Here’s the website to the STORY OF STUFF collection, http://www.storyofstuff.org/ and be sure to check these out for classroom discussion and use! For ELL teachers, there is a video also online in Spanish!

Artist Michael Nye has an exhibit wherein individuals share their stories and experience of  hunger.THe power of each one’s voice , face and story is intense in nature. This is a study for older students, though I know many elementary school children where I currently teach come to school hungry and could tell their own truths about it.There are a number of possibilities here for students and teachers. Most important, to read and experience what you can here. Students can click on the photos and hear exerpts from the indviduals Mr. Nye has documented here.The power of their resilience is the focus of the exhibit in addition to sharing their truths.As Americans Who Tell the Truth seeks to do, this exhibit shares the strength of human beings when courageous enough to face , tell and ultimately, overcome the “truths” of their lives and of others.http://www.michaelnye.org/hunger/abouthunger.html In Michael Nye’s exhibition About Hunger & Resilience, so much comes to light. The fifty portraits and audio stories reveal the courage and fragility of those individuals who have experienced hunger. In simple, eloquent detail, these voices and images draw you closer into their lives.For the past 4 ½ years, Michael has been listening and asking questions about hunger. Why does it happen? What can we learn from them?Stories have a way of illuminating issues with an elemental and engaging power. These diverse audio narratives take us underneath complicated issues where empathy and understanding begin. Photos from the exhibit:

Why would we post about this death now other than the obvious contribution Secretary Udall made to conservation of land?I believe every student and teacher can benefit from hearing these words later in his life about lawmaking and the history of collaboration and efforts made to save these lands.Students today will have heard so much now about partisan politics that is hatred filled and even criminal at times now.It will be ever more important for them to hear voices of how those in governance and the PEOPLE worked together to ensure preservation of these places in our country but to know in a broader way that there ARE ways we can work together in this country to ensure what’s best for everyone and for the future. Why is it so difficult to do that now?Have students discuss and research these questions!Here’s the link to the interview!http://www.bobedwardsradio.com/blog/2010/3/26/stewart-udall-1920-2010-a-true-friend-of-the-earth.html 

This might provide an eye opening experience of Middle Eastern women for your students as well as serve to further inform them about the culture the women are pushing back on! COURAGE! Students might also find that the poem holds truths for them here as well.Truth teller Edward Said wrote quite a bit about the relationships in Israel and Palestine. Students might want to pursue further the look at faith and politics and its role in all these settings and in women’s lives.Article posted by John Lundberg:Every Wednesday night, Hissa Hilal steps on to the stage of the popular Abu Dhabi television show The Million’s Poet. As is required of Saudi women appearing in public, she is covered from head to toe in a traditional abaya. Facing an audience carefully segregated by gender, she recites poetry that brazenly calls out for women’s rights and the end of Islamic extremism.A housewife and mother of four from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Hilal has become a sensation and a polarizing figure in the Arab world. One might think that, given her controversial subject matter, she would be thankful for the abaya’s anonymity. But she told the BBC that she (and her poetry) would be just as bold without it: “I am hoping my daughters won’t have to cover their faces and they’ll live a better life.”Hilal’s poetry has, not surprisingly, led to death threats by Islamic extremists. She is admittedly worried for her children, but as for herself, she says simply, “I am not afraid.” And the Arab world’s response has primarily been supportive. “Most of the people loved what I said, from their hearts,” she continued, “They think I am very brave to say so, and that I said what they feel in their hearts.”That feeling has shown up in the votes. Hilal has already gone farther in The Million’s Poetcompetition than any woman before her, and she received the highest overall score in last week’s semifinals, pushing her through to this Wednesday’s final (and its $1.3 Million prize for the winner). She was loudly applauded, and one of the judges praised her as “a courageous poet.”My poetry has always been provocative,” she told The Associated Press. “It’s a way to express myself and give voice to Arab women, silenced by those who have hijacked our culture and our religion.” She has said that she “always dreamed” of a day when she could talk to the people directly.A taste of that straight talk is below. It’s an excerpt from Hilal’s semifinal poem, translated by the Abu Dhabi newspaper The National, in which she decries the actions of conservative clerics in the Muslim world.I have seen evil from the eyesof the subversive fatwasin a time when what is lawfulis confused with what is not lawful; When I unveil the truth,a monster appears from his hiding place;barbaric in thinking and action,angry and blind;wearing death as a dressand covering it with a beltHe speaks from an official,powerful platform,terrorizing peopleand preying on everyone seeking peace;the voice of courage ran awayand the truth is cornered and silent,when self-interest prevented onefrom speaking the truth.How is Hilal able to get away with being so critical? In an interview with the New York Times, Lina Khatib, an Arab media expert at Stanford University, explained: “The show is at the heart of cultural conversations in the Arab world. Because it’s poetry, one of the most respected forms of expression in the Arab world, you can push the boundaries much further than you might with popular music.”Hilal aims to do more than push boundaries–she aims to break them down. “My message to those who hear me is love, compassion and peace,” she has said. “We all have to share a small planet and we need to learn how to live together.”

