What does the government shutdown have to do with a graffiti artist in NYC? First, both arise as teachable moments, an unplanned opportunity to connect social studies, language arts, and the arts to real world current events. Second, resolution of the issues will take the ability to see other perspectives and compromise. Third, they are both “complex situations” with plenty of different perspectives that can teach students to think critically about such questions as:
- How do rules protect individual rights as well as meet the needs of society?
- What are the responsibilities of a good citizen?
- What are the responsibilities of our leaders?
- What are the lessons that can be learned from current events?
- What role does social media or the media, in general, play in our perspective of events?
No time like the present
Many
educators feel they might not have the time to talk about current events, but
with increased expectations for critical thinking, evidence-based persuasive
writing, and literacy skills in all subject areas, hot news stories can hook
your students and encourage them to develop critical thinking around the
issues.
Embrace, deface or erase?
Look
at the issues surrounding the famed (or infamous?) British graffiti artist,
Banksy, who is taking up an “artist’s residency” this month in New York City. Each day in October he is “installing” art in
a New York City neighborhood. The art,
sometimes whimsical (he has painted “the musical” under some other NYC graffiti
so that it read Playground
Mob – the musical) or complex as the painting
of horses at war with night vision goggles, or
beautiful as this
truck transformed into the ultimate diarama. His graffiti/art is drawing crowds and
creating quite a buzz in social media as people strive to discover and share it
before it disappears.
Ask your students
Is this person an artist or a criminal? Should his art be covered up or protected
from other graffiti behind plexiglass?
Should we embrace or erase? Are
the people defacing his art any different? Being outside the law is part of his
popularity, should he be stopped?
There is a
great lesson in the SCAN library that can give your students a head start in their critical thinking. The Graffiti:
Freedom of Expression or Vandalism? Scenario
in the SCAN tool at TregoED.org provides 4 different perspectives, guiding
critical thinking questions and a private discussion area for your class. (The SCAN library holds over 100 other free
scenarios that teachers can use with their classes. For a short video about the tool or how to
set up a lesson go to http://tregoed.org/teachers/new-to-scan.html.)
You
can add these links to your lesson to provide background research to help
students develop their perspective:
Video news clips:
News stories:
Don’t miss
this opportunity to use this event as an opportunity to think critically about
our laws and responsibilities as citizens as well as consider how compromise,
civil discourse and different perspectives all come to play in the resolution
of the problem.
Make another connection
Use
these Best
Resources on Compromise and Best
Resources to help Understand the Federal Government Shutdown compiled by Larry Ferlazzo and posted on his blog “Websites of the Day” to take student thinking one step further. How do those same essential questions apply
to this situation?
NOTE: The SCAN lesson library and discussion tool
is 100% free to educators. This SCAN lesson was inspired by MaryAnne Molishus
elementary class project http://scan-werecriticaltothinking.blogspot.com/2012/02/current-events-prompt-critical-thinking.html.
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