What are you passionate about?

It's Friday.
It's a half day.
I wanted to wrap up the week on a slightly different note, taking a detour from our regular grind. Since we have an adjusted schedule anyway, I figure it'd be perfect.

Mini-passages and short open-ended questions on Barbara Jordan and Crispus Attucks awaited the students as "Do Now"s on their desks as they entered. The goal: complete this short assignment, move on to discuss the causes for which they have a passion, followed by a discussion on the 1967 Philly student demonstrations, and end with the Fresh Prince of Bel Air episode "Those Were the Days". Here's YouTube's description of it:

When radical activist Marge Smallwood visits old friends Philip and Vivian Banks, her stories about the civil rights movement inspire Will to lead a student protest of his own at school.

We only watched 1 minute of the episode. The discussion about their passions was extended and well-informed. Here's a list of some of their passions:

1. De-emphasis on grades by parents and schools

2. Colorism (a student actually used the term...#winning)

3. A true desire to learn (they named the classes where some form of it actually exists)

4. Teachers and their management

5. There was also a discussion on feeling entitled

The conversations were real and were mostly concentrated on teaching and learning. Let me say that I did NOT provoke, evoke, or whatever other 'voke' we can use here, I had nothing to do with it. {snickers} To know me is to know that it sounds like something I would do. THEY pushed the conversation in this direction. The students were very critical of teachers, teaching/learning, the school system, and our school itself. They expressed a burning desire to learn and to grow beyond whatever growth they may be experiencing (or not) at the moment.

Every point was valid and well-taken. Their words were a reflection of their experiences as freshmen to this point. From the proverbial balcony, from a slightly different perspective, I did seize the opportunity to be critical. I do teach that it's OK to be critical, to question, to prod a little and even to disagree. Me to them, "Is this a two-way street? Do we ALL not have a part in this teaching and learning thing? Do students bear any responsibility at all for their learning? What can YOU do?"

Everyone's voice was heard. Everyone's voice was respected. Everyone's voice could have gone on for another hour or two. Easily.