An excellent documentary that details the state of politics in our country. Many students included in this study and worthy of our attention and ways to bring it to the classroom ! We will be posting more on this important examination of our country’s journey!http://whatsthematterwithkansas.com/ Interview with the author and film maker :http://www.pri.org/bob-edwards-weekend.html Check the archive for 27 March air date. 

Article : Why Race Has Everything to Do with Who and How I Teach- powerful look at this issue from an educator’s view. The entire Yes! issue is devoted to a look at race relations in our country over time.http://www.yesmagazine.org/for-teachers/teacher-stories/why-race-has-everything-to-do-with-who-and-how-i-teach?utm_source=edmar10&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6_Ystory1

In much of our country, we are awakening to spring again. A good time of year to reflect on our own individual relationship to the earth. In one of the Americans Who Tell the Truth curriculum pieces, students are asked to write a journal or essay selection about their relationship to the earth. For many students , this is a new idea and some have NO connection to the earth other than seeing trees in their neighborhoods and grass if they are lucky. For others , they still enjoy the luxury of time spent outdoors and have favorite spots to hide, retreat and enjoy in the wild. There are also selections in the curriculum from the book , “Last Child in the Woods,” an excellent resource for parents and teachers. Richard Louv summarizes his book at this link: http://www.eenorthcarolina.org/certification/summary_last_child_woods.pdf.The annual Earth Hour is 27 March this year. Earth Hour is a coordinated effort to “turn out the lights.” The website is a great one for students to explore so if you have the time or can assign for homework or extra credit, it’s worth the visit. This would be a great writing or oral report piece for students to share after participating!Make a list ahead of time with students about how they plan to spend the hour! Or see how long they can go beyond an hour!!https://www.myearthhour.org/home Have students research some of the truth tellers whose life’s work has been improving relationship to the earth.One in particular that they might not have heard of is JoAnna Macy.I like her story for students because it is focused on activity and optimism which , in particular, young children MUST have. Stories of gloom and doom about the plight of the planet only serve to depress and disempower children. Older students can handle this and manage it in a much more appropriate way but even they need direction to activism in their personal lives and hope.Here’s her portrait quote, a good one for a quick writing prompt or class discussion:“The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world—we’ve actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other.” 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-hindery-jr/eleanor-roosevelt-tours-c_b_509605.html Truth teller Eleanor Roosevelt went down into the mines to see for herself what the lives of miners meant and at what expense work was being done there.What do your students know and understand about coal, its use, mining and current practices?After reading the article and comparing the times and needs, what are their thoughts?If you do not have time to read the entire article with your students, here’s an exerpt from Eleanor Roosevelt ’s writing after her visit to the mines that is quite poignant and bears consideration by all students.”Somehow or other, most of the people who spoke to me, or wrote to me about it, seemed to feel that it was unbecoming in a woman to have a variety of interests. Perhaps that arose from the old inherent theory that woman’s interests must lie only in her home. This is a kind of blindness which seems to make people feel that interest in the home stops within the four walls of the house in which you live. Few seem capable of realizing that the real reason that home is important is that it is so closely tied, by a million strings, to the rest of the world. It is man’s ceaseless urge to know more and to do more which makes the world move, and so, when people say woman’s place is in the home, I say that caring will take her far and wide.” Eleanor Roosevelt

 Truth teller Dr. King’ How Long, Not Long” speech commemorated today. The words speak for themselves. I would just let students listen and take these words in today.

