What do you think this image is saying? How does it relate to or comment on society or our world today? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn what this illustration is all about.
Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan.
Every day of the school year, The Learning Network publishes a Picture Prompt, an accessible, image-driven prompt that invites a variety of kinds of writing. In this Reader Idea, Meghan Mardus, an elementary music teacher at St. George’s School in Cologne, Germany, uses these prompts to inspire a different kind of activity — musical storytelling.
Do you teach with The Times? Tell us about it here, or browse our full collection of Reader Ideas.
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As a teacher, I collect further qualifications the way other people collect artwork — thoughtfully, and with appreciation for how each one enriches my perspective. I am qualified to teach in all age divisions; I have been a class teacher, a French teacher and a special-education teacher, and I’ve loved them all. However, I have found my ultimate teaching “happy place” in my current position as an elementary music teacher.
Each of my teaching assignments has informed the next, resulting organically over the years in a very cross-curricular teaching philosophy. Music lends itself incredibly well to cross-curricular connections: Breathing exercises teach anatomy; counting beats is number sense; determining note values is working with fractions; moving to music is dance; the history of music is the history of a culture. Music is patterns. Music is language. Music is current events. Music is poetry. Give me a subject and I’ll show you how it connects to music.
Which leads me to the activity I designed for my second- and third-graders at the British international school where I teach in Cologne, Germany: Telling stories with music.
For the past month, they had been learning to play a variety of percussion instruments in their weekly lessons. Now, it was time for them to work together to create something all their own. I wanted to step back and let them explore.
Of course, they needed a framework for this creativity, so I decided to incorporate an element of the literacy curriculum: storytelling. (Add that to the list — music is storytelling!)
For this project, I invited them, in small groups, to a write three-sentence story accompanied by music. They wrote the stories, chose the instruments and incorporated the musical elements they had learned.
Borrowing a common technique from literacy lessons, I decided to give the children prompts to help get their ideas flowing. So, I turned to the Learning Network’s Picture Prompts, a series of short, image-driven prompts that invite a variety of kinds of writing. In this column, I found a huge collection of high-quality photographs, illustrations, graphics and GIFs. They were varied in style and content, and because they had originally accompanied news articles, they naturally lent themselves to storytelling.
I selected six Picture Prompts for the children to pick from: Icebergs, Inspiration From an Illustration, Weddings, Gymnastics on Horseback, Kindergarten in a Stadium and Household Chores.
The images I selected were colorful and open-ended enough to inspire creativity. I also chose images that I thought would resonate with 7- to 9-year-olds — pictures that would spark excitement, wonder, laughter or an otherwise heartfelt reaction. For example, I included the Weddings photo because it included an element of cross-cultural love and acceptance; it gave us the chance to briefly discuss Hinduism and Judaism and hear from pupils who practice those religions. Household Chores provided a personal connection for the children, who undoubtedly have their own experience with, and opinions about, chores. Of course, there were dozens more that would have worked.
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After a brief yoga warm-up — my lessons always begin with a bit of yoga to help us “get into” our bodies and focus our minds — I explained that the children would be writing a short story today … a very short story. So short, in fact, that it would have only three sentences: one for the beginning, one for the middle and one for the end. They were amazed at the thought!
We started by looking at the six Picture Prompts together and chatting about what we saw. I explained that these images would inspire their stories. Some children had questions about what was happening in the pictures — isn’t it dangerous to do gymnastics on a horse? Is there really a kindergarten inside the F.C. St. Pauli soccer club’s stadium? — which all served to plant seeds of ideas for stories.
Next, I gave them the work sheet I had designed to guide them through the activity and we talked through the steps. The work sheet included a space to write their three sentences, along with spaces for notating who would do what at each point of the story.
I didn’t prescribe how they should notate their plan. Some chose to write brief descriptions; others used rhythmic notation or other symbols they had invented. The work sheet included a list of our classroom instruments, which are mostly Orff instruments like small drums, xylophones, tambourines and triangles.
I also included a list of musical elements — tempo, dynamics and rhythmic notes. They could choose to incorporate these if they were stuck for ideas, or if they wanted to enrich their music. My goal with the work sheet was to remind the students of all the materials and prior knowledge at their disposal, so they could create the best musical stories possible.
Then, I sorted the students into groups, and they got to work.
