I would like to begin by saying that what Marge Well's students have to live through in their day to day is so sad and heartbreaking. No child should have to worry about their home getting knocked down, not having enough trees, or having to be quiet for the neighbors. We cannot expect children to focus and learn in school with these kinds of issues going on in their personal lives.
If I were to do a project like this in my classroom the place I would choose to focus on would be Providence. In the school year of 2020-2021 I worked as a long term substitute teacher in a private non-profit,behavioral, special education school in Providence where I got to see first hand all of the disadvantages these families and students had to go through. Many of the students that I got to work with came from low income families and single parent homes. Some students had no parents at all, their caregivers were grandparents or other family members. In addition, many families struggled speaking English and therefore were not able to take full advantage of the resources being offered to them and their children. These were some of the social issues my former students had to deal with. I am sure this is the case for many other students in other Providence schools.
Like Marge Wells, I would have my students express what their concerns about their community are. I would have my students make a list and then share with the class. We would then have a discussion and we would see if other classmates have common concerns with the community. As a class we would then come up with ways to address these concerns. For example, one concern may be the school building is old and it is deteriorating (Dysfunctional Providence). We would then find who is the responsible person or people. I would help my students gather all of the information needed for them to demand a change in their school. Perhaps by being an allied and joining them in a protest. This is very important because we as educators cannot expect our students to be able to learn in a building that is full of mold, has broken chairs, old books, bathroom with brown water, and the list goes on. Basic needs need to be met before we can expect our children to learn and grow.
https://upriseri.com/providence-teachers-and-allies-march-against-failed-state-takeover-of-providence-schools/
Hi Michelle, I appreciate you writing about the condition of Providence schools in this blog and including the links to articles. As someone who has not spent a lot of time in Providence, I was not aware of the extent to which this problem exists. I think making a project about the students' school/district is a great way to create a bridge between the content and their personal lives. Because this issue is so unfair and pretty depressing, I wonder if you could include something hopeful. Would you consider including examples of positive change that has happened in the city or of instances where students made a difference using their voice? I think it could potentially be helpful for morale or even just as inspiration to motivate them.
ReplyDeleteI love the analogy of creating a bridge and connecting the ELA content with the student's personal life. I think as a ELA teacher it is very important to be able to do this: it gives the curriculum that much more meaning.
DeleteHi Michelle, I think this could be a really interesting project for students to participate in. It hopefully gives them the opportunity to raise their voices, highlighting issues that they see every day and coming up with positive changes. With your example of students examining their deteriorating school building, I think it could be a good opportunity to invite people from the wider community to support the students as they demand change. Maybe students could also get in touch with the Providence Student Union (https://www.pvdstudentunion.org/) or other student-run organizations to collaborate with when doing this project.
ReplyDeleteI had not thought about inviting students from other districts in order to help the Providence students get the help they need to get their schools fixed. This is an awesome idea and I think it would amplify the student's voices.
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