Resources for Teaching About What's Happening in Japan, Wisconsin & Beyond

As we've mentioned before, as humane educators in the classroom, exploring current issues in age-appropriate ways with students is essential. Although the bombing of Libya has taken center stage in the news, the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan, and the uprisings here in the U.S. to support collective bargaining are still at the forefront in the minds of many. If you'd like to explore these issues with your students, here are a couple of helpful resources.

The most useful resource available so far regarding the events in Japan is the New York Times' collection of resources and teaching ideas. Although most are based on Times' content, there are plenty of comments from educators about how they're addressing the issue.

Our friends at Rethinking Schools have published a page with resources and ideas for teaching about labor issues and the events in Wisconsin. The page includes suggested books, songs, films, blog posts and essays, and teaching ideas. As Rethinking Schools says, the current uprising in Wisconsin and other states "presents a powerful opportunity to teach students about what the protests are about and why their teachers and neighbors are joining the struggle. It's an opportunity to critically examine issues, and to model for students responsible civic action and engagement in the political process."

It's also worth browsing the comments of their post to note additional issues and ideas for exploration and engaging discussion and critical thinking.

Exploring these issues can also be as basic as making a list of what questions, concerns, and assumptions students have, and then investigating the items on the list using accurate information, critical thinking, and an eye toward positive solutions.

And, especially when dealing with younger students, it's important to focus on when and how to explore challenging issues. As Amy Jussel says in a great post at her Shaping Youth blog, "there comes a time when common sense and age-appropriate filters need to gauge over-exposure to the insta-loop replays and daily deluge of graphic videos of wailing loss, floating cars and crying kids." Sharing too much too soon in age-inappropriate ways can be really traumatizing, as our own Director of Education, Mary Pat Champeau, recently discussed.

~ Marsha

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