It came to my attention mid-way through our language arts social justice focus that the majority of my students lack context for these issues. As they are fortunate enough to be born into this mostly-fabulous country (we are far from perfect) they are ignorant to the many injustices and inequalities present within the world and their own country. To remedy this ignorance I thought we could begin by watching some documentaries on a few of these topics to provide a little bit of context and hopefully spark a sincere interest within them on at least one of these issues.
After viewing each documentary the students will be posting their own movie review on their personal blogs that I hope you will take a minute to read and provide feedback on.
After our film festival the students will be asked to create an inquiry project on one issue that interests them most. The inquiry will serve three purposes; to provide practice in thoroughly researching a topic and then taking research and transmitting it into their own words (while citing appropriately;) they will then create a speech on their topic. Lastly, they will create a youtube video on their issue that hopefully invokes an emotional response and willingness to change in the viewer, much like the frighteningly accurate and humbling video below. So please take a minute to view the following video and check back over the next week or two to consider our student's reviews on the documentaries they view!
