i'm teaching english this year- in a catholic all girls high school. with little curriculum to follow, i'm left much up to my own devices. not like i'm going to take advantage and preach, but i do think it'll be a good time to create some conscious output/input. i'll be reading Nickled and Dimed, The Dharma Bums, among other 'real english class' classics. thinking of introducing animal cruelty via 'opinion piece' lesson - explaining how good statistics, photos, and info can create a positive shock factor. i'm trying to do this without getting all the parents and the principals hatin me. suggestions on friendly animal rights/save the earth type lessons (which i can somehow correlate to english class?) i'd appreciate insight. the girls i'll be teaching are 9th - 10th grade in a diverse environment overrun with mc. d's ...
You're awesome, kayte! I like the subtle approach. I wish my teachers had introduced me to open-mindedness, but instead I wasted years trying to find it the hard way . There's a great chapter from Crime & Punishment (Dostoyevsky) about the beating of a horse. It's not for the weak-hearted; it still makes me nauseous to read it: http://dostoyevsky.thefreelibrary.com/Crime-And-Punishment/1-5 (scroll down a few paragraphs to "Raskolnikov had a fearful dream.") You could also look at a list of famous vegetarian authors (http://www.ivu.org/people/writers/index.html) and check out some of their short stories. Tolstoy & Kafka are great. Can you tell I dig the Russkies?
It sounds like you are going to preach and are asking our advise on materials and techniques for hiding your true intentions. I may be wrong about your intent, but when you ask for "suggestions on friendly animal rights/save the earth type lessons (which i can somehow correlate to english class?)" it sounds like English is a blind for the lesson you realy want to teach.
agree with MikeE I don't think freshmen and sophomores will have happy parents after Nickel and Dimed (which isn't veg anyway) Heck, the college kids at CU Denver wrestle with it (a friend of mine is teaching argumentation and ues it as a cultural icon) better to live your truth and not indoctrinate. the poor gals get enough of that. BUT, you could introduce Walden. Maybe Alice Walker
teach open mindedness, not only vegetarianism is right veg can be a part of various looks at different ways of seeing the world, but it is more important to teach being tolerant of those that are different.
Since it's a catholic school, how about they do a paper on whether or not they feel humans are treating the earth and animals as God would want them to. Have them do research from the bible, about Jesus and compassion, and thou shalt not kill, etc. And also research the way that we treat animals and the earth nowadays. Then they compare them. Or if you want to make it more subtle, you could let them choose which topic they want to focus on: ie. how we treat animals, how we treat the earth, or how we treat other people - and then compare this to what Jesus would have wanted. You can give them information to use as a research, including information about farm factories and the fur trade. When students read their reports in front of class, even those who didnt do their report on animals will still hear about it.
Excellent idea. I know the Book of Daniel has an interesting bit about how Dan & his pals ate only pulse (peas) for 10 days. It has nothing to do with animal rights, but at least it'll introduce the idea that vegetarianism is healthier in the eyes of the Lord Luv to see the parents argue against that!
I think it's great what you'd like to introduce this a bit at your school. I know I would love if I had teachers that did this, or even mentioned vegetarianism in the slightest. But I also agree with some other comments - you can't force your beliefs and morals on these students. It is, however, always good to raise awareness and teach others tolerance. I love ophelia's suggestion, btw, oh, and good luck! keep us updated!
