Is this video appropriate to show to middle schoolers?
In most school districts, teachers can use supplementary materials in addition to textbooks in their classrooms. These materials can include novels, magazine or newspaper articles, podcasts, videos, etc. In some districts teachers do not need approval from the school or school board to use these materials. In other districts, approval is required to use supplemental materials, but some teachers don't request approval.
Some supplemental materials come with the approved textbook. One example is podcasts that the publishers of My Perspectives, which is approved for Grades 6-12 English Language Arts by TEA, provide to teachers for use in their classrooms. Here are examples from the Grade 8 My Perspectives podcasts:
Unit 3- "Native Americans Protest Oil Pipeline" and
"Student Activism Over Gun Violence"
Unit 4- "Debate: Can Virtual Reality Make You More Empathetic?"
Unit 5- "Debate: Should We Make Changes to Human DNA?" and
"Trusting Computers to Make Decisions" (This podcast states that "Complex computer
algorithms designed to weigh options and make choices are consistently outperforming
humans.")
You can see that the Marxist agenda is evident in these podcasts: transhumanism, human DNA/RNA engineering, getting rid of fossil fuels, and getting rid of gun rights.
Other supplemental materials are brought into the classroom by the teacher. One example is videos. This video of a "slam poetry session" called "When You Say My Name" by Zachary Caballeros is making the rounds and is shown in middle and high school classrooms. Watch the video and see if you think it is appropriate for classroom use.
Inside Out Literary Arts is based in Detroit (which should tell you something about their political agenda). Teachers can use their lesson plans published online in their classrooms. The following are excerpts from their lesson plan involving this video.
LESSON PLAN TITLE: My Name
Writer-in-Residence: Christiana Castillo
Grade Level: 6th-12th
Model Works Used: “Alternate names for black boys”- Danez Smith “My Name”- Sandra Cisneros “When You Say My Name”- Zachary Caballero (slam poem) "To All the Little Black Girls with Big Names" by Sha'Condria
Literary Learning objective(s): Students will be able to write their own poem exploring what their name(s) mean to them.
Themes: Identity, Poetic Forms
MDE/SEL Standards: Self-awareness, key ideas and details, craft and structure
Materials Needed: poems, writing utensil
Opening Activity: If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Pre-Discussion: Names are incredibly important. They are given to use and sometimes we get to choose them. They hold history and identity. Sometimes other people give us names that are not always kind and we acquire nicknames. Today we are going to explore three different poems to see what names can hold and mean.
3. Watch “When You Say My Name” Zachary Caballero How does Zachary Caballero feel about his name? What does his name mean to him? About Zachary Caballer: Zachary Caballero is an attorney practicing law in Houston, Texas and a nationally recognized, award-winning, Mexican-American Poet.
Zachary Caballero was crowned the 2016 Grand Slam Poetry Champion at Write About Now, a poetry community in Houston, Texas.
Notice that the activity which allows students to explore the meaning and origin of their name is a great activity for them to explore their own identity, which an important concept in middle school. Also, notice how this activity is used as a vehicle for delivering the Marxist agenda of racism and "you can't be successful if you are a minority because of white supremacy and systemic racism." Just look at the titles of the example poems in this lesson! Why do the Marxists always focus on race?
Newspapers and magazine articles are another source of supplemental materials brought into the classroom by teachers.
One source of these materials widely used by schools in Texas is www.newsela.com and their bias is obvious. See below these excerpts from an article on their website published for classroom use by teachers:
Arts & Culture
What is intersectionality?
By Teaching Tolerance, adapted by Newsela staff Published:02/05/2017 Word Count:864 Recommended for:Middle School - High School Text Level:7
"Intersectionality refers to the different kinds of identities people have. It studies how these multiple identities connect and affect a person's life. These identities are race, gender, sex, disability, and sexual orientation, as well as where they live and socioeconomic status. Intersectionality also impacts how oppression and privilege connect and influence each other. Oppression is when someone faces unfair treatment because of their identity. Privilege is when someone has a special advantage because of their identity."
"Oppression, Power And Privilege In The Classroom
In the classroom, understanding multiple identities can help teachers and classmates better relate to each other. It can also help them understand the relationship between power and privilege in the classroom.
Christina Torres is a teacher at the University Laboratory School in Honolulu, Hawaii. She makes sure to view her students through their multiple identities. She describes this mindset as "understanding that there's a long background" to who her students are. In general, girls have different life experiences than boys; blacks have different life experiences than whites; children from rich families have different life experiences than children from low-income families. Understanding context is also key, Torres says. "A woman who is Latina in L.A. is going to have a very different experience from someone who's in the middle of Arkansas. The place matters, too."
Torres' ninth-grade class also explores internalized oppression. Internalized oppression is when people give in to the negative messages about who they are. For example, a mother playing catch with her daughter may tell her not to "throw like a girl." In this example, the mother has bought into the negative message that boys are better than girls at sports, and may be passing that message to her daughter."
"Navigating The Intersections
Discussions about intersectionality and oppression might seem too difficult to talk about in class, but when a teacher brings up these difficult topics they show they care deeply about their students. In fact, Torres begins the year by asking her students to consider where and how they fit into their communities. She asks them to explore what makes them feel worthwhile there.
