I found your blog through VOSD and am really enjoying what I've read. I love your Big Brother experiment and would like to hear more about the discussions that come of it. Incidentally, a friend of mine teaches at a private middle school in Atlanta and he's been doing something similar with his 8th graders as it pertains to teaching them about white privilege (he's having them read a piece I wrote about it and I'm skype-ing with the class this Friday to discuss it). He organized a softball game between classes and without the players knowing, his class agreed to make bad or rigged calls against all the kids who were not wearing shoes, so they could feel the frustration of being oppressed. He wrote to me: "It was crazy. All the kids started complaining and shouting and when we told them what we had done and asked them to consider how it made them feel, we had some powerful conversations. Also, they were really amazed to hear, that black athletes did not have the option to complain."
Anyway, I look forward to reading more of your work. Congrats on the paid gig!
Hi Ashley.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog through VOSD and am really enjoying what I've read. I love your Big Brother experiment and would like to hear more about the discussions that come of it. Incidentally, a friend of mine teaches at a private middle school in Atlanta and he's been doing something similar with his 8th graders as it pertains to teaching them about white privilege (he's having them read a piece I wrote about it and I'm skype-ing with the class this Friday to discuss it). He organized a softball game between classes and without the players knowing, his class agreed to make bad or rigged calls against all the kids who were not wearing shoes, so they could feel the frustration of being oppressed. He wrote to me: "It was crazy. All the kids started complaining and shouting and when we told them what we had done and asked them to consider how it made them feel, we had some powerful conversations. Also, they were really amazed to hear, that black athletes did not have the option to complain."
Anyway, I look forward to reading more of your work. Congrats on the paid gig!