Media Madness

Power of Media
The videos John Author shares are powerful.  I feel like I have always embraced the idea that as social studies teachers we are preparing students to take action as citizens.  But these videos scare me.   I just received some guidance about a new law in Iowa that seems to target social studies teachers.  It has been in my head.  What will I have to do to make sure that I dod not create waves and get my students, myself, or my district in trouble.  Mr. Author is challenging teachers to go the opposite direction.  My students tend to lean very conservative with a small minority that are pretty liberal.  I am not even sure how to navigate these critical conversations in the classroom.  How are the rest of you reacting to this video?  Do any of you create content for public audiences that would not be very supportive?  What is that like?

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Parents
  • This is the perfect example of how to engage our students in the conversation of current events in a meaningful way. To be honest, this would be extremely difficult for someone in my particular area to do something like this. Our district is fairly conservative as is our state legislature. In fact, the legislature is pushing for all lesson plans to be published from the beginning of the year so that they can ensure our curriculum has no "controversial" topics. Engaging students in the conversation of our current events is the only way they will learn how to be productive citizens, but I am not sure how I would navigate these in our current district and state political environments. I would love to hear from others who have done something similar. 

  • Sounds like we teach in similar environments.  

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