I teach a subject called Global Perspectives to a collection of 7th and 8th graders. The course is designed by Cambridge University as part of their AICE program.
This year I am teaching the second middle school level, and have been a bit frustrated getting started. The first topic we were to dig into was "Changing Communities." The suggestions for how to approach the project (called "challenge" in AICE lingo) confounded me. I could not figure out how to make it relevant to my 12 and 13-year-olds. I didn't even know what change there was to research. Every time I tried to figure it out, I fell into a deep hole of despair -- basically, getting nowhere.
Then Hurricane Ian happened. Talk about changing communities!
Honestly, I didn't need something this extreme to hit me upside the head. But it has given much more meaning to the challenge before us.
We got a start Friday. I had the learners form small groups and start brainstorming all the changes they have already witnessed. I am piecing together where we will go from here. But for right now I found myself feeling like I can actually make something of this. And that is huge!
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