----- Original Message -----
From: "neomi goldbaum" - <neomivera@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: war in class?
Dear All , This group is so helpfull- especially to newcomers as my self ! Thank you. I liked the idea of writing - the students can express themselves better about their feelings in writing. If some do not want to go there, they can avoid doing so , no harm done. Who wrote "The Corn Planting"? Thanks Neomi Goldbaum
Going back to normal doesn't mean ignoring what is happening around us. I do feel that we should deal with some of the emotional aspects of the war, although my colleagues on the staff did not feel the same as I. I don't think one homeroom hour a week - one that is often spent at the beginning of the year on all sorts of organization matters, is enough. I don't think we necessarily have to do it during the first few lessons, but sometime before the holidays.
I have found some of the suggestions I've read on Etni helpful, and I hope there will be more suggestions. . Here are some ideas I'm thinking over.
Writing - (as someone wrote - writing about the war would only be one option students could choose from). Some possible topics - Having students write about their feelings. Writing a diary entry for one day of the summer. Writing a get-well card to soldiers or civilians who are hospitalized due to injuries they sustained during the war. Writing a condolence note to a family that lost a son in the war.
In the book I use with my native speakers in 9th grade, there is a story called "The Corn Planting". It is about a couple who lose a son in tragic circumstances. The night before the funeral, someone sees them - they go out to their field a spend the whole night planting corn. I thought it is a beautiful story touching on how people deal with loss.
It is a problem to deal with such issues with new classes. I think I'll start with the class that I know and see how it goes there before doing anything with classes that I'm just meeting for the first time.
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