Lakshmi Tatma

We've been writing quite a bit in here lately.  We don't spend a lot of time on it - maybe 15-20 minutes once a week.

Yesterday, students read an article on a girl born with 4 arms and 4 legs.  After they read it, they had to put it away and write a summary of the article without looking back at it.

Today, students graded the summaries.

Here's the article.

It's been a while since that story first appeared, so I wondered if there was an update.  Turns out there is.  Here it is, in case you're interested.

The story ties in with a lot of our social studies content.  For instance you've got the religious aspect - a girl being born with extra limbs in a country with a religion that often depicts deities as having extra limbs.

You've got family and cultural values.

Standard of living comes up often - the family lived on $1 a day.

The fact that we can hear about this story here in the United States is a testament to globalization.

We also worked on maps of India.  There may have been 5 students out of 150 who did not compete this.  If you are one of the 5, make sure it's turned in tomorrow.

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog today, write 3 beliefs of Hinduism on a piece of paper from memory, then have the adult you read and discussed the blog with sign the paper.

Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.

Then, turn it in tomorrow.

In case you're wondering, I hung up all the civil disobedience pictures.  Doesn't the hallway look much nicer?

Caste System

Well, things got pretty heated today - let me tell you.

We've been studying Hinduism and are currently focused on the Caste System.  Yesterday we read an article and watched a video on Dalits - the group formerly referred to as Untouchables.  (There is a lot of readily available information on this group of people.)

The main point of both the video and the article is that the caste system, although illegal, still influences India today. And, the Dalits are heavily discriminated against.

I draw parallels to discrimination in our own country - that even though we have anti-discrimination laws, many groups still face discrimination here.

Today though, we looked at the Indian Social Structure Pyramid (also called the Caste System Pyramid) and I asked the question, "Is there a caste system at CJHS?  If so, what does it look like?"

(Here's the Indian Social Structure Pyramid, by the way:)

I received many answers, but the two that came back most often dealt with authority and popularity. 

In the authority version, the principal or superintendent is on the top, and the students are on the bottom.

In the popularity version, you've got the popular kids at the top, and the unpopular kids at the bottom with various "castes" making up the pyramid, determined by the author/artist.  (Are "Preppy Kids" at the top?  Athletic?  Artistic?  Intelligent?)   ...This is where the class got heated.  Some students contended this was a Hollywood contrivance - that we're all more complicated than this.  True enough, there are kids who are involved in athletics, music, the arts, etc...  So, where would they go?  Others said that yes, it's overdone by Hollywood, but cliques still exist in Jr. High.

I don't have time to mention all the ideas that came up: castes by grade level, or one that had the students at the top, because everything is about them.  Concord is a student-centered school.  We're here to meet the needs of the students.  (While that may be true, I don't think it address the social structure of our school.)

What do you think?  If you've read and discussed this with an adult, write down a paragraph based on your discussion.  Write down thoughts pertaining to India's former (remember it was outlawed in 1947) caste system and the social make-up of CJHS.

Then, once you've written the paragraph, have the adult you read and discussed with sign the paper - proving that you've read and discussed it.

Civil Disobedience Pictures

I've graded the civil disobedience pictures, so even though we've moved into studying Hinduism I'm posting several.  Check them out.  Discuss them.  Explain how they're portraying civil disobedience.  Then, vote for your favorite.

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog, you should talk about some of these pictures with an adult.  Tell them what's going on, why, and how they show civil disobedience.  Then, in the comments, tell me which one is your favorite and why.  (If for some reason it won't let you post a comment, you can write out your choice and let me know...)

Make sure to tell me who you are in the comments section.

If you have friends on social media, you could remind them about the extra credit.  Believe me, some of your friends could use the help.  Also, feel free to repost your favorite picture.

If you didn't finish your picture, you should probably consider doing that.

Gandhi and Plate Glass Windows

Gandhi (and The Indian National Congress) are moving closer and closer to independence from the British.

There are a couple ideas Gandhi reiterates throughout his life.  Essentially, he says that the Indians are upset with the British, because the British do not treat Indians as equals.

But, Gandhi says, Indians do not treat each other as equals.

In the movie, Gandhi said that before Indians could (or should) try to gain independence from the British, they would need to, "prove worthy of it."

Gandhi outlined 3 things that had to happen for a successful independence:

1. Hindu/Muslim Unity
2. Outlaw "Untouchability"
3. Defy the British

India was ready to defy the British, but was it ready to accept Gandhi's challenge to get along internally?