First, they had to brainstorm ideas. They asked each other: Who is in the picture? What are they doing? What happened before or after this photo was taken? What would our five senses be experiencing if we were there? What exciting event can be the climax of our story?
Once they had the premise for their story, they had to write one sentence in each box on the work sheet. As I roamed around the room, listening in on conversations, I reminded them that their first sentence should tell us the character’s name, and that something exciting should happen in the middle or ending sentence. When you’ve got only three sentences to work with, your writing has to be focused.
Once their sentences were written and I had given them the go-ahead, they reached their favorite part: choosing instruments to accompany the story. I rarely let them independently dig through our instrument trolley and try out the various instruments, which is why they loved this so much! The rule was, they had to make sure the sounds were purposeful and would add to the story. In one group, the tambour drum was the sound of the soccer fans applauding; for another group, the triangle was the sound of the mysterious iceberg floating toward the town. (Spoiler alert: The iceberg had aliens hiding inside it!)
If the children were stuck for ideas or had finished early, I encouraged them to add some elements of music to their plan, to make their performance even better. Several groups chose points at which they would play loudly or softly. The soccer kindergarten group chose to speed up the beat as the child in their story ran down the field with the ball.
An important aspect of the project was writing down their musical plan in the space beside each sentence. The goal was not to simply improvise, but to create something and rehearse it. Who would read each sentence? Who would play which instrument and when? In the final five minutes of rehearsal, I gave them my usual reminder: Know how you begin and how you end. Even if a performance falls apart in the middle, having a clear ending in mind helps the performers be successful and helps the audience know when to applaud.
Any teacher, in any subject, needs to monitor groups as they work; this is all the more important in a lesson like this, where the sounds of rehearsing can quickly grow into an unbearable cacophony. To avoid the whole class getting a headache, I requested that they not practice at full volume, and to make sure that the sounds they made on their instruments were intentional and purposeful.
Quietly wandering through the classroom was also important during the planning phase. Some groups encountered difficulty compromising as they wrote their story; others didn’t know how to begin in the first place. A couple of effective guiding questions got them back on track and using their time productively.
Performances were the highlight of the entire experience. I taught this lesson to six classes in second and third grade, and from six Picture Prompts burst forth about 25 distinct and entertaining musical stories. Aliens invaded a small seaside town; a toddler scored the winning goal; a magical broom did all the chores; a nervous equestrian gymnast won the gold medal. Most importantly, over 100 children had fun exploring and creating music that told a story.
This activity ticked a lot of boxes for me and for the children. The children liked it because it let them explore the instruments on their own terms. I liked it because it allowed me to step back and watch them work and learn, integrating and applying concepts from music and literacy. Developing their collaboration and self-assessment skills as they prepared to present, the children were actively engaged with their learning.
Does your school have a student newspaper? If so, do you read it or write for it? What purpose do you think it serves in your school? If not, do you wish your school had one? Why or why not?
Do students have free rein to write what they want in your school newspaper? Should they?
Recently, student journalists found themselves at odds with their school district after writing an article about an 18-year-old student who makes her own pornographic videos. The Times reports:
The Bear Creek High School newspaper has profiled notable students — athletes, budding entrepreneurs, academic whizzes — without incident for decades.
But an article that appeared Friday in The Bruin Voice caused an uproar over free speech, feminism and student journalism, all before it was even published.
The 18-year-old subject is a senior at the school in Stockton, Calif., one of more than 2,100 students.
She also makes her own pornographic videos.
The story about the story follows a pattern similar to other clashes between student journalists and school boards. The Lodi Unified School District, after learning about the planned profile, demanded last month that it be turned over for review before appearing online and in print. The attempted oversight drew far more attention than the article probably would have.
The district said the piece might violate a state rule that it said prevented publications at public schools from featuring “obscenity, defamation and incitement,” and it threatened to fire Katherine Duffel, the paper’s longtime faculty adviser.
In articles, columns, television programs and social media posts, the standoff over an unpublished story became either a symbol of censorship and women’s rights, or the loss of traditional values and a school district’s responsibility to protect young students from harmful content.
In a July 1, 2018 article “Hard News. Angry Administration. Teenage Journalists Know What It’s Like,” Jaclyn Peiser writes about more conflicts like the one at Bear Creek High School:
High schools across the country have pushed back this year against student journalists who have reported on sensitive subjects, like the reaction to school shootings and adolescent sexuality.
