We
Were There, Too! | Story of the Story Teller
| Classroom Activities | Selected
Resources
Classroom Activities
Using School
Yearbooks as a Research Resource
When Phil was researching young people's participation in World War II,
he found a great deal of information in unusual source—a middle school
yearbook. It told of 8th grader John Romano who wrote his spring essay
about the importance of chewing gum for Air Force pilots and recited a
list of activities that students had been involved in. They pooled pennies
to buy yarn; collected 10,017 tin cans to be used by the military; collected
28 pounds of keys to be turned into bullets; sold 13,350 half pints of
milk to raise money for war bonds…. The list went on and on.
Have students find and comb through the yearbook archive at your school. What can they find out about young people's activities in the past 10-20 (or more) years? How did their activities dovetail with major local, regional, or national events. What do they want to include in this year's yearbook?
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During the meeting, a group of musicians decided to start a children's music network. "Now," Phil says, "there are really hundreds of members—teachers, singers, songwriters, and librarians. And we do such wonderful things…workshops around the country for teachers, songs for older kids, younger kids. Songs about adoption, war, peace….We work with children and use music to try to create good social change. In addition
to archiving children's music, CMN meets regulary to share songs
and ideas about children's music, to inspire each other about the
empowering ways adults and young people can communicate through
music, and to be a positive catalyst for education and community-building
through music. |
Analyzing Cross-Cultural
Definitions of Youth
ACTIVITY:
Children assume the responsibilities of adulthood at different ages in
different cultures: some before and some after puberty, some at age 13,
some at 18, some at 21. Examine the category, "young person,"
cross culturally.
How do different countries officially define the category of young person?
How do these official categories parallel and differ from more local definitions?
Do these differences among ethnic groups exist within the same country,
such as the U.S.?.
ACTIVITY:
In the US, contemporary young people vote, drive cars, go to college,
and enter the armed services at age 18 but they can get working papers
at age fourteen. Use US history texts to research and write about these
rights and responsibilities, including the ratification of the 26th Amendment
giving the vote to 18-year-olds. Interview classmates and neighbors to
find out what rights and responsibilities they associate with the category
"young person." Make sure to note differences between white
youth and youth of color, and between rural and urban youth.
ACTIVITY:
In many parts of the world, children are family wage earners whose labor
makes the difference between hunger and subsistence. They have adult responsibilities
in agriculture, home and road construction, rug making, coal mining, domestic
service, shoe shining, petty trading, and sewing, to name a few. In Pakistan,
the child, Iqbal Masih, lost his life in his crusade to stop bonded child
labor in the carpet industry. Research Iqbal's story and then tell through
a piece of writing, artwork, or theater. Visit http://digitalrag.com/iqbal/index.html
for information about Iqbal's story.
ACTIVITY:
In many parts of the world, young people serve in the military. In the
US, military service is voluntary. But in Israel, for example, all young
people age 18, boys and girls, must serve in the armed forces. And in
Sierra Leone and Liberia, where brutal wars are occurring, children are
impressed as irregular soldiers. The Women's Commission for Refugee Women
and Children has released a report, Precious Resources: Adolescents
in the Reconstruction of Sierra Leone that deals with young Sierra
Leoneans involved in the reconciliation process. They write, "Despite
their exhaustion, mistrust, and disappointment, young people desperately
want to take the step toward a sustainable peace. They know they are the
most precious resources Sierra Leon has today-more precious than the diamonds
for which so many people were killed. The war could not have been fought
without them; likewise, the peace cannot be made without them."
What is the history of children's involvement in Sierra Leone's civil
war? What is the Lomé Peace Agreement? How were young people involved?
In addition to your own research, you can visit www.womenscommission.org
for information about the war.
Investigating Your
School's History
Start an investigation project in your school community. Ask students
to survey the elementary and junior and senior high schools to determine
the responsibilities that children assume. Some of these responsibilities
include service as hall monitors, classroom attendance assistants, and
sellers of milk in the cafeteria. And look at the ages of young people
who work at fast food establishments. Also look at the jobs that young
people hold in the community, such as in fast food establishments.
Plotting a Maturity
Chronology
Ask students to write a "maturity chronology" of their own lives.
This will record the ages at which they moved from self-awareness to family-and
community-awareness. That is, it would note when the students first noticed
their family's place in the community and their race, ethnicity, or social
class. It would also include the ages at which they assumed responsibilities
in their ethnic or religious life, started doing chores at home, enrolled
at school, got their first part-time job or volunteer experience, opened
their first savings account, joined their first club or organization,
etc. And it would include the ages at which they first stood up for themselves,
their family, or their ethnic group.
We
Were There, Too! | Story of the Story Teller
| Classroom Activities | Selected
Resources