When I was a kid, my mom went to the store to buy a gallon of milk and maybe some other groceries.  My sister was upstairs reading, and my brother and I were out in the yard playing.  I'm not sure what all happened, but I know that he swore at me, and then I spit on him.

He told me he was going to spit on me back, so I ran into the house and locked him out.

Our back door had a huge plate-glass window in it.  He started pounding on it, saying he was going to break it if I didn't let him in.

I, of course, was willing to do no such thing.  I laughed at him and went upstairs.

He kept pounding on the window.  My sister, concerned, told me I should probably go downstairs and let him in.

Just as I got to the door, his fist came through it.  Glass went everywhere.  We were both barefoot.  

His clenched fist hung in the air on the other side of the door as he said, "I... I told you I would break it."

Before my mom left, I remember telling her that we could handle it.  Surely, she could leave for 5 minutes and get a gallon of milk.  The grocery store was only a couple blocks away.  "We'll be good," we said.  "Trust us."

To my students: If you want the extra credit for reading and discussing the blog, you were supposed to have read and discussed it with an adult.  If you've done this, find a scrap of paper and explain what my story has to do with the Indian Independence Movement.  How are they similar?  Is it a fair comparison?  Do you think the Indians are ready for independence?  Why or why not?  (I would discuss all of this with an adult before writing it down...)

When you're done, have the adult you read and discussed with sign the paper.

Turn it in tomorrow.

Gandhi, Snowden, and DWB

I'm sorry to have been gone the past couple days, but that's just the chaos of life, I suppose.

Imagine with me that what is happening in Gandhi is now.  How do the British view him?  Is he a hero?  Is he a terrorist?  It seems like most of the British view him as a terrorist; some kind of threat - at least to the empire.  He claims no less - he openly admits that he believes the British Empire to be evil, and that he wants India to be governed by Indians.  But should this - nonviolent noncooperation against evil - be considered terroristic? ...Maybe it is too much of a jump, because now I'm asking you to presuppose that the British Empire is evil - and most British - at the time - would have disagreed.

And there's a scene where Gandhi had just documented much evil the British were perpetuating against the Indians: forcing them to work without pay, denying them water, raising rent on the starving in order to finance hunting expeditions, etc...  ...And the one British man says to the governor, "You've turned him into some kind of hero.  Back home children are writing essays about him."

I'm getting to my point: whenever/whatever we're studying and learning, we each bring out own thoughts to the process.  And I couldn't help but think of something/someone we'd studied about not too long ago.  Did you make this connection too?...  Edward Snowden.

The British in the 1930s and 40s were having the same discussions about Gandhi that we're having about Snowden today.  Is he a hero?  Is he a terrorist?  Is he a traitor?  And whatever he is, what does that make me?  If he's a hero, does that make me/us wrong?  And how should I as a person respond?  How should we as a nation respond?

Education is all about making connections.  We do this in Language Arts when we read - we insert ourselves into the book.  When the actions of the protagonist remind us of the times we've quarreled with our brother.  The time we had to make a sacrifice we didn't feel like we could make.

Here's another connection I made in Gandhi: remember that scene where the British tell him to leave, or they'll arrest him?






Gandhi asks about the charge.  He says, "I'm an Indian travelling in my own country, I see no reason for trouble."  ...Essentially Gandhi was saying he was about to be put under arrest for being an Indian in India.  Here's the connection I made:






Maybe you're unfamiliar with the term DWB.  It refers to real (or perceived) instances of racial profiling: Driving While Black.  The issues we are struggling with at our point in history, here in the United States, are the same issues with which previous generations have had to deal.  In the past (maybe this year) questions have arisen over the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the laws in Arizona where police could ask for immigration papers even if the driver hadn't broken any laws, the stop and frisk policy in New York.

Today, I'm not writing about whether any of these events or policies in our own culture are good or evil, right or wrong; I'm only saying that everything should be viewed through the lens of history.  Neither am I saying that these events are the same and therefore interchangeable: they're not.

But it would benefit us to look at their similarities, and their outcomes.  Who was the moral force in the past?  How has history judged each side?  What does that teach us about ourselves and who we want to be?


If you're reading this for extra credit, discuss it with an adult and then write a 3 or 4 sentence response.  Do you think the historical connections and similarities that I made are valid? If you can think of any other connections between Gandhi or the Indian independence movement and our own culture, please include them.

Have the adult sign the paper, and turn it in on Monday.

If you happened across this blog some other way, feel free to leave a comment.  (Students, you may always leave comments on here as well.)