Neither is anywhere for that matter. The election shouldn't change what is or is not acceptable in your classroom.

Teachers have a challenge that started long before this week. Everyone is struggling to make sense of it.

School will be open today after 12 hours of negotiation. What can we learn in Dallas from all of this?

Democrats and Republicans are much more similar than political parties in other countries. Breaking down the two convention speeches by President Obama and presidential hopeful, Donald Trump, could be a powerful teaching tool in the classroom next fall. Putting Secretary Clinton's speeches in there will add different dimensions as well.

This is why we teach citations in school. I'm just happy there won't be some innocent intern sacrificed in this one...yet. Thanks for all the emails asking for thoughts on plagiarism because of last night's events.

There is no "getting back to normal." There is no "moving on." Moving forward is what we are all called to do after tragedy.

There's not much I can say about Dr. King that hasn't already been said or will be by people far more eloquent than myself. The one man everyone, even people that couldn't care less about the Civil Rights Movement, recognizes by name from that part of America's history.

As a teacher, I like to discuss Dr. King in history. I like to put him in context. The entire world was going through a civil rights movement. In the wake of the decolonization that followed World War II, people everywhere were trying to find their collective identity and achieve some kind of equality. He traveled to India and studied the non violence movement led by Mahatma Ghandi. He spoke openly with other civil rights leaders in the US, like Malcolm X, who disagreed with his methods and mindset. Dr. King fought for and achieved concrete changes in US laws to create enduring protections for the civil liberties of people of color. He did it not just for Black people, but all people in our country so that we can all share in the bounties that our country provides.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a driven, intelligent, spiritual, compassionate, well dressed master of the English language. He was the exact opposite of what people today think of when they imagine a Black male.

I look up to Dr. King not because he was perfect, but because he was willing to do the right thing in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity. He knew that he had a powerful voice and used it, but he was also humble enough to learn from those who had come before him and work with those trying to achieve the same goal. He never stopped learning, he never stopped fighting, and he continues to be the gold standard for resistance to oppression and inequity for me.

I celebrate his birthday in remembrance and respect of everything he secured for myself, my parents, and people of color across our country.

​Thank you, Dr. King. Happy birthday.

Taking a moment to talk about the 6th GOP debate in class could be a great way to show the many counterpoints that exist to President Obama's state of the Union address. It's the first of the new year and the number of folks on the state is starting to dwindle. Each of the candidates on the stage have their own unique spin on the issues and baggage they bring with them into the hot seat.

Trump had his best debate yet and continues to set the media on fire with his energy and controversial view points, still leads polls.
Rubio has at times crossed the aisle a few times.
Cruz recently told someone their face that he'd deport them and has had his citizenship question by Trump.
Carson promised to play a little hard ball and way didn't. He's still a medical legend and one of the best surgeons in US history.
Kasich, congrats on making the state you teachers' lounge hating so and so!

There's also an opportunity here to show just how diverse the viewpoints in the Republican Party are by using Governor Haley used her rebuttal to attack Trump.

Presidential election season comes only so often. There are many great opportunties here to show our students a little bit of everything to help them find some interest in the political process. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Participation is what is important. Who you support isn't is important to me as long as you get out and vote.

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My lesson on the State of the Union did not quite go according to plan. My biggest mistake was assuming that my kids saw any of it last night. Here's the thing, sometimes we assume things that we think are important are also important to our students. Many of those times we are wrong.

I changed things up midday and it went well from then on. I gave my students ten minutes to read/listen to as much of the speech as they could. Then I had them make a list of topics discussed, President Obama's view point, and write about if they agreed or disagreed with his statements.

From there we debriefed last nights readings about the enlightenment period and the important thinkers who shaped the founding of our country.

The point of this was not to pick sides on controversial issues, but rather to take the statement that every political pundit makes about the intentions of the founding fathers and ideals of the United States and help them discover what those foundational ideas and theories really are.

The discussion was rich, particularly about the responsibility of government in providing education. Students are pretty deep thinkers. Take the time to listen. I was pretty proud and surprised today.

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Last night, President Obama, among other things, made a promise to continue fighting to make education equitable and affordable for everyone. For education to be highlighted in this address is encouraging for our nation and our students. 

The State of the Union is a great opportunity to have yet another conversation about the issues that impact our daily lives and the concerns of our country.

