Talking about 1.6.21
1-6-21: CLASSROOM TALKING POINTS AND SENTENCE STEMS
Your district or principal may have provided guidance on how to handle discussions about the events in D.C. on January 6th. If not, or if you want to prepare for conversing about the next crisis, consider reviewing the links in the last post and these talking points provided below by an ed consultant. How did your conversations go? What resources do you wish you had? We want to hear from you.
SECONDARY
Teachers should not be made to talk about it if they don’t feel ready, but students may bring it up anyway.
In that case, feel free to say something like…
This is such an important topic and I am still informing myself, so I don’t feel able to facilitate a good conversation. There is an open discussion being held today for anyone interested at ___________.
If a student brings it up and you do want to respond, please know that not all students will want to be part of the conversation and that’s okay. Do not force them.
In that case, you could say something like…
This was an important, confusing, and - in some ways - traumatic event. I understand why some of you may want to process this together. I’m going to create two breakout rooms. One for people who want to discuss it together with me. One for people who don’t want to talk about it and would rather just start our classwork.
If you do want to bring it up as a teachable moment, listening and asking questions is most important.
In that case, (from all or part of this list) you could say something like…
Let’s talk about how we have a good discussion. (possible protocol)
Let’s start with what you already know. (brainstorm a list)
Let’s identify questions you have. (brainstorm a list)
Let’s look at the last line of the first amendment and these 6 pictures. Which ones do you think fit the last line, and which ones don’t? (google slides link)
Let’s create a list of all the words we’ve heard. What do they mean? Which do you think apply to what you know / read about?
If you were leaders, what steps would you take to help solve what you saw was wrong?
How does what we’re learning in this class give you skills that would help you address wrongs?
ELEMENTARY
Elementary students are highly likely to have seen the news but less likely to bring it up. They may have misperceptions and fears about what they saw. Although you should not be forced to talk about it if you yourself are not ready, if you do feel ready, conversations can be helpful to relieve anxiety as well as reinforce some positive lessons. It is important to keep it simple.
From all of this or part of this, you could say something like…
You may have seen or heard about something in the news that sounded scary or confusing. What did you see or hear? (This lets you correct misinformation.)
Let’s talk about the word “news”. (This helps you let students know that news is usually about things that don’t happen often.)
This happened in Washington D.C. Let’s look at a map. (This let’s kids know it didn’t happen here.)
We learn in school that it is important to know right from wrong, and important to use our words not our hands to express feelings. In America, we have the “right to peaceably assemble against grievances”, that means we have permission to get together and use our voices when we think something is wrong. Why is that important? What seemed right and what seemed wrong about this?
A word you might have heard is “protest”. Let’s talk about what that means. What other words have you heard? (A chance to help them see differences.)
When bad things happen, there are always helpers. Who did you see helping? (Policemen who tried to stop it, Congressman who helped clean up the next day, how people helped each other during it, people trying to work together so it doesn’t happen again, etc.)
When you become leaders, what steps would you take to help solve what you saw was wrong?