In Orange County, Calif., a principal condemned a school publication for a special issue that focused on teenage relationships, calling it “disrespectful and sensationalistic.”
In a town roughly 20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, the administration deactivated a school’s news website after student journalists posted an investigative article examining the mysterious dismissal of a history teacher.
And in a suburb of Dallas, a principal forbade the publication of an opinion piece critical of the administration for scheduling events during the National School Walkout protest.
Since 1988, when the Supreme Court ruled that a Missouri school district had acted lawfully in removing a two-page spread on divorce and teenage pregnancy from a student newspaper, administrators have been able to censor work in school publications that they consider poorly written or “inconsistent with the shared values of a civilized social order.” Fourteen states have laws in place meant to safeguard school publications from interference.
The killing of the opinion piece on the National School Walkout protest was the third instance of conflict between John Burdett, the principal of Prosper High School in Prosper, Tex., and the school’s news publication, Eagle Nation Online. The first skirmish concerned an article about the cancellation of “movie day,” a school tradition allowing the class that had raised the most money for a cancer charity to see a movie during school hours. Mr. Burdett disputed the article’s take on the cancellation and ordered the faculty adviser, Lori Oglesbee-Petter, to scrub it from the site.
The article goes on to detail several more incidents:
In Herriman, Utah, an enterprising school publication ran into trouble after digging into a subject that administrators at Herriman High School had tried to keep secret: the reason for the dismissal of a popular history teacher.
Conor Spahr, 18, spent more than a month looking into why the teacher had stopped showing up for his classes last fall. After reviewing public records and interviewing students and teachers, Mr. Spahr reported in The Herriman Telegraph that the teacher “was sending highly inappropriate messages to a female student,” according to an unnamed person described in the article as a “source.” The morning after the article went live, it was gone.
“At first I thought it was a glitch or something,” Mr. Spahr said. “But once we saw the entire website was down, we knew something was happening.”
Mr. Spahr and Max Gordon, The Telegraph’s 18-year-old former editor in chief, created a new website — The Herriman Telegram — and republished the article. In January, news outlets in Utah reported that the teacher was under police investigation on allegations that he had sent inappropriate text messages to a minor.
In a statement, the Jordan School District, which includes Herriman High School, said it “encourages thought-provoking, informative and accurate reporting of all stories in our school newspapers.”
It isn’t only investigative reporting or stories on protests that have pitted student journalists against educators in recent months. Editors and reporters at San Juan Hills High School in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., caused a furor in March with a special issue of The Express called “Relationships & Sex.”
“We had five anonymous stories featuring personal experiences of students from diverse backgrounds and diverse relationships and sexual experiences,” said Olivia Fu, 18, formerly a co-editor in chief of The Express. “They opened up about what it was like for them in relationships in high school.”
In “Long-Term,” a girl describes ending up in an “emotionally abusive” relationship with a boy. In “Waiting Until Marriage,” a heterosexual couple explains why they have decided to abstain from sex. In “Gay,” a male student tells of ending up at a motel room for a sexual encounter with two partners. “Pregnancy Scare” goes into the fears of a sexually active female student, and “Bisexual” presents a male student who says, “I used to hate myself for my sexuality.” The stories were written by Express staff members, who gave aliases to the students they interviewed.
In an email to parents, the school’s principal, Jennifer Smalley, apologized for the “shock and dismay you felt when you opened up the paper.” The publication’s faculty adviser, Bill Kaiser, was put on paid leave. Out of concern for him, the students briefly took down the articles.
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
— What is your reaction to the conflicts between student journalists and school administrators that you read about? Which of these instances of censorship, if any, were justified and why?
— Since the 1988 Hazelwood Sch. Dist. v. Kuhlmeier decision, administrators have been able to censor work in school publications that they consider poorly written or “inconsistent with the shared values of a civilized social order.” Do you think this ruling is fair? Should schools be allowed to censor student newspapers to protect students or the school’s reputation? Or should student journalists have free rein to write about whatever they want?
— In your opinion, are there any topics that should be off limits in school newspapers? If so, which ones and why? If not, why not? For example, should these publications be allowed to criticize the school administration, investigate teachers or write about sensitive subjects like teenage sexuality and school shootings? Why or why not?
— Has your school ever faced a similar crisis in which students were prevented by school administrators from saying or writing something? In your opinion, was this move necessary to protect students? Or did it cross the line into stifling free speech?