I'll be using it today to kick off class. You may find it fun to do the same. I've included the full transcript of President Obama's speech below.

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Not a long time ago.

With the date of ratification so close to Pear Harbor, the ratification of the 13th Amendment often missed the "Top Stories" section on google news. Not seen as a national tragedy by some Americans compared to Pearl Harbor, the day where slavery officially became illegal in the entire United States went largely unnoticed. It's not a contest. Tragedy is tragedy. 

As a teacher, however, I think the discussion of all critical events in the history of our nation is important. The NFL and CNN made sure everyone watching TV remembered the horrors of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. I also make sure my students know that slavery ended on a Wednesday just 150 years ago.

I often retell the story from my first year teaching about how somewhere around 80% of my black students had no idea slaves came from Africa. If there was one moment in my life as a teacher that I'll never forget, that'd be it. For high school teachers, it's critical we discuss slavery, not just because it provided the foundation for the United States and many other North and South American countries, but because it's not a major part of any history curricula in the state of Texas. World History has a brief mention of the transatlantic slave trade, but US history starts at reconstruction, government is only a semester long and just skims over it, and other classes may read a poem or two, but there's no in depth discussion unless you make it happen.

Slavery created a brand new culture by killing the old one that existed in those communities destroyed by Europeans and the Africans they gave guns, alcohol, and other goods in exchange for human beings. War was promoted as a means to provide a steady stream of labor because the people already living in the Americas were dying by the millions from diseases that the Europeans also brought with them.

We owe it to our kids to remember our complete past. The legacy of the slave trade can be seen and felt worldwide. Part of healing the wounds that have festered for centuries means acknowledging they exist.

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The last group of students to have had the capacity to remember 9/11 have already graduated. It's weird to discuss historical tragedies with people who didn't experience the shock, loss, fear, and other emotions we had when we witnessed, in real time, something as world changes as the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As teachers, we have the ability to bring events like this back to life for new generations. It's a responsibility we should take very seriously.

Relevant TEKS: US History 2D, 7A-F, 17A, 19B; World History 12B&C, 28C

The Pearl Harbor attacks by the Imperial Japanese Navy caught thousands of young men and women off guard on a quiet Sunday morning. Some people were off base, some were sleeping in, a few were at church, but their lives were all changed when the attacks started. It was a tactical victory for the Japanese Empire, but didn't accomplish the goals of completely destroying the US Navy or keeping the United States out of the war.

It's an important event, not just because it directly led to the United States entering World War II, but because there is a very human face to this attack. Over 2400 Americans were killed with many more injured. This is one of the few attacks that have ever been conducted against the United States on our soil and one of the most deadly. The resulting entrance into WWII jump started industry in the US and helped pull us out of the depression.

Emphasizing the human side of conflict and going beyond the numbers creates fantastic opportunities for discussion in our classrooms. What does that mean? It means also seeking to understand why the Japanese Empire attacked in the first place. Was it because the US supplied a significant amount of the steel used to build the Japanese Imperial Military in the first place? Was it because Japan, as an island nation, had to expand because they needed resources and land to support their large military and population? Was it because the Japanese concluded that conflict was inevitable and attacking first was the best choice? 

The fact that the Pearl Harbor attacks happened is something that most students know, but rarely do we discuss the Japanese Internment on the west coast. Why did the US government decide that it was constitutional to forcibly relocating Japanese Americans into camps just in case one of them was a spy? Was it because Isoroku Yamamoto studied at Harvard University before leaving and planning the Pearl Harbor attacks some 20 years later? Was Yamamoto the bad guy we portray him as even though he was vocally against the war in the first place?

These are all areas of discussion that students find much more interesting than the nuts and bolts we tend to recycle when we talk about Pearl Harbor.

The most successful way I've discussed Pearl Harbor is showing the similarities to 9/11 and the resulting government actions in retaliation. Drawing parallels to the present day War on Terror also helps make this event that happened over seventy years ago very real to the students of today. Try it out. Most of us are reviewing anyway since STAAR is starting today. It could be worth your while to take 10-15 minutes to talk about a life changing event in United States History.

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It's World AIDS Day and this is a golden opportunity to talk with your students about something that impacts all of our communities.

