I had the joy of teaching how slaves passively rebelled against their owners. How did they do it? They purposefully lost or broke tools, worked slowly, pretended to be sick, and other annoying ways. I thought, "Man, that sounds like what my 6th graders do!!"
I thought about how my students complained they didn't have pencils, but one magically appears when I offer a golf pencil to them, how they say they need to go to the nurse all the time, and how they take FOREVER to copy anything. They sounded just like the slaves we were studying about.
I drew up a couple of graphic organizers on the board, and we studied how the slaves rebelled. I then pretended to have an insight, and I began comparing how the students are so much like slaves: we tell them when to start working and when to stop, we tell them when they can speak and when they can't, they are forced to come to school and have no choice, they are punished if they do not do what we say. You should have heard them getting worked up! I turned the tables on them, at that point.
I pointed out how the slaves rebelling against forced work hurt the owners, and they eventually got what they wanted- Freedom!
I then pointed out how students rebelling against their own education hurts only themselves, and they will get what they fight for in the end- Ignorance!
You should have heard their silence. After a few seconds, one good-natured, trouble-making boy said, "Mr. Carroll, you're making me think things that I don't want to think. I don't like this lesson!" Needless to say, some students actually took this to heart and changed their classroom behavior, including the good-natured, trouble-making boy.
I teach for moments like that.
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