This is a conversation for students and I have posted it here before. Parents, students, teachers… this is a trend that cannot and should not be ignored. We have fought too long and hard to make the truth an acceptable topic in our history, civics and social studies classes. This is no time to accept these backward steps from those who would rather things not progress. Anyone who says otherwise is in denial that the truth is what heals and offers hope. Denying what’s gone before only serves to allowdisease to become embedded. Any medical practicioner can tell you that. I urge all educators and parents to wake up to this trend!While everyone is busy pointing fingers about whose to blame for failing schools, this is what’s happening!WAKE UP!http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/12/texas-education-board-app_n_497440.html***UPDATE*** Think Progress flags some of the more eye-opening revisions the Texas Board of Education approved for its social studies curriculum and textbooks:

- The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.”- The Board refused to require that “students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others.”

The Texas Freedom Network live-blogged the debate over the changes. Read more here.—April Castro, ASSOCIATED PRESSAUSTIN, Texas — A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade.Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation’s Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a “constitutional republic,” rather than “democratic,” and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.Story continues below sm versus liberalism,” said Democrat Mavis Knight of Dallas, explaining her vote against the standards. “We have manipulated strands to insert what we want it to be in the document, regardless as to whether or not it’s appropriate.”Following three days of impassioned and acrimonious debate, the board gave preliminary approval to the new standards with a 10-5 party line vote. A final vote is expected in May, after a public comment period that could produce additional amendments and arguments.Decisions by the board – made up of lawyers, a dentist and a weekly newspaper publisher among others – can affect textbook content nationwide because Texas is one of publishers’ biggest clients.Ultraconservatives wielded their power over hundreds of subjects this week, introducing and rejecting amendments on everything from the civil rights movement to global politics. Hostilities flared and prompted a walkout Thursday by one of the board’s most prominent Democrats, Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi, who accused her colleagues of “whitewashing” curriculum standards.By late Thursday night, three other Democrats seemed to sense their futility and left, leaving Republicans to easily push through amendments heralding “American exceptionalism” and the U.S. free enterprise system, suggesting it thrives best absent excessive government intervention.”Some board members themselves acknowledged this morning that the process for revising curriculum standards in Texas is seriously broken, with politics and personal agendas dominating just about every decision,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which advocates for religious freedom.Republican Terri Leo, a member of the powerful Christian conservative voting bloc, called the standards “world class” and “exceptional.”Board members argued about the classification of historic periods (still B.C. and A.D., rather than B.C.E. and C.E.); whether students should be required to explain the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its impact on global politics (they will); and whether former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir should be required learning (she will).In addition to learning the Bill of Rights, the board specified a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class.Conservatives beat back multiple attempts to include hip-hop as an example of a significant cultural movement.Numerous attempts to add the names or references to important Hispanics throughout history also were denied, inducing one amendment that would specify that Tejanos died at the Alamo alongside Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Another amendment deleted a requirement that sociology students “explain how institutional racism is evident in American society.”Democrats did score a victory by deleting a portion of an amendment by Republican Don McLeroy suggesting that the civil rights movement led to “unrealistic expectations for equal outcomes.”Fort Worth Republican Pat Hardy, a longtime teacher, voted for the new standards, but said she wished the board could work with a more cooperative spirit.”What we’ve done is we’ve taken a document that by nature is too long to begin with and then we’ve lengthened it some more,” Hardy said, shortly after the vote. “Those long lists of names that we’ve put in there … it’s just too long.”I just think we failed to keep that in mind, it’s hard for teachers to get through it all.”