As a teacher in high school classrooms, I always appreciated my students’ experiences, insights, and wisdom. They had remarkable things to share. Their ideas were often out-of-the-box. I always say that they have the solutions to ALL of the issues we are facing in schools. If only we’d stop to not just listen, but hear them. I never imagined how one French lesson would change my world, forever.
CLICK HERE to watch the ASCD video clip.
Here’s a little background into how it all started. I’ll follow up with some other posts. It’s quite a story, evolving to this day. I wanted to begin by sharing the results.
In 2014, my French classes created a “Before I die, I want to…” wall after being inspired by artist and civic engagement activist Candy Chang. I showed her TED talk for my French classes to show them the work that Candy had done in New Orleans to connect communities.
Candy created gigantic chalkboards on the sides of buildings where people could share their thoughts, hopes, and dreams. These spaces brought people together. People learned about one another simply by sharing in a way that others could see.
At the end of this powerful TED talk, every one of my classes had the same question: “Can WE do that?” I told them I did’t see why not and the process began. In a matter of months we had a gigantic chalkboard on our match building.
A few months after the wall went up, we actually met Candy. Myself and another student spoke on stage with her, sharing our story. For these stories, see my other posts.
