Though we did not get as far as we could have in today's reading of Speak, we did have a powerful conversation about race, religion, and culture. Our conversation was spurred by some comments made by "Mr. Neck", Melinda's social studies teacher. He started a debate over immigration, and ending that debate when he didn't like the responses students gave him. David Petrakis, Melinda's lab partner in the book, stands up for his and others' First Amendment rights and leaves class without speaking a word.
No one left class today, so I think that our conversation was much more successful than Mr. Neck's. You all had insights and questions into issues of race and culture. Some of you have felt like you were stereotyped or categorized in some way that did not fit. Others of you know people who've been victims of hate crimes. These conversations will be ongoing through out the year. All of the texts we read and discuss will have room to talk about stereotyping and culture. Keep thinking and contributing to class discussions. We did manage to read some of Speak today, and we'll pick up on page sixty-one next class.
We attempted to start our vocabulary project in today's class, but we had very little time before the bell rang. You were all assigned one of our prefixes and will follow the steps listed in this blog post's picture with your partner next class.
Thank you all for a thought-filled discussion in today's class. I don't mind beging behind schedule as long as we're using discussion as a tool for deeper understanding.