— Britt Masback of Portland, Ore., one of the winners of our 2018 Summer Reading Contest, wrote about the July article:
Journalism is most effective when it informs and challenges its readers and expresses divergent opinions. I would argue that this is even more important among teens, who are in the throes of exploring issues and developing values. Today’s student newspapers offer a much-needed alternative to the adult-centric media, giving teens the opportunity to cover topics relevant to them. In 2018, no issue has provoked more youth expression (and youth activism) than the tragic shootings on school campuses. School papers have provided a needed outlet for the expression of student angst about shootings.
Do you agree that student newspapers “offer a much-needed alternative to the adult-centric media, giving teens the opportunity to cover topics relevant to them”? In your opinion, how important is it for teenagers to have a place to read and write about the issues that matter to them? Where do you go to express yourself or hear from people your age? How would you feel if you knew that space was controlled by adults?
Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
How are parenting responsibilities divided in your home?
Who makes sure the children get up in the morning and are dressed for school? Which parent does the cooking? The cleaning? The lawn mowing? Vacation planning? Who helps with homework and school applications?
Is there equality in your home? Or is there still an unequal division of labor?
In “What ‘Good’ Dads Get Away With,” Darcy Lockman writes:
When my husband and I became parents a decade ago, we were not prepared for the ways in which sexism was about to express itself in our relationship. Like me, he was enthralled by our daughters. Like him, I worked outside the home. And yet I was the one who found myself in charge of managing the details of our children’s lives.
Too often I’d spend frantic days looking for spring break child care only to hear him ask, “Oh, there’s no school tomorrow?” Or we’d arrive home late with two tired kids, and instead of spearheading their nighttime routine he’d disappear to brush his own teeth. Unless I pointed out these lapses (which he’ll tell you I often did, and I’ll tell you I often did not), he was unaware.
We’ve all heard this story before. Thinking about my own relationship, and watching the other couples I knew, I kept wondering: Why is this still happening?
The optimistic tale of the modern, involved dad has been greatly exaggerated. The amount of child care men performed rose throughout the 1980s and ’90s, but then began to level off without ever reaching parity. Mothers still shoulder 65 percent of child-care work. In academic journals, family researchers caution that the “culture of fatherhood” has changed more than fathers’ actual behavior.
Sociologists attribute the discrepancy between mothers’ expectations and reality to “a largely successful male resistance.” This resistance is not being led by socially conservative men, whose like-minded wives often explicitly agree to take the lead in the home. It is happening, instead, with relatively progressive couples, and it takes many women — who thought their partners had made a prenatal commitment to equal parenting — by surprise. Why are their partners failing to pitch in more?
The Opinion essay continues:
While interviewing working parents for a book on parenthood, I spoke with one dad in Vermont who said: “The expectation among my male friends is still that they will have the life they had before having kids. My dad has never cooked a meal. I’ve strayed from that. But subconsciously, the thing that makes you motivationally step up and do something when you’re not being asked …” he trailed off, and then said: “I have justifications. It’s a cop-out.”
Take love out of the equation and focus on the workplace, and it’s clear how this plays out. Studies show that male employees sit back while their female co-workers perform the tasks that don’t lead to promotion. In a series of lab studies, the economists Lise Vesterlund, Linda Babcock and Maria Recalde and the organizational behaviorist Laurie Weingart found that in coed groups, women are 50 percent more likely than men to volunteer to take on work that no one else wants to do. But in all-male groups, the men volunteer just as readily.
The essay concludes:
All this comes at a cost to women’s well-being, as mothers forgo leisure time, professional ambitions and sleep. Wives who view their household responsibilities “as unjust are more likely to suffer from depression than those who do not,” one study says. When their children are young, employed women (but not men) take a hit to their health as well as to their earnings — and the latter never recovers. Child-care imbalances also tank relationship happiness, especially in the early years of parenthood.
Division of labor in the home is one of the most important gender-equity issues of our time. Yet at the current rate of change, MenCare, a group that promotes equal involvement in caregiving, estimates that it will be about 75 more years before men worldwide assume half of the unpaid work that domesticity requires.
If anything is going to change, men have to stop resisting. Gendered parenting is kept alive by the unacknowledged power bestowed upon men in a world that values their needs, comforts and desires more than women’s. It’s up to fathers to cop to this, rather than to cop out.
