“I hate Jews.” That was the sentence, uttered coldly and dripping with vile undertones, from the mouth of a sixth-grader that nearly caused me to let a very powerful teachable moment slip through my fingers. Almost.
I had coffee with a colleague recently and we discussed plans for lessons on Sept. 11. Robin outlined her discussion and writing plan based on George Orwell’s 1984—specifically on the “Two Minutes’ Hate” he describes.
A shooting at a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, synagogue has left 11 people dead. Although we’ve witnessed hate-fueled moments many times before, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about them when they occur. If we don’t, it means we’ve normalized them.
Nearly a week after the election, school leaders around the country are confronting increasingly volatile school environments. Teaching Tolerance Director Maureen Costello offers several suggestions for how to keep schools safe.