Friday, June 26, 2009

Teachable Moment


During the school year an 8th grader was suspended a day for writing this letter. Instead of being suspended what could have been an alternative towards addressing this situation? Should this student have been suspended? What does this say about how our young girls are being indoctrinated? How could this have been used as a teachable moment?

12 comments:

  1. Excellent post, Daniel. I'm eager to hear what your fellow cohort members have to say in response to your questions.

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  2. Wow! Great Post. I think that instead of suspending this girl they should of found out why she wrote it. The girl might be going through something and suspending her did not help her. I have read this before when I was younger and it caught my eye. I have to admit I found it interesting. I do not agree with the suspension because the girl might of just found it different or interesting just like I did. In society this writing has been true for many of our young girls. Boys get them pregnant and walk away. The girl are learning this the hard way when they find themselves with a child and no support. I think that this could be use in a different way to teach girls about life. It tells about what most of our young girls go through so if some words were changed around we could use this to explain to young girls what they face if they get pregnant at such a young age.

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  3. Great post, Daniel. I think I've seen this poem before. I don't think this was a very good reason why this girl got suspended. I think the school should have given her a detention or counseling. The best thing they could have done for her was, to talk to herand try to figure out why she wrote this.

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  4. Daniel awesome post. I think that the school should of took an alternative route with this girl. Instead of suspenending her they should of figured out what was going on first. They should of looked to see if something was going on at home like Julissa said. It seems like she is or went or is going through some rough times. This girl might just be exposed to too much and does not know how to deal with it. She is trying to express herself through writing and instead of suspending her they should try to help her and hear her cries.

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  5. I agree with the other comments that the alternative should have been having the teacher or administrator or even the school counselor come forth and meet with the 8th grader and find out from her why this letter came about. They could of even made a call to the parents and let them know about the letter and get information on her home life situation, while on the phone with them. Instead of suspension, they should've done an intervention. By suspending her, part of her freedom (freedon of speech) was taken away. The worse part about it is that she might be thinking that no one in that school cares. Teachers seem to be the authoritarians and the students are there to obey or there would be consequences (suspension). This could of been a teachable moment if the teacher would of taken the time to listen and understand where she's coming from and acted like a friend not an authority figure.

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  6. Great post!
    Situations like this, when students engage in writing letters with similar content, require special actions, and what I mean by that is that not necessarily punishment. Through observing my own kids and the students that I encounter, I always believe that for every action there is a reaction. That letter was written as a reaction to what was going on in that particular student's life. Either directly (something that happen to her), or indirectly (something that happen to her friend, sister, cousin, etc.). The best solution, and something that I would do, I would try to talk to that student about it and offer to help. If that would not work, I would certainly talk to school counselor so someone could find out what is going on with that student and try to help.

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  7. Great post Daniel! I could'nt say it any better I agree with everyone your comments were great and in my opinion on the money. The sad thing is that this happens all too often. I personally liked the poem/letter. It's true for so many young girls. And maybe if we address it as something that could actually happen and prepare are young girls as well as boys it would not happen as much. As for the suspension I think there could have been a better way to solve this issue. The school should not have suspended the child. Instead they should've tried to help her. Have her meet with a counselor or social worker. Make it a teachable moment. Tell the girl I liked the poem/letter you wrote it's great that you could express yourself so vividly on paper. Do you think we could change some of the words so that we could be able to read it in class or have a discussion about it in the classroom. Sometimes teachers and adminstrators get their feathers ruffled for the wrong purposes. We have to remember we are advocates for the children and if we don't try to help them who will!

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  8. I think that this young adolescent was crying out for help as well as expressing how hurt and disappointed she was with the way things worked out. At this young age adolescents are facing many pressures and are going through many physical, emotional and social changes. I can only imagine how she thought she was loved by this young boy, how she thought she was doing all the right things to protect herself only to find herself broken, alone and changed forever. I wonder if she learned in school that if you choose to have sex you could protect yourself from getting pregnant. Or maybe she thought love would conquer all, or perhaps she thought, this would never happen to me. Was there a moment that she thought, what if I would get pregnant? What would I do? Did she talk to her teacher about that or, did she talk to her parents, or maybe she talked to her friends. This is a young girl crying out for help. An alternative to suspension would be to refer her to the school counselor, provide her with support, understanding and direction in her new phase in life. As for the indoctrination of our young adolescents we need to come up with interactive ways that will embrace our younger generation and the issues they will face in society. It is in these crises that we as educators, adults, and leaders have the opportunity to carefully and lovingly provide support, guidance and direction in order to promote a healthier lifestyle for our children. These are the greatest lessons we will teach in a young adolescent life.

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  9. Suspension is the farthest thing that should have been the results of this letter. It is apparent that this young lady has writing talent and by suspending her, it tells her that her creativity is harnessed at her learning environment. She should be praised on her poetry and given a book to start writing down her poetry in it. As educators, we can not discourage a student from expressing themselves in words or music. It is apparent that this young lady has much talent. Also, if this young lady was speaking of herself being pregnent, then she should receive some counciling. Suspension is telling her that she is not being heard and no there is no support at school. This is the farthest thing that we want to convey to our students. If family and school are people and places that we can turn to when we are going through rough times as a young adolescent, then who can they turn to?

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  10. Great posting Daniel! I'm not surprised at the consequences this young girl had. I see that happening at my school as well. Administrators are quick to suspend students for stuff like this. In my opinion, I think administrators got offended by the content and obviously by explicitness of her words. I feel it was a form of expression on her part. Basically, she was telling it like it is. Her words are the reflection of the times that this generation is living.
    I feel that suspension was not appropriate at all in this case. This should've only been a red flag for administrators. An eye-opener for them to question, "Are we really addressing our young adolescents needs and issues". It's easy to just sweep it under the rug with a quick suspension, than to address the real issues behind her words.

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  11. I feel that this young girl is trying to express her feeling in her letter. I disagree with the school district expelling her because not too many people are able to express them selves. Sometimes people commit suicide because they can't get their feeling out. This letter is an outcried from this young girl. letting people know that she is need of help and support. Lilia

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  12. I had never read this poem before, I felt really bad for the girl. How else was she able to express herself? If she would of said all those feelings out loud in school, she would of probably still been suspended. Like everyone else has stated, I too, agree that suspension should not have taken place. It shouldn't have been an option. I think a counselor or a social worker should have stepped up to the plate and helped her. I hope that after this sad experience the young girl did not shut down from expressing herself through writing.

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