I brought back current events this year for a couple reasons.
1. Students struggle on state test questions that connect history to today. 
2. My experiences in Greece and Peru helped reignite my passion for global citizenship.

Igniting STUDENT excitement for current events, however, has been a struggle. My original goals were ambitious. Two days a month students would read an article in class and summarize. Then at the end of the semester, their best work would be added to a Global Mindset Portfolio. Unfortunately over 30% of students struggled to complete the first article summary. I adjusted the second article summary by curating light-hearted positive news with little improvement. For round three I addressed a gap in our curriculum. Wisconsin law requires that students learn about the native peoples of Wisconsin but I'll be the first to admit we do not do a thorough job with this content. 
Then I discovered Skawennati's TED talk. She is a First Nation's artist from Canada who uses new media to create space in her audience's minds to picture indigenous people in the future. One of her art projects is a digital paper doll who shares journal entries about events throughout history from 1400 to 2400. 

​Inspired by her vision, I found Newsela articles on a variety of topics that connected indigenous people solving problems today to the UN Sustainable Development Goals we are focusing on throughout the year. I streamlined the article summary to the bare minimum and asked students to create their own paper dolls and journal entries about their events.
At first a few groups struggled with the concept of regular people doing normal activities but through discussion I helped them understand that this was the exact point we were trying to understand.
Change agents are regular people who think of creative ways to improve their communities.
Furthermore, First Nations people are not just a part of history, they are part of our present and future.

The amount of nuance and balance required to engage middle schoolers so they learn and achieve is sometimes astonishing. Sometimes it's just a little thing that makes a difference. Today was our second day studying an overview of indigenous history in the United States. The subject is heavy and intense because we examine the ten stages of genocide and ask questions about the Mankato Massacre of 1862. 
I always strive to balance tragedy with triumph with my middle school students. I found a fantastic TED talk by visual artist Skawennati Imagining Indians in the 25th Century. She uses new media to make space in the viewer's imagination where often historic images of indigenous people take up space for modern and future Native Americans. Students are reading articles about ways that indigenous peoples are offering solutions to the worlds' problems as we continue to develop our global citizenship. 
It wasn't until my third hour class that I figured out that this photo could build a bridge between the challenging material of genocide and the uplift of resilient Native Americans. I told my students about my experience at Dachau. I felt overwhelmed with the weight of sadness and grief so I walked to the edge of the compound and visited the chapels and memorials there. This image is always in my mind when I have to face when sadness feels deep and darkness feels to great to bear. The light is there if we choose to see it or as Amanda Gorman said, "if we are brave enough to see it."