Teen Activism

Sixth graders have been hard at work researching teen activism. At the beginning of the unit, they acted as journalists- watching videos and reading articles on different activists in order to gain a broad understanding of the topic. Students worked on note-taking strategies and how to pull out important information. They then used their research to write an essay to teach others about teen activism, being sure to cite evidence from the sources they used while researching.

We have just started the second bend of our unit which has students working in research groups to create an E-Book on one subtopic of teen activism that sparked their interest during the initial phase of research. The subtopics include child labor, equality in education, bullying, environmental issues, and animal abandonment. Students created a trail of research that the subtopic took them on as they were researching, and they used this to create the different chapters their e-book will include. Each student in the group will use their research to teach others about the subtopic their group is responsible for.

Reading about different issues around the world has been eye-opening and inspiring for students. We just read about Martin Luther King Jr.'s teen granddaughter who is carrying on his legacy and speaking up about issues affecting her generation such as equal rights and gun violence. Seeing the difference that people similar in age to themselves are making is teaching them a lot about how even the smallest steps can lead to big changes in the world.