In Dallas in 2013 there were almost 800 new HIV infections and nearly 16,000 people living with the virus. Of those new infections, nearly 200 were between 13 and 24. That means high school students.

The first time one of my students a story of their cousin dying from AIDS related complications, it was shocking. Recently, my father also told me a story about a childhood friend that died in the 80s when HIV/AIDS were just beginning to be researched and understood. I understand there are some prohibitions in the Texas state laws that prohibit a full and complete discussion of HIV/AIDS and its prevention, but it is still an important discussion. Stick to the facts and you should still have a job by dinner time.

Creative ways I've seen it done?

1. Biology - A few biology teachers took a solution and gave it to every student. Each student would take a drop of their solution and put it in another student's solution. At the end of class they would introduce another substance to everyone's solution and the ones that changed color were considered infected. Using an interactive way to view transmission could have a long lasting impact on the students.

2. Math - Looking at the numbers can be very sobering. You can take the transmission rates and calculate the number of new infections based on certain behaviors in a given population. IV drug users, for example have a higher transmission rate than people that don't inject drugs and practice abstinence.

3. Social Studies - Unpack the history. If you need it, World History TEKS dealing with the spread of infectious disease include but aren't limited to: 1A 1D 1E 6B 28B. I read a few articles over the year that attempt to trace the virus back to the Belgian controlled Congo during the reign of King Leopold II. The relationship between imperialism, industrialization, and the spread of disease is interesting in and of itself, but using this as an opportunity to debunk some of the myths surrounding the virus can also be helpful for your students.

The reality is that there is no cure, it's spread by certain bodily fluids, and it disproportionately impacts men who have sex with men and the black community but exists in all communities. Sometimes there are no symptoms and many people that are infected have no idea. Talking about it is the first step to preventing new infections. You don't have to tell your kids to get tested, and you don't have to tell them to use contraception; however, many of our kids are sexually active and don't know how their bodies work. I known plenty of kids over the years that think holding a baby makes you more fertile or that condoms are reusable. With that kind of nonsense clanging around in their heads, I'd say a little knowledge would go a long way.

Do what you feel comfortable with, but conversations like this are where teachers really can save lives. 

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From us
Dallas Teachers talking about Paris Terrorist Attacks
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Talking about civil rights and social movements in Dallas schools

_I was relieved to see people I know were in Paris mark themselves safe. I was encouraged to see the out pouring of support and solidarity with the French people shown by countless people on facebook and the Army college football team. Whenever tragedies happen, students come to school disturbed. They may not show it or even know themselves, but extreme acts of human violence shake us.

I've spent the better part of a decade following international politics and current events. I've read so many stories, reports, and studies on violence and conflict that nothing really shocks me anymore. I've become accustomed to the brutality that some humans choose to inflict on others. Genocide, war, terrorism, disease, famine. Regardless of which is the hot topic of the news, I've become numb to them.

Though not surprised, I'm still bothered and hurt by these things. The recent attacks on Paris are horrific. They are inexcusable. What my job is now is to help my students make sense of this tragedy, to answer their questions to the best of my ability and point them in the direction of more information.

Examining current events in class can be difficult, particularly when the event is controversial. After you get past the "do I have time" part of the thought process, you get to the "will I lose my job" question. Test season is right around the corner, so you have to decide what amount of time to devote to current events is helpful to your kids. Some will decide that any time away from content is detrimental to their students. I don't fault anyone for making that choice. As for the concern for employment, there's a way to discuss these things while also staying within school and district guidelines. If you stick to the facts you should be OK.

Relevant TEKS - US History 2D and 11A; World History 14 A&B; World Geography 18 B

Religious extremism is part of our social studies curriculum and is something that all religions have to deal with. Islamic extremism has been at the forefront of the discussion in the past 20 years because of ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and others.

The statements released by ISIS include language rooted in a historical conflict that is being used to justify violence against innocent people. Terms like "crusader," "imperialist," and "Zionist" are loaded terms that are being used to characterize the west and the actions of western countries in the Middle East. This can be a good place to start with the discussion.

The history of France in the Middle East is also particularly interesting and can be part of the discussion of the "why" of it all. Why France? Those making historical arguments will talk about French colonization of North Africa (Tunisia, Algeria, and other places) as well as their interventions in Lebanon and Syria in the mid 1800s.

