Saturday, November 12, 2011

Middle School Radio Show Reflection

I enjoyed listening to the radio production. I like the different discussions based off of many views of middle school. I was thinking back to what I was feeling and thinking during my middle school years, and I could agree to a lot of what they were talking about. I felt misunderstood, and was always trying to find myself, or find a right cliche to fit in. I never successfully found my own niche and felt like a floater, which I really didn't mind. As art educators, it's important to keep this in mind when sculpting lessons, or even when trying to make connections as teachers to students. Something that Ward and the radio production talked about incorporating in lessons with students was empathy. I thought that this was intriguing. I like the idea of having young students, think and reflect upon this concept. I think its especially important for middle students to think about empathy because this is the age where a lot of their morals develop. If empathy was more prominent within school systems I believe students would have an easier time relating to each other, and there would be less bullying. Overall, I feel like I have a lot of thoughts to meditate on, and felt it very insightful.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with you about empathy; when I listened to This American Life I kept hearing over and over how much folks felt like any kind of difference was really up for ridicule -- except for the Mimi's. They really created their own difference -- but it was a difference that was completely based on a popular culture conception (brought to us through marketing) of what is "cool" and acceptable. But, to some degree they created their own bubble of "this is who we are" and paraded it for their own protection. Its an interesting kind of situation.

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