What are your reasons?

As I walked to Mr. Y's fifth grade class a bit of sadness filled my heart. This was going to be the last p4c discussion I have with them. But I was hopeful that this would be a great discussion.

Right off the bat I knew this class was going to improve. About four months ago when I first went to this class, we would sit in the circle on the outside of the desks. Students shared their thoughts as usual and I tried my best to dig deep into the surface every time I was with them.

This last p4c was different.

We sat in circle without the desk being in front of us. The class also wrote their thoughts on paper before sharing, something I did not anticipate to be doing. I was very amazed at how well everyone was working and I just knew this discussion would be my best.

"WATR terrorist kill people?" This was the question the class voted on. In my head I was thinking where will the conversation go?

I think terrorist kill people for revenge. –Steven

            A student asked Steven, what do you mean by revenge. And his response was when you want something bad to happen to someone because it may have happened to you.

I think terrorist kill people for political reasons. -Owen 

A student asked Owen, what do you mean by political reasons. Owen’s response: Political reasons are like when you they want rights to go their way.

I think terrorist kill people because they were treated wrongly and they want others to feel that way. –Nala

I think terrorist kill people because they are jealous and want to act cool. -Cammie

As we heard more about why terrorist kill people, it made me wonder who are the "they" we are defining them by? Mr. Yung was able to get the ball before I could to ask this. "What do we mean by a terrorist?" Mrs. Laboy had also asked what is the reasoning behind people who are terrorist.

When it was finally my turn- I was so ready. “Can I just say I amazed that I'm sitting in a fifth grade class wondering about terrorist? Because when I was in the fifth grade I don't think I ever thought about terrorist. But since it has been coming up and we are more aware of it, I'm glad to see that we know about it.”

More questions we discussed were:

·         Can it be one incident that causes their actions?

·         What would a terrorist have to do to be a terrorist?

·         Are video games inspiring people to become terrorist?

Wow this was such a great discussion and students’ were able to share what they really thought! It’s sad that this is my last time with them! Look at all the possibilities that could happen next semester!

Thank you Mr. Y and his fifth grade class for letting me have this opportunity to share my knowledge with you folks. I am grateful to have been part of such a wonderful class and create a community with you folks. Have a great rest of your school year and see you later!