I just ran across an interesting resource: Good Although it has some commercial content, it is put together by individuals who want to push the world toward a sustainable future. If I were using this for research, I would definitely check the credentials of each author. While I found some writers to be educated in the field, others were activists or artists who may or may not have facts behind their deep convictions.

Apathy was not evident at 8:00am in this sophomore class today.  Students pitched their ideas to their classmates which sparked a lively debate.  Jacob convinced at least a few people that the importance of arts in education would make a good topic for our class film.  Franni spoke eloquently about the need for universal health care and got her classmates thinking about how it may affect them directly one day.  Janelle urged her classmates to make a film that would speak to teens about the consequences of drinking.  Amanda, Daniel, and Julia mounted a last ditch appeal for the environment, trying to quell the fears of their classmates that there was nothing new to say about the environment.

The class debated for a solid hour about the merits of each topic.  They brought up related issues, especially the economy, again and again to support their ideas:

• the arts could help the economy by helping to mold creative thinkers who might become the problem solvers or entrepeneurs of tomorrow
• health care is affected by the economy (loss of job and coverage) and the economy is affected by health care costs
• teenage drinkers might turn into alcoholics and would not become productive members of our society
• environmental issues’ links to energy is a drain on our economy

The students also used appeals

• to pathos:  poor children getting a chance to play an instrument, a boy in Illinois dying because a toothache turned into a fatal infection, teenagers dying from alcohol poisoning, fears of the world coming to an end if we don’t stem environmental deterioration.
• to logos:  “citing” or at least sounding like they were citing statistics to convince their classmates of the direness of their pet cause
• to ethos:  proposing who might make good interview subjects (teenagers who have friends who drink, health care advocates, art teachers, environmental activists)

The energy was palpable.  But I had to cut off debate at 9:00 for a final vote.  Top two:  teenage drinking and environmental issues.  And the final vote:  environmental issues.

impassioned-pitches

The librarians came in again to help us think of ways to narrow down our search.  They showed us more databases:  EbscoHost, NetLibrary Electronic Books.  They also reminded us how to search for books and how using these sources might give us extra ideas about narrowing our topic.

The students’ next blog posts will be reflecting about the vote today and ideas for narrowing down environmental issues into a more manageable topic for the film.

I’m excited to start this project again.  Last year’s project on global warming was the best thing I’ve done with a class in 17 years of teaching.  I just presented the project at METC in St. Charles, MO to a small crowd in a very large room.  Most stayed to listen, so I suppose that is a good sign.  There have been several follow-up e-mails, all positive.

This year, since I knew the project was going to happen (last year was a bit iffy), I focused on film study at the beginning of the semester as a way of looking at persuasion.  Two sites that were amazing were Media that Matters and Pangea Day.  Both sites have films that you can stream that take on social and political issues with a global perspective.  My kids loved watching the 4 films from Pangea Day:

• Combatants for Peace (Israeli soldier and Palestinian resistance fighter try to understand each other)
• A Thousand Words (a man goes to great lengths to return a camera left on a subway)
• Elevator Music (people in a crowded elevator learn to avoid sound pollution)
• Pale Blue Dot (amazing images from the Hubble telescope of our planet; Carl Sagan)

Today the students checked out Taking IT Global which I learned about at NECC in San Antonio this past summer.  TIG has great resources for learning about global issues.  Once we get our topic decided, it will be a great place to begin research.  There is also an online journal for students to publish poems, stories and essays about these topics.  I’m not sure if we’ll have time to take advantage of the online community available, but I hope we do.  What a great opportunity for the kids to learn from other teens from all over the world interested in the same topic.  This is where the technology really adds to the research.  I think it will help the kids see that they can make a difference in the world through these connections and their collective actions.

I’m excited and a little nervous to see what they pick.  It’s a little unnerving to be this out of control