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
— How do your parents share the responsibilities of parenting? How equal is the division of labor?
— Are you happy with the present arrangement? Or would you want your parents to shift certain responsibilities? Which ones and why?
— The author provides many examples of an unequal division of labor in her home, such as planning vacations, helping with homework and maintaining bedtime routines. Which examples most relate to your experiences?
— Ms. Lockman says that “division of labor in the home is one of the most important equity issues of our time.” Do you agree? How important is this issue to you?
— In a related article, “How Same-Sex Couples Divide Chores, and What It Reveals About Modern Parenting,” Claire Cain Miller writes:
Same-sex couples, research has consistently found, divide up chores more equally.
But recent research has uncovered a twist. When gay and lesbian couples have children, they often begin to divide things as heterosexual couples do, according to new data for larger, more representative samples of the gay population. Though the couples are still more equitable, one partner often has higher earnings, and one a greater share of household chores and child care. It shows these roles are not just about gender: Work and much of society are still built for single-earner families.
“Once you have children, it starts to almost pressure the couple into this kind of division of labor, and we’re seeing this now even in same-sex couples,” said Robert-Jay Green, professor emeritus at the California School of Professional Psychology in San Francisco. “Circumstances conspire on every level to get you to fall back in this traditional role.”
What does this article add to your perspective on imbalances in parenting? Do you agree that our society reinforces inequalities in the home? If yes, what do you think could be done on a societal level to promote greater equality?
— The author laments that it may be “75 more years before men worldwide assume half of the unpaid work that domesticity requires.” Do you agree? Disagree? Do you think things will eventually change? If so, when?
— How do you see yourself sharing the responsibilities of parenting if you have a family?
Further Resources:
How I Solved the Gender Labor Imbalance
Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Karen is a registered nurse working at a school in Wisconsin. She took courses on Coursera to update her medical knowledge and provide the best possible care for her students.
“Courses on Coursera helped me realize the breadth of knowledge that’s available and helped me rediscover the love of learning.”
2012 B.C. (Before Coursera)
I finished my bachelor’s degree in nursing online through the University of Wisconsin-Madison while living abroad in Eastern Europe. After graduating, I was employed as a school nurse and a community health nurse for a non-profit in Macedonia. My family and I moved back to the US in 2012. While looking for a full-time position in Wisconsin, I found I needed to update my medical knowledge. After researching my options, I turned to Coursera.
What I learned
One of my responsibilities as a school nurse is monitoring the immunization status of 2,200 students. Epidemics – the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases, the course by Pennsylvania State University, provided plenty of valuable information on how vaccines were developed, safety regulations were established, and the history and progression of the anti-vax movement. It helped me educate students and families.
Epidemics also helped me consider ways to address communicable illness at school, where we have to be more mindful of contagious illnesses like influenza, gastroenteritis, mono, the common cold, and more. I also learned about rates and methods of transmission, herd immunity, and health public policy.
From Surviving Your Rookie Year of Teaching, I learned classroom management tips that were useful in teaching CPR, and for leading small groups in the summer youth institute I work for.
Here are some of the courses I enjoyed:
Earning my degree
“After successfully completing online courses on Coursera, I gained the courage to start a Master’s degree.”
I discovered the MSc in Global Health Policy from the University of London thanks to Foundations for Global Health Responders, because one of the guest lecturers came from the University of London. This led me to try their courses on Coursera, which gave me the first taste of the school’s curriculum and teaching style. I took a chance and applied to their Master’s program, and lo and behold — I got accepted! Now I’m working towards finishing a major accomplishment: my advanced degree.
Again, I was dissatisfied in the results. I knew practice quizzes had been effective for other courses I taught, yet the correlation was not evident. I shared these data with Megan Sumeracki to see if she could give me any insight. I also had a discussion with my students, where I shared the above graphs and asked them if they had feedback for me.
Megan thought the questions on the practice quizzes might be too challenging. So, she recommended I allow students to use their notes until they received a proficient score and then wean themselves from the notes. She also suggested that I assign due dates for proficiency to provide more structure to their study schedule. Lastly, she suggested I introduce more (scaffold-free) retrieval into the classroom.
Interestingly, my students echoed Megan’s suggestion that the questions may be too hard. Many of them said that they were just guessing on the quizzes. They were taking the retrieval practice to heart and not using their notes, but as a result they were frustrated. I think many of them were ready to give up on retrieval practice, which further motivated me to make some changes to achieve better outcomes and greater buy in.
