Learning opportunity

My 7th grade students surprise me with something amazing every single day, but today I was truly impressed. As soon as I arrived to school this morning, a group of them asked if I knew who Joseph Kony was. I told them that I knew about him, but I did not know him personally. I asked them to tell me what they knew about Joseph Kony, and they did. I was pleased that they did not just scroll down passed the Kony 2012 video posted on their Facebook pages, but instead they watched. And after they watched, they watched again even more intently. It became a hot topic in all of my classes today. So hot that I had to promise that we would view the documentary and discuss during one of our dedicated class periods, so we could accomplish some of our other responsibilities. Showing the documentary to all 53 of my students today was a powerful thing.

Many adults do not realize that middle school students are concerned citizens and want to learn more about global issues. They just need to be given a chance to talk and share about what they know and have their questions answered for the things they want to know more about. The spreading fire of attention surrounding the Kony 2012 movement is a perfect opportunity to integrate citizenship and social justice issues into our every day mandatory curriculum. To keep my students' excitement and concern from smoldering, we will be writing official letters and emails to each policymaker listed on the Kony 2012 website as we learn about proper business letter writing and email etiquette. If you have not had the opportunity to view the video, please click on the link. Invisible Children - Kony 2012