I could find this in an elementary level and how to use in the LRC. But it does make me think of having students just free write a poem during our writing block and then use it as discussion afterward.

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