I had a conversation with my class about how they might need to scaffold at the beginning of the unit but as they approach the test date, they should attempt the quizzes without the notes in order to give them a truer idea of their knowledge. I added a survey question to the end of my practice quizzes: “I used my notes – scaffolding” or “I completed this without notes – retrieval” so I could keep track of how they were using the quizzes and so they could also keep track of what they were doing. Giving them the option of scaffolding helped with the frustration they were experiencing. Additionally, I found that my still-struggling students were typically the ones who were still clicking the “I used my notes” option the night before the test. These students were unable to fully utilize the retrieval for metacognitive purposes and were therefore not able to reap as many benefits of the quizzes.
To improve spacing I tweaked my practice quizzes to utilize older questions when students were taking practice quizzes on more recent material. I intend to further apply this concept in the future by integrating even older questions into in class retrieval and the practice quizzes.
In addition, I now make it a point to do daily retrieval in class, and have integrated different methods of retrieval practice (e.g., practice quizzes, brain dumps, list-amass-pass, sketch notes, etc.). Adding retrieval to the classroom helps students who are not doing as much practice at home. This practice also demonstrates just how important I think retrieval practice is to my students.
Over the last several months, I have observed a shift in student attitudes toward retrieval and spacing. They became more receptive to these strategies. On our last unit test student participation in practice quizzes was nearly 100%, and many are taking them until they feel comfortable with the content (rather than simply taking the quiz to achieve proficiency (80%)). I have seen improvement in their grades and their confidence. Recently, several excited students came into my class to share that they were learning about retrieval and spacing in their AP Psychology class. One of my toughest students (not an eager adaptor) told me he explained how brain dumps worked to the rest of his AP Psychology class. Here are some data from a recent exam:
In what ways do people and cultures honor the natural world?
“Dancing As the Spirit of a Wild Grizzly Bear” is a three-minute film that touches on themes of honoring ancestry and acknowledging the spirit in all living things. It profiles the dancer Laura Grizzlypaws of the St’at’imc Nation as she describes and performs her tribe’s traditional bear dance.
Students
1. Watch the short film above. While you watch, you might take notes using our Film Club Double-Entry Journal (PDF) to help you remember specific moments.
2. After watching, think about these questions:
• What moments in this film stood out for you? Why?
• Were there any surprises? Anything that challenged what you know — or thought you knew?
• What messages, emotions or ideas will you take away from this film? Why?
• What questions do you still have?
3. An additional challenge: What connections can you make between this film and your own life or experience? Why? Does this film remind you of anything else you’ve read or seen? If so, how and why?
4. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)
5. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
_________
More?
• See all the films in this series.
• Read our list of practical teaching ideas, along with responses from students and teachers, for how you can use these documentaries in the classroom.
• Our next and final Film Club for the 2018-19 school year will take place on Thursday, May 16.
The many benefits of playing sports
Every child should have to opportunity to play sports, even if the child quits after one season, at least they got the chance to play. I have been playing organized sports my whole life, playing soccer, basketball, and baseball. Sports has taught me the importance of hard work and commitment, also taught be the importance of friendship and how strong a teams bond can be.
— Codi kirby, Bryant High School
I’ve grown up playing sports, and so have my brothers. It’s shaped me into the person I am today. I think if parents do not allow their children to play sports, it will prevent them from learning important life lessons on things such as: dependability, respect, and teamwork. Competition is an experience that is necessary in character growth. Sports can help children grasp the concept of how to deal with success and failure. I do think society today thinks of failure as something unacceptable, which shouldn’t be the case. I think children should be able to participate in extracurricular activities they enjoy, and parents should stay on the children about training. It prevents children from being lazy and antisocial at a young age. I think it’s very crucial for parents and coaches to teach kids the negative effects of quitting. Furthermore, I think all parents should encourage sports. It can help children live a healthy lifestyle and teach them positive characteristics that can greatly benefit them in the future.
— Olivia Britt, Hoggard High School, Wilmington, NC
Physical activity or organized sports, in my opinion, is one of the most effective ways for young adults to gain friends and have a passion for something. In fact, I believe that the reason kids are able to be cheerful is that they have opportunities to move their bodies around. For instance, when I was 9 and was still in Korea, I was inside an elementary soccer team. Back then, I felt very frustrated and lazy to play soccer. However, now I know that playing soccer was one of my few ways of getting friends and enjoying something. Before this, all I did was sit around and work on math continuously.
