My goodness, I don't even know quite where to start with how 2020 is going so far.
We've had the devastating Australian fires, threats of WW3, the ongoing frightening Wuhan Coronavirus and now Kobe Bryant and his daughter - and we've not even made it past the first month of 2020 yet. 😟
I'm not usually once for focusing on the doom and gloom, but I do feel a responsibility to help our students navigate the unstable world around them.
So when deciding on what tragedy to focus on for right now, I chose the one that causes me the most concern regarding the reactions I am seeing from students, and that is the Wuhan Coronavirus.
Tell me if any of these sound familiar:
➡️ Perhaps someone coughs or sneezes in class. Do your students make a “coronavirus” comment and make the poorly student feel paranoid and insecure?
➡️ What about if you see people running away from Chinese students in your school and screaming that they have the coronavirus?
This is the kind of appalling behaviour that is happening with kids right now. You don’t think that’s happening in your school? Spend some time in the playground or even the virtual playground of TikTok - your eyes will be widened and shocked at what is coming out of peoples’ mouths regarding such a frightening and devastating situation.
I think it comes down to ignorance for the most part. Therefore this is a golden opportunity for us to teach our students about character and empathy. They need to be taught that sometimes jokes are completely inappropriate and darn right hurtful.
Enter this resource:
We've had the devastating Australian fires, threats of WW3, the ongoing frightening Wuhan Coronavirus and now Kobe Bryant and his daughter - and we've not even made it past the first month of 2020 yet. 😟
I'm not usually once for focusing on the doom and gloom, but I do feel a responsibility to help our students navigate the unstable world around them.
So when deciding on what tragedy to focus on for right now, I chose the one that causes me the most concern regarding the reactions I am seeing from students, and that is the Wuhan Coronavirus.
Tell me if any of these sound familiar:
➡️ Perhaps someone coughs or sneezes in class. Do your students make a “coronavirus” comment and make the poorly student feel paranoid and insecure?
➡️ What about if you see people running away from Chinese students in your school and screaming that they have the coronavirus?
This is the kind of appalling behaviour that is happening with kids right now. You don’t think that’s happening in your school? Spend some time in the playground or even the virtual playground of TikTok - your eyes will be widened and shocked at what is coming out of peoples’ mouths regarding such a frightening and devastating situation.
I think it comes down to ignorance for the most part. Therefore this is a golden opportunity for us to teach our students about character and empathy. They need to be taught that sometimes jokes are completely inappropriate and darn right hurtful.
Enter this resource:
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Please feel free to use this completely free resource as part of a class discussion or even a whole school assembly. It guides you through the current news of the coronavirus and then gently leads into discussion on the range of reactions we’re seeing from young people.
Oh, and all the text is completely editable so you can modify it for your students and update facts and figures as they emerge.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Please be sure to read all the disclaimers within the resource and especially watch the videos on slide 9 before showing them to your class, as they might be too sensitive for your particular students. (Although chances are, if they're TikTok users they've probably seen similar or worse already.)
Either way, this resource will surely hit home and encourage your students to think twice before making insensitive comments or jokes regarding the coronavirus.
This resource is in the free VIP area, so make sure you make an account in order to download it, if you haven't already:
Oh, and all the text is completely editable so you can modify it for your students and update facts and figures as they emerge.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Please be sure to read all the disclaimers within the resource and especially watch the videos on slide 9 before showing them to your class, as they might be too sensitive for your particular students. (Although chances are, if they're TikTok users they've probably seen similar or worse already.)
Either way, this resource will surely hit home and encourage your students to think twice before making insensitive comments or jokes regarding the coronavirus.
This resource is in the free VIP area, so make sure you make an account in order to download it, if you haven't already:
I genuinely hope you use this and that it helps your students, which is why I insisted on providing it to you for free. If you do use it, please share with me how your lesson or assembly went, I'd love to know.
