Brave Spaces or Safe Spaces?

1/12/2021

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"I'm incredibly fortunate to work with young people because they are hopeful and accepting and have an enormous capacity for generosity.

The reality for many of my eighth graders is that they are on their own this year.
The level of maturity they've been asked to show in being self-regulated and self-directed is beyond imagining for adults.

The amount of screen time they have each day and the chaotic events they have been exposed to in the last 12 months demand that we, the adults, step up. We need to listen and when kids ask questions we need to be comfortable in the discomfort of not knowing answers.

I once heard that shopping mall Santas are trained to never say "Yes" or "I promise" but to only say "I'll see what I can do,"
We also know that letting children lead the conversation can help us answer just enough to support them but not so much that we overwhelm them.
This week my class dove in to Dr. Martin Luther King's "The Other America" speech because I couldn't answer the many "why" questions I've been asked about current events.
We stepped into 1967. Culture was changing. The Vietnam War was raging - with the weekly death toll on the front page of the newspaper. (A fact which I never considered before this year.)
We focused on King's beautiful visual language:
"The sunlight of opportunity" contrasting with the "clouds of inferiority forming in their little mental skies"

We juxtaposed images of prosperity and poverty in the 1960s. (Thank you Gordon Parks!)

We reflected on the iconic Civil Rights Movement images and the successful legislation passed and asked why Dr. King was unsuccessful when he moved his movement north.

Our second day of analysis focused on Dr. King's message of hope. He was optimistic and hopeful to the end.
I paired excerpts from the speech with two poems by Langston Hughes, one by Emily Dickinson and one by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke. The process of reading, reflecting and questioning the ideas helped me process my own feelings. Students found the activity challenging but hopeful.

Helping students feel safe in tumultuous times is work. It requires careful reflection and planning with attention to detail. Creating a brave space in our classrooms requires us to be brave ourselves. We model bravery by admitting uncertainty but also by offering kids ways to work through uncertainty. Art, poetry, music and all of the humanities can ground us on solid footing and tether us to the past when we feel adrift.

Links to both activities are included below.