— June Lee, Glenbrook North High School
Sport is a great way for kids to have a good time while keeping fit. Sport also teaches important vital lessons, such as: working as a team, learning to be a good sportsman, overcoming challenges, controlling emotions, being proud of achievements.
Competition is important.
I disagree with the point that, “Competition is promoted but not at the expense of development,” because I feel that competition itself prompts development. If you lose a competition, it often teaches you to work harder so that you can do better next time. It prompts you to push yourself further and can help you become the best you can be. Competing with others has often been how we’ve improved and evolved in order to achieve the best possible. In my sports and activities, competing is often the best part, because winning shows your hard work and losing makes you work harder.
— Anna Patsalos, Hoggard, Wilmington, NC
I do not think that youth sports should be less competitive because sports and being aggressive give kids/teens the ability to use their strength and toughness for good. Sports teach kids many many things and one of the most important things are playing tough but to a certain degree.
— Bailey Barefoot, Hoggard Highschool, NC
Life is competitive, whether it’s getting that new job, winning any sort of contest, or getting into that prestige college you’ve always wanted to go to. There’s nothing wrong with kids being put into competitive situations, in fact, it’s beneficial. Preparing kids for the real world is something parents are responsible for, and sheltering them from any competition makes them expect to win; to expect that they get whatever they want despite not doing anything to earn it.
5. What was the economic situation of Sudan before Mr. al-Bashir was deposed? How did it fuel the protests that drove him from power?
6. The article concludes:
Sudan’s new freedoms are fragile, and whether they can endure is unclear. Power-sharing talks between protest leaders and the military, now in their fourth week, have become tense in recent days. Outside the protest bubble, supporters of the old government are waiting and watching.
Some say the struggle has just begun. “It’s like you’re in a dark place and you can see a small light,” Ms. Elgizouli said. “We have a long road to freedom.”
Why are the new freedoms in Sudan fragile? Do you agree with Ms. Elgizouli’s characterization of the future ahead for Sudan?
Finally, tell us more about what you think:
— What is your reaction to recent events in Sudan? What do you think will be the political outcome? Will the military remain in power? Or will protesters realize their goals of a civilian-led democracy? Do you think there will be a peaceful and just resolution?
— Ordinarily, we don’t associate joy and love with protests. Why do you think the reporter focused so much on these aspects of the revolution in Sudan? What do you think of the actions of ordinary people like Ms. Alnour? What can we learn from their courage and efforts?
— Can you draw any parallels between the protests in Sudan and the protests that have happened in other countries recently? Were the issues the same, similar or different? How might those experiences help us to better understand the current situation in Sudan?
— Look at the photos featured in the article. Select one and write about how it exemplifies the hopes, fears and changes in revolutionary Sudan?
— A photo of Alaa Salah, a young woman atop a car addressing a crowd of protesters, has become an iconic image of the Sudanese revolution around the world. Choose this image, or another famous protest image in the same article, and write about why you believe it is powerful and memorable. Include a discussion of the formal aspects of the photo (framing, composition) as well as the content (people, events, actions). For more on conducting a photo analysis, see the Learning Network’s regular feature, “What’s Going On in This Picture?”
Further Resources:
Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir Is Ousted, but Not His Regime
Arab Spring, Again? Nervous Autocrats Look Out Windows as Crowds Swell
Five Strongmen, and the Fate of the Arab Spring
“The Daily” podcast: A Dictator’s Fall in Sudan
: taking on different forms
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The word protean has appeared in 37 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 7 in the movie review “‘3 Faces’ Review: On the Road in Iran (and Off It, Too)” by Manohla Dargis:
Behnaz’s doubts about Marziyeh’s video foreshadow the subjects teased out in the main story, including the sometimes convenient divide between fiction and documentary, performance and what we call real life. Panahi has long explored the protean space between these modes, testing their boundaries. In “3 Faces,” he is at once playing a role in a fiction and himself: a dissident filmmaker with a privileged, sympathetic view of women, which strengthens the movie’s autobiographical underpinning. Panahi was arrested in Iran in 2009 and again in 2010. Accused of making anti-regime propaganda, he was forbidden to leave and barred from making movies for 20 years; this is the fourth feature he’s made since.
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