Hello, friends! So I wanted to share an update on my recent unit. I wrote a few weeks ago about my students' engagement with the topic of revenge and justice -- this got me wanted to stick with the topic and explore it further. So, after reading a play and seeing one character consumed with revenge and another resigning to a fate he didn't deserve (and forgiving his offenders), I turned the topic to forgiveness. We read two works by MLK -- "Loving Your Enemies," a sermon on forgiveness, and we read an excerpt from "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence." I asked the kids to write a response to the pieces and to connect the readings to the text we were studying in class. The kids had some really thoughtful, reflective things to say. Some reflective thinking about conflict resolution started!
Next, we had a guest speaker come in to talk about restorative justice (http://www.c4rj.com/). We watched a clip from the film "Burning Bridges," which is a documentary following a restorative justice process after a group of teenagers burn down a bridge in a small community in PA. We debriefed afterwards, and students all concluded that "this can't be used with real crimes, crimes with real victims." This was kind of where I wanted them to be.... and so we then watched the documentary "A Long Night's Journey Into Day," which documents South Africa's use of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in order to heal the wounds caused by apartheid. After each segment of the film, students shared their reactions. They were pretty inspired by people's ability to forgive others for some of the most heinous crimes imaginable. They watched mothers and fathers of murder victims hug the person who murdered their child. They also saw families of murder victims who did not forgive the offender, and reflected on that burden. The film also humanized many of those who committed atrocities, which resonated with the kids as well. They saw that these people were people, not monsters, and it was pretty powerful to watch.
So for their assessment, students had two options: a personal narrative reflecting on an experience related to forgiveness, or write a persuasive essay arguing that restorative justice should be used in a given situation (could be current events, a school issue, American history -- anything related to a community they're a part of). The students really got into these pieces, and wrote some beautiful work. They cared about what they were writing about, and I really just feel good about the unit.... awesome, awesome.
I'm going to try to attach the documents from this unit in the comments box, so you can access them if you'd like. Thanks for your continued support :)
Big hugs,
Laura
Next, we had a guest speaker come in to talk about restorative justice (http://www.c4rj.com/). We watched a clip from the film "Burning Bridges," which is a documentary following a restorative justice process after a group of teenagers burn down a bridge in a small community in PA. We debriefed afterwards, and students all concluded that "this can't be used with real crimes, crimes with real victims." This was kind of where I wanted them to be.... and so we then watched the documentary "A Long Night's Journey Into Day," which documents South Africa's use of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in order to heal the wounds caused by apartheid. After each segment of the film, students shared their reactions. They were pretty inspired by people's ability to forgive others for some of the most heinous crimes imaginable. They watched mothers and fathers of murder victims hug the person who murdered their child. They also saw families of murder victims who did not forgive the offender, and reflected on that burden. The film also humanized many of those who committed atrocities, which resonated with the kids as well. They saw that these people were people, not monsters, and it was pretty powerful to watch.
So for their assessment, students had two options: a personal narrative reflecting on an experience related to forgiveness, or write a persuasive essay arguing that restorative justice should be used in a given situation (could be current events, a school issue, American history -- anything related to a community they're a part of). The students really got into these pieces, and wrote some beautiful work. They cared about what they were writing about, and I really just feel good about the unit.... awesome, awesome.
I'm going to try to attach the documents from this unit in the comments box, so you can access them if you'd like. Thanks for your continued support :)
Big hugs,
Laura
Here is the writing assignment: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ai3Roq3sl9v25T_7ktI8xkMNMBLsVlS6REoK5pDxmF0/edit
ReplyDeleteHere is the MLK reading on forgiveness:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=12tzkeNHI30HQ2_C3i7aDIDaJFTWjjtX2dYq83TTL9fPRZyxHna5omeUXJdwz
If these don't work, feel free to let me know and I can email the documents! Can't figure out how to upload documents onto Blogger. Oh well :)
Hope you're all well!!