You could hear a pin drop...The boys and girls listened to the words of The Whales' Song by Dyan Sheldon being read by their classroom teacher. The book explores the developing relationship between a young child and a whale, until one day the whale goes missing. The author takes the audience through a series of hypothetical situations, one of which being the whale succumbing to the powers of whale hunters, in search for blubber.
The classroom erupts...one boy explains his idea of it being "ok" to hunt whales, because in his home country of Spain, his uncles and close relatives rely on this business to put food on the table for their family. When this boy is done talking, another student interrupts claiming "whale's is like killing people, it's just not fair! How would you like it if someone killed you!" The teacher, froze in anticipation of what may come next, attempting to let the students discussion continue, which proved to be extremely rewarding.
The students self-led discussion continued for a few more brief moments, in which the teacher ended the conversation explaining that in different cultures, animals are treated differently, and the importance of keeping an open mind when discussing different ways of life. The teacher handled it with poise and enthusiasm, even though the discussion was unplanned, it turned out to be the climax of the read-aloud.
In my experience, this interaction between diverse students, and their way of thinking, can be expanded, further talked about, or used in ways to further develop thoughts of one or many of the students. For example, using this topic of the treatments of animals in Writing Workshop, or having the students create a multi-modal text set tying this idea in would be especially beneficial.
It is important that discussions like these continue both inside the classroom and out. By serving as a facilitator of these conversations, educators have the opportunity to allow students to be heard, and reinforce their viewpoints, as well as have them challenged by other students. In this instance the discussion was meaningful ,respectful, and certainly created space for critical literacy and future conversations.
2 comments:
Did this really happen in the classroom you are observing? What a teachable moment! It must have been so amazing to watch the students in the class discuss such a rich topic.
It seems like the teacher you are working with did a good job of developing the conversation, in addition to making both students’ perspectives feel safe and accepted. Do you feel like the students felt like both of their perspectives were accepted or rather one was right, while the other was wrong?
A wonderful observation! And a terrific articulation of a powerful literacy event. This would be a great incident for others in the class to think about ways of engaging critically!
I agree. The use of a multi-modal text set would push at issues of diversity, positioning, identity and so forth.
I am so glad you shared this story and your insights!
Thank You
vivian
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