Loved Socratic Seminar w/ 3rd graders on “I, Too” by Langston Hughes. A summary: we start w/ the question we ended w/ last week, “Can *we* change the world?” Ss 1st responses, “We can change how it looks.” “But that doesn’t change what it is, on the inside, it stays the same.” 1/
Ss read “I, Too” and type q’s in the chat. “Why eat in the kitchen?” “Who is he laughing with?” “What does Langston mean when he says ‘I, too, sing America?’” “Who is Langston Hughes?” and more 2/
Opening q: Who is Langston Hughes? We read the back cover of his poetry to discover he brought a “renaissance” to black writers, focusing on, among others, “invisible men and women.” 3/
Does he really mean ‘invisible people?’I ask. Ss, “No, people who are ignored.” “Black people didn’t used to be seen as people by white people, so they were invisible.” [Editor’s note - these are THIRD graders.] 4/
Q2: Why eat in the kitchen? Ss: “Because black people and white people couldn’t be the same.” “Because they didn’t want to see him.” “They wanted him to be invisible.” How would that make you feel? I ask. All big feelings named: angry, frustrated, left out, etc. 5/
Q3: If we agree that it feels ugly to be treated as such, why does he say he laughs, eats well, grows strong? “Maybe he’s imagining revenge.” “Maybe he’s thinking of the past & decides it could be so much worse.” “Maybe he’s thinking of the change coming & it makes him happy.” 6/
Q4: So he thinks change is coming? Ss: unanimous “yes.” Q4b: how does he know? “B/c there was change before and he knows that, so he knows it will happen again.” [ed note: worth sharing the S who identified he used patterns to predict change is the Math resource teacher’s kid] 7/
Discussion re historical patterns evolves into Q5: So based on what we just said, do you think more change is coming for us now? “Yes, we’re in the middle of the coronavirus and it’s going to end.” 8/
Q6: Can we impact the change coming? Talk gets complicated as stories of people ignoring social distancing are shared, Ss show concern. Then a breakthrough, “but all we have to do is convince one person, & they’ll convince someone else, and they’ll convince someone else...” 9/
Q7: So, can *we* change the world? “Yes.”
But it won’t always be easy.
10/
But it won’t always be easy.
10/
In appreciation to Langston Hughes, whose poetry elicits more wisdom than he could ever know. And to my amazing students, who are the future and who will change the world. ♥️ /11
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