The Middle School Diaries: I know I can…

“I know I can

Be what I wanna be

If I work hard at it

I’ll be where I wanna be”

-Nas, I Can

One of the biggest challenges I had as a substitute teacher was keeping the students engaged. How in the world was I supposed to teach about events and people that existed way before their time when all that interested most of them were pop icons such as Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Taylor Lautner, Beyoncé, and Chris Brown? Yes, despite Chris Brown’s assault on Rihanna, he’s still very popular with the middle school girls. (Check out Elina's blog if you have time.)

That’s when I came up with the solution to my problem: Use pop culture to my advantage. Luckily, I am still young enough to know the latest trends and thanks to the Internet, it has kept me well informed with such things.  But what does this have to do with Social Studies?

Challenge #1: Teaching about Social Justice

Social Justice was a vocabulary word in the seventh grade chapter about Hebrews and Phoenicians. I know, sounds boring already, right? The Hebrews believed in social justice - everyone has the right to be treated equally and fairly. So how do I teach the concept of social justice, something that I am very passionate about, to seventh graders?

The answer?

YouTube.

I showed them three videos:

1) What is Social Justice?

2) Social Justice: “Good People”

3) I can: social justice project

Videos #1 and #2 crashed and burned with these students. Sorry Love Alliance and Jack Johnson, but Video #3, with the song, “I can” by Nas, had their full attention! It was so good, I had to show the other social studies classes!  The students were singing word for word as they watched the screen. Leave it up to hip-hop to reach the students in South Central. (But of course! Please note*: The other videos have a great message, but I also need to realize my target audience and what appeals to them.)

I especially like Video #3 because it used popular icons such as Oprah, Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears to demonstrate examples of good and bad behavior. No disrespect to Hollywood celebrities because there are good people in Hollywood who use their celebrity status to promote social justice, but sometimes the behaviors of others can also have negative consequences as well as the impact of drugs and excessive drinking. (The video does a great job showing both sides.)

Also if you skip ahead to 2:30 on the video, it talks about people and events that are in our social studies books: the Kush, Egypt, Alexander the Great, and the fall and rise of empires. Even more so, how injustices are still going on in today’s society and the only way we can change it is to:

Read more, learn more, change the globe…

I know I can

Be what I wanna be

If I work hard at it

I’ll be where I wanna be

The ending message is great:

You can make a difference!

*********************************

As I was reading the students’ “Getting to Know You” and “All About Me” worksheets that I mentioned the previous week, one prompt was:

When I grow up I want to:__________________________________________

One of the seventh graders wrote: Make a difference.

The students want to learn and make a difference. You just have to show them how!

Ending thoughts:

It doesn’t matter how old you are. Everyone has dreams. Viewing and reviewing this video repetitively has reminded me that in order for anyone to achieve their dreams, you have to:

1) Believe in yourself.

2) Work hard and don’t give up.

3) Surround yourself with positive and supportive people.

4.) Give yourself time to grow.  Realize it’s a process.

5.) Keep learning and use that knowledge to fuel you.

Here are the lyrics to the song if you want to teach it or share it with someone else.

Stayed tuned for more challenges and lessons ahead in The Middle School Diaries.