Creating space for conversation—with young people, with ourselves
At a gathering of parents and educators that I attended the night before last at a local public school, the topic of the Israel-Hamas war came up. I thought about resources that could help parents and teachers prepare themselves for conversations with their kids or students, whether they plan to initiate themselves or whether they will be responding to their children's questions and concerns.
First to mind was a book in the Kids Book About series—A Kids Book About War. According to the publisher, this book is for children 5 and up. I wrote a review in March, 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I am reprinting it here with minor edits:
A Kids Book About…
With the war in Ukraine permeating our attention and media, it’s likely our children have overheard snippets here and there about what’s happening. Or they may have family and friends in the many places on the planet currently impacted by wars.
The publishing group A Kids Company About has made A Kids Book About War available for free. Download it here as an epub or PDF. You can read a little about the author, Sarah Jones, an Emmy-award winner who has reported from conflict zones for outlets including Al-Jazeera, BBC World Service, and CNN here. [You’ll need to create a free account with Portland Biz Journal to read it.] Here is an excerpt from that post:
“In the intro for A Kids Book About War, Jones wrote that the book is meant to create space for conversation between children and adults on a complex topic that unfortunately will remain relevant. ‘This book also creates space to think critically about what starts wars and why they keep happening, and what we can learn from our past to create a better future,’ she wrote.”
I appreciate the emphasis on creating “space for conversation between children and adults on a complex topic…” and on creating a better future. I am not recommending this book to read to your kids although you may choose to do so. I am suggesting that you read it yourself to help you consider what about it works for you and what might not—to help you in thinking about how you want to go about having one of the more difficult conversations imaginable with your children—talking about war.
Grade 6–12
The organization Facing History and Ourselves has put together a "mini-lesson" for Grade 6-12 that can be helpful for teachers and parents: Processing Attacks in Israel and the Outbreak of War in the Region. Here is the brief description:
Help students process violence, terror, and the loss of life in the wake of attacks in Israel and Israel's declaration of war against Hamas.
The authors guide the adults in first preparing for the discussion, beginning with self-reflection which they scaffold with these questions:
What emotions does news of the attacks in Israel and the outbreak of war raise for you? What questions are you grappling with?
What perspectives will you bring to your reflection on the attacks with your students?
What emotions might your students bring to your discussion? How can you help students navigate these emotions?
As the news develops, how will you continue to learn alongside your students?
They offer this guide to help get you started: Fostering Civil Discourse—How Do We Talk About Issues That Matter?
Calling it a mini-lesson downplays what an excellent resource this is. It presents several activities to “guide student reflection” with additional resources to support you in talking with students about the conflict. Whether or not you plan to address the attacks and outbreak of war directly with young people, I recommend that you read through this thoughtfully-designed content. It will help you clarify your own thinking.
Activity 4 (altogether there are 5 activities for students) offers excellent strategies for following the news—useful for adults and young people. The concluding Activity 5 about ways to support yourself and others provides a related resource I recommend called Toolbox for Care.
Take the time to walk through this valuable resource.
Media Literacy Week ahead
Today, any conversations about war with older kids are tightly coupled with conversation about media. Ideally, you've explored topics like misinformation, fake news, clickbait, etc. prior to the most current crisis. But in our rapidly changing media landscape, there's always more to learn and consider.
October 23–27 is Media Literacy Week, hosted by NAMLE, the National Association for Media Literacy Education. You’ll find a wide range of resources by grade level here.
Harvard’s NiemanLab is one of my go-to sources on media and media literacy. Under What We’re Reading, they pointed me to this Reuters Institute post by journalist Eduardo Suárez about a senior journalist for BBC Monitoring’s disinformation team, Shayan Sardarizadeh, who describes how part of his work at BBC Verify and BBC monitoring is “to sift through” viral content “in an accurate and impartial manner and make it easier for audiences to see what is real and what is not.”
Please note: In general, I no longer use X/formerly Twitter, and I avoid pointing people there. Because many journalists continue to use the platform, including Sardarizadeh, I am sharing his X link. I am only sharing this for the adults this post is geared for to see examples of the videos he has reviewed since the conflict began Oct. 7 in the hope that these examples will help you to better understand the extent of misinformation in the media. These examples may help you to have supportive and informed conversations with the teens in your lives.
Pulitzer Center is another go-to. They offer excellent K–12 education resources on media. On Wednesday, October 25, 7–8 pm EDT/4–5 pm PDT they are hosting a discussion on the relationship between robust media literacy skills and student mental health, and how educators can prioritize student wellbeing and social-emotional learning when introducing media literacy resources. For the event, a panel of educators will share how they teach media literacy and current events in their classroom, how they prioritize mental health during their students’ learning journeys, and how it has impacted their students. It is free. Registration is required.
I was thinking about Fred Rogers this morning and in particular, remembered this quote (I’d forgotten it was advice from his mother).
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
— Fred Rogers
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Be well.