This morning, my CT informed me about some unsettling news concerning his school. One of the members of the faculty had been arrested. I did not understand what was happening until I turned on the news in my car. When I parked my car at the school, I noticed that the local news station was parked across the street. When I walked into the school building, I noticed that it was not as cheery as it usually is, and there were policemen standing by the door. When I walked into the main office, I was asked to show my I.D., but they had not done so since the first day that I arrived. There was no chatter or small talk about weekend plans. Instead, I walked down the halls with everyone's cautious eyes upon me. I had no idea what was going on, but this was the first time that I did not feel welcome in this school.
My CT had a writing prompt ready, but ignored it for today's purposes. He first shared his writing. He told them that writing is important to him, and emphasized the importance of expressing feelings and emotions in writing. He told the students to write for 10 minutes about how they are feeling about the events happening around them.
The class was asked to share if they wanted. Usually, the students are encouraged to share a little of their writing in small groups or the whole class, but that was completely optional today, due to the circumstances. During 2nd hour, one of the students mentioned the death penalty and another student made a mildly inappropriate comment about the faculty member. During that same class, four female students excused themselves because they began to cry. Two of them went to talk to the counselors.
My CT was very upset with what had happened and made it very clear to the students. He showed them that it is okay to emotionally react and to show your feelings, but he exemplified this in a healthy way.
As I spent my day at the school, I thought about safety. Is anyone actually safe in schools? Are students safe when they go to middle school everyday? How can they trust their teachers and people who work in the building if someone they trust is accused of a terrible crime? Unfortunately, they are growing up in a world where students have to fear adult mentors.
Throughout the day, all of the students handled this in different ways, but they should not have to handle this at all. Some of the students who were very vocal were quiet. For example, one student likes to write raps during free write and would rap a piece of it for me during the workday. Rapping is his passion and the students say that he does not go to school one day without rapping for everyone. My CT encourages it and thought that that specific student should use his raps as inspiration for his poems. Today, unfortunately, this student did not rap. He did not speak a word. It broke my heart into pieces.
My CT had a writing prompt ready, but ignored it for today's purposes. He first shared his writing. He told them that writing is important to him, and emphasized the importance of expressing feelings and emotions in writing. He told the students to write for 10 minutes about how they are feeling about the events happening around them.
The class was asked to share if they wanted. Usually, the students are encouraged to share a little of their writing in small groups or the whole class, but that was completely optional today, due to the circumstances. During 2nd hour, one of the students mentioned the death penalty and another student made a mildly inappropriate comment about the faculty member. During that same class, four female students excused themselves because they began to cry. Two of them went to talk to the counselors.
My CT was very upset with what had happened and made it very clear to the students. He showed them that it is okay to emotionally react and to show your feelings, but he exemplified this in a healthy way.
As I spent my day at the school, I thought about safety. Is anyone actually safe in schools? Are students safe when they go to middle school everyday? How can they trust their teachers and people who work in the building if someone they trust is accused of a terrible crime? Unfortunately, they are growing up in a world where students have to fear adult mentors.
Throughout the day, all of the students handled this in different ways, but they should not have to handle this at all. Some of the students who were very vocal were quiet. For example, one student likes to write raps during free write and would rap a piece of it for me during the workday. Rapping is his passion and the students say that he does not go to school one day without rapping for everyone. My CT encourages it and thought that that specific student should use his raps as inspiration for his poems. Today, unfortunately, this student did not rap. He did not speak a word. It broke my heart into pieces.
