How do we talk about issues that matter?
Talking about issues that matter can be tricky in certain situations in a classroom setting. A lot of topics that matter these days can be hard to talk about or controversial, however most issues need to be talked about and addressed in class. We may never know what our students are struggling with unless they reach out to us, and not every student wants their problems to be known. Looking back on my school experience whenever my teachers would try to talk about issues that matter it would be very uncomfortable or boring. Some of my teachers would either put on a long video for us to watch which no one would pay attention to, or she would ask us to raise our hand to discuss it in front of the class. Both of those tactics never get anyone anywhere. Instead, in my future classroom I might show a short engaging video briefly discussing the topic then having each student write their opinion, question, or experience on a piece of paper that I can anonymously read out loud ...