By emphasizing intersectionality, she equips her students with the skills to examine why they believe what they believe. They learn to question why their beliefs might differ from others' and to determine how their ideas might be influenced by power and privilege. For Torres, helping students like Nicole navigate the world — and the way the world responds to them — is an important part of her responsibility as an educator."
Is this article appropriate to use with middle to high school students? Is this information what they really need to know?
Other titles of articles put on this website and to be used in the classroom by teachers include:
"What is Eid and how do Muslims celebrate it? Six questions answered."
"Supreme Court rulings that have shaped LGBTQIA+ rights in America"
"Facebook working on Instagram for kids under 13"
"Female spies are "bloody good"- and it's partly because of sexism"
"Primary Sources: Cities recognize Indigenous People's Day"
"What Black Lives Matter protestors can learn from civil rights protests of the past"
"Angela Davis: We knew that the role of the police was to protect white supremacy"
"A visual history of iconic black hairstyles"
"Indigenous Americans' inequitable access to land"
"Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, protector of the Everglades"
"Lives of white southerners before the Civil War"
"When protestors say 'defund the police' what does it mean?"
"Issue Overview: Racial Profiling"
"Opinion: Why black culture thrives alongside rampant racism"
"How 'Black Lives Matter' became a U.S. protest cry" (This article states that "Some white nationalist groups have used the hashtag #whitelivesmatter.)
....and it goes on....
They do have some appropriate informative articles on their website. But, you can clearly see their bias and how they are trying to use classrooms to indoctrinate students. Their articles are written from one point of view and leave out important information that does not match their bias.
Parents in Texas are complaining about the inappropriate supplemental materials that teachers are bringing into their classrooms.
1. The National Coalition Against Censorship wrote that
"Leander Independent School District in Leander, Texas, has removed several books from school reading lists. Teachers in the district have rallied to defend the rights of students to read the books. While Leader ISD has followed its instructional material review policy appropriately, it’s notable that two of the three books thus far recommended for removal tell LGBTQ+ stories and the initial challenge was spurred by parental opposition to the inclusion of LGBTQ+ books.
NCAC has written the district to express concern with the apparent targeting of LGBTQ+ stories for removal. The review of the books lists is ongoing.
In Leader ISD, all middle and high school English classes participate in book club-style units. Students choose a title from a list of 15 books designated for their grade level to encourage them to read books that pique their personal interest. The full review of book club reading lists was sparked by a complaint about the inclusion of In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, an award-winning memoir of an abusive gay relationship. The district halted all book club reading until a review of all of the titles on the selection list could be completed. Thus far, the books tagged for removal are primarily LGBTQ stories and graphic novels, as well as books that deal with sexual assault."
2. On Monday October 18, 2021 The Dallas Express wrote
"On September 20, RISD became aware of a parent concern related to optional book club choices within a junior high classroom. That concern has circulated and led to additional questions from other parents related to how book titles are selected for RISD libraries and classrooms, and the guidelines teachers use when selecting discretionary book titles to supplement classroom libraries. RISD has reviewed the initial concern, which was limited to one classroom teacher and involved a variety of teacher-selected supplemental book titles made available for students to choose from in a book of choice exercise. Some of the titles explored themes that involved content that was more mature and explicit than appropriate for junior high students."
and that
"As a result of Clemens’ advocacy, the district apologized and said it is temporarily pausing classroom activities involving teacher-selected book titles to ensure they can be vetted and approved by district teaching and learning staff."
Sherry Clemens said, “There is sexual content in seven out of the ten books." and “One of them having 53 incidences of sex." Her daughter is in junior high.
3. The Hill wrote on October 8, 2021
"A school district in Southlake, Texas, is changing its policies on what books teachers can keep in their classrooms following backlash and parent complaints about an anti-racist book, NBC News reports.
The Carroll Independent School District is asking teachers to discard books that present a singular narrative “in such a way that it ... may be considered offensive,” the outlet reported citing a training document.
The district is providing teachers with mandatory training on the new guidelines regarding books, as well as instructions for removing books that don’t meet the criteria.
The new guidelines come after a parent complained about a fourth-grade teacher who had a copy of “This Book Is Anti-Racist” by Tiffany Jewell, according to NBC. The parent complained that the book violated her family’s “morals and faith.”
The book, released last year, was described by Today.com as “a clear guidebook for how to stop racism in our own hearts and minds.”
4. Bookriot.com who is very unsupportive of parents challenging books in school wrote
The Breakaways by Cathy G. Johnson was pulled from elementary school libraries in Spring Branch Independent School District by the district after their reconsideration process deemed the book “not age-appropriate nor was it appropriate for its intended educational use.”
The book’s intended reading level is 3–8th grade, perfectly aligned with the district’s elementary school age children.
“We are concerned about the graphic sexual elements of the book, and the phrase ‘bleed the pigs’ which refers to violence against police,” said (Lisa Andrews) Alpe, who is supportive of the ban. Alpe also referred to pages of the book where the teens are seen in the same bed and kissing as inappropriate for elementary school children.
What now?
Be sure to have conversations with your children who are in public school about what they learning in class, what class novels they are reading, what their classes are discussing, what videos teachers are showing, and what magazine articles teachers are sharing with the students. Also, ask your children if their teachers are bringing their own political viewpoints into the classroom. It is your right to know as a parent. Get informed and get involved!!!
Comentários