Students Concerns Spark Community Involvement
When students became concerned with gunshots they were hearing in their neighborhood, we were called into action. Leaving this teachable moment as just a classroom discussion left us feeling unsatisfied. As early childhood educators, we were not able to give our students the answers they desired on gun violence. We sought the guidance and wisdom of our community and scheduled a meeting with Mayor Dennis Tyler. Mayor Tyler, Deputy Chief of Police Vollmar, and Detective Scaife met us and heard our concerns. One brave student in particular wrote a powerful letter that he read to the Mayor and class. The community leaders heard our concerns and spoke to the children on ways to keep themselves safe. When we returned back to our class, we decided that we wanted other students to know that they are not alone. One voice, no matter how small, can impact a classroom, community, state, or even world. With that being said, we partnered with the Rethinking Children’s Literature course through Ball State University to write The Shot Heard Around the Town. This story follows our experiences with gun violence and standing up for what you believe. We also partnered with a local publisher who helped turn our dream of publishing this story into a reality. Throughout this process we felt a deepened sense of community and noticed our students taking a stand on many important issues such as bullying and community beautification. Social activism became a daily conversation amongst our kindergarten class. Through our story and the publication of our book, we hope to help others speak out about tough topics and give students culturally relevant and appropriate reading materials.
Challenges or Obstacles:
- Time
- Accessibility to transportation
- Reliving possible traumatic events
Benefits and Successes:
- Deepened sense of community in classroom
- Increased community involvement
- Changed perspectives – Instead of “I can’t” the conversation in our classroom change to “what can I/we do”
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Submitted by: Brittany Cain, Huffer Memorial Children’s Center