As far as the motivations of terrorism, Islamic extremists manipulate the Quran to justify their actions. Prior to the attack this past week, there have been other instances and violence associated with the Muslim prohibition against images and art depicting Muhammad. About a week prior to the recent attacks, there was another, smaller shooting in relation to that grievance. The concept of Jihad is also employed by these terrorist groups who seek to frame their actions as a defense of the faith.

You can also discuss this in the context of the presidential election and voting behavior of the American public. George W Bush had higher approval ratings after 9/11. Why? Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz got in social media immediately after the attacks and are part of several elected officials that are now calling for the prevention of refugees from Syria entering the United States because of fear of their connection with ISIS. How could that impact their respective bids for both the Republican party nomination and the US presidency? 

Our responsibility as educators is to help our students make sense of a confusing, shocking, scary, and ever changing world. Terrorism is wrong. Attacking defenseless people trying to enjoy their Friday evenings is wrong. Talking about why the attacks happened, the potential impact, and how we prevent something so horrible from ever happening again is a worthwhile use of our time, even if it's just a few minutes. 

Questions My Students Asked:
Does Abu Bakr really have that much control over ISIS?
Why Paris?
What does ISIS want?
How do they have money?
What strategy should we use against them?
How do we stop the fighting?

I didn't have answers to all of the questions and I didn't pretend to, but the discussion itself was worthwhile and the students enjoyed using this opportunity to work with the news and see history as something more than old people in dusty books. History is alive. They felt that today.

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Part of the discussions of movements are the outcomes. They got what they wanted. 

Here's where the hard part starts though. There will be attempts to minimize the gravity of this protest by saying that everything is over because they acheived thieir goal. Their demands were met. In fact, some of the people that were on board will go back to their dorms to play Madden or Fallout 4 and will never resurface to continue the struggle. Why? They weren't involved for the right reasons or didn't fully comprehend what they were angry about. Similarly, the people who subscribe to the "Are we still talking about race, Slavery wasn't my fault. I have a black president, and When are you people going to relax" mantras will treat this as an endpoint, a period, a full stop for the fight for equality.

Talking about outcomes is important, but what we need to be focusing on is an overall shift in mindsets and our relationships with one another. Movements are not about singular victories. They are about a series of social changes that mark progress of a society to a new and transformed place. That means the movement has to continue.

The civil rights movement saw huge legal and structural changes like The Voting Rights Act 1965, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Brown v. Board of Education decision which passed the Warren Court unanimously (9-0) sending a shockwave through the entire country. This is what movements like this budding Neo Civil Rights Movement are and should be fighting for. Body cameras on police: outcome, not endpoint. 

People lose their jobs all the time for saying sideways and objectionable things or failing to stop those who say them.

So I ask the question again, what's next? Students are great for crowd sourcing these kinds of things as the local level when you're talking about the school or their community. This is another great chance to see just how deep your students are and let them be creative. 

As for Mizzou though? They have an Asian Affairs Center, a Black Culture Center, a Center for Dispute Resolution, the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative, and a few others, but none of these seems to be a campus level department dedicated to ensure Mizzou is a place that makes all people not just feel welcome and accepted, but actually be welcome and accepted in their academic and social community. You know, with an actual Dean and stuff.

Obviously this is based on very thin and rushed research, so if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but if it doesn't that's insane. Most colleges in 2015 do. If that's the case, that's no different than people refusing to switch from oil lanterns to light bulbs because they thought this electricity thing would blow over.

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Sometimes you need to just take a day to talk current events.

If you need the TEK for your DOL, World History TEKS 1F, US History TEKS 9, and Texas History 7C will work.

Good on Missouri for coming together as a community to address what they've isolated as a chronic problem in their community. The way this can work in your class is isolating problems the school has or that exist in their communities that need to be fixed. Deciding something worth potentially dying for is a little more difficult.

At first, you'll get the less serious answers like "No more uniforms" and "Better school lunch," but then you'll start to get into the "I'd walk out if the school actually suspended people for too many tardies" or "if a teacher hurt my sister/brother and didn't get in trouble, I'd go on strike" type answers.

I think this is a worthwhile detour from typical content because part of teaching is also helping our kids understand how to advocate for themselves and develop their own core set of principals. You may also get a peek into what they value about your class, their school, and the community as a whole.

We should always be working toward creating more active and aware members of our communities.