We are still studying animals...

What are three characteristics that may be adaptations for this Black Capped Kingfisher? How might these adaptions help this bird in his environment?

And now onto a community issue...equally important because if we feel comfortable and safe in our class then and only then will optimal learning take place.

The excerpt below is from www.facinghistory.org and written buy a self-proclaimed middle school bully. (Self-proclaimed means he himself admits to having been a bully.) That is why he was able to change, because he admitted his mistakes first. My students know that the well-being of all in my class is a huge priority for me. Sometimes as a teacher it is hard to know if I am reaching everyone I need to reach, so I thought it would be good for you to hear the words from someone your own age.

I Faced History and Found Myself

Cleveland, Ohio-‘I was known as the class bully, taking my title so far that once I nearly broke a kids arm,” recalled Jonathan Lykes about his behavior in middle school. That changed when Jonathan took teacher Lori Eiler’s Facing History class as a 9th grader at Shaw High School in East Cleveland.
“I faced history and found myself,” he now says.

Through Facing History’s approach to studying the Holocaust, Jonathan learned about concepts such as “bystander,” “upstander,” and “universe of obligation.” He began to realize he wanted to care about more than just himself, to give up his attitude of indifference. Jonathan was also inspired by Facing History resource speakers, including Holocaust survivor Max Edelman, South African Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs and Carl Wilkens, the only American to stay in Rwanda after the genocide began. These speakers inspired and encouraged Jonathan to take a stand against injustice.

Last spring Jonathan wrote a poem called “Perception” about how prejudice influences our decisions about helping others. It won a regional poetry contest sponsored by the Cleveland Playhouse. Jonathan then went on to participate in a national contest and placed 12th. On October 25th Jonathan, who is now a junior at Shaw, will speak at the First Cleveland Benefit Dinner at the Intercontinental Hotel.

Perception [excerpts]

by Jonathan Lykes

How do they see me?

How do I see them?

For I noticed that there is this thing called perception
that gives people the opportunity for acception
or, on the flip side,
to be in the circle of rejection.

All different types of sections and cliques
making fun of that person and talking bad about this person,

so I ask you what is your outlook on things?
So many different stereotypes
and all types of legal rights
being violated just because you look this way or act that way,
and you’re telling me it’s OK
to give a blind eye to the less fortunate
simply because they’re beneath you....

What you need to do is stop judging others....

Perception. For one second make an exception
and listen to a person younger than you,
not really wiser than you.
Give me a minute I just might surprise you.

Perception. Now I see people plagued with this lasting infection
of carelessness once we face history and look it in the eye.
It’s an embarrassment.
Yes, I do realize good intentions meant, but we still went wrong on our courage to have the right perception.

TEST: You see an Arab man; he comes and sits next to you on a plane.
Your heart pounding, your mind going insane,
you automatically think he’s there to bring pain,
out to terrorize all for “Allah’s” gain.
But what’s going to put you to shame is that he never hurt a soul in his life,
has three kids and a wife.
And, on the Fourth of July, with everyone else he sings, “I’m proud to be an American…”

Wrong perceptions…
tend to hurt ....
What is your perception?
(see the rest of Jonathan's poem at www.facinghistory.org)