As I gear up to turn in for the night, I thought I'd post this lovely reminder. One of my goals is to help children to be more socially and emotionally aware of the world around them. Sometimes that means allowing them to process the more painful events that occur, and giving them the tools with which to do so. I think some adults believe that by glossing over the difficult topics, we can protect children. However, I believe ultimately this can leave children feeling helpless when they are inevitably faced with reality later on. |
I also gave them a lesson in poetic lyric writing. Then I wrote the first two lines (about a manatee) as an example to start them off, and the kids wrote the rest of the lyrics with either no help, or very little help, from me.
They came up with this:
Sweet manatee, giant of the sea
Hunted for treasure, gold though they may not be
Northern rhino no longer has a horn
Guarded in Kenya...we want more to be born
Beauty of the Russian mountain, mightier than me
Suffering to stay alive and hunted two by three
A bengal, so helpless, despite its size and speed
A bengal, so fearless, despite its hunter's greed
Golden animal, no longer at the helm
King of the jungle, trapped in its tiny realm.
People say the elephants have lengthy memories
They are being separated from their families.
The mountain gorilla is terrorized by many,
But loving protectors have made a sanctuary.
The good news is, I truly believe with time and practice, and a change in approach, we can get there.
We need to stop all the testing and give kids a chance to wade through the lovely process of mingling thought and feeling and emotion...and let them put these things into movement and art and words and music. The arts must be directly integrated with academics. | I teach so many kids, and so many age groups: Toddlers through 6th grade, and adults. This song was written 5 months ago, and I was able to sit here and write out all the lyrics from memory. Emotion and arts make academics more relevant and tie them to memory, aiding in long-term retention. |