Get Political!

For "Get Political," I have been involved with reading the Teaching Tolerance newsletter this semester. I had never heard of this program before this year, but have been very impressed with how helpful and easy to use this program is for teaching. I really like the way Teaching Tolerance takes a stand on inequality and tolerance issues and also provides a solution for teachers. There are so many political resources out there that just simply state their position. Many programs just say tolerance is bad and this is why... but Teaching Tolerance really offers teachers tools to help combat these issues not just recognize that they exist.

One of the articles I found particularly interesting was on the "Mix It Up Day." This year "Mix It Up Day" was on November 14th. This day is meant to encourage children to leave their comfort zones! Some of things I read that schools do for this day are as simple as having students sit somewhere else during lunch. Other schools have an entire day devoted to games, activities, and speakers. I was so impressed with "Mix It Up Day." I also appreciated the "for teachers" section following this article; it gave tips and strategies for having a "Mix It Up Day" at your school.

I also found the articles from Teaching Tolerance about Thanksgiving really interesting. One thing I noticed was that they offer a social studies program called “The history of intolerance in America." Sometimes it is tough to teach children about the rough patches in our history, I was impressed that Teaching Tolerance offers a suggestion to help. I plan on being subscribed to Teaching Tolerance when I have my own classroom.