The Power of Words

Hello Everyone,

Sometimes in class, we diverge from our normal subject matter and talk about things that come up in conversation. These tangents are often great learning moments, and today was not an exception.

While Ms. D is not particularly political, students were talking about Donald Trump and laughing about some of the things he has been saying, as he is frequently in the news, and it brought forward an opportunity to talk about what it means to talk intelligently and with respect for other people. I read a portion of a magazine article that, while humorous and well written, also made it clear how politicians can use words incorrectly to gain attention.

I asked the class to reflect on and identify words they have heard being used incorrectly to refer to people and/or people’s faiths and backgrounds. Many of these words are not inappropriate and can be found in formal conversation or some of the articles they read online; however, when used incorrectly, words can be very hurtful.

In our future units, we will touch upon social studies topics that relate to our diversity as Canadians, to the many differences and similarities within our families, traditions, and backgrounds, and to the ways in which we create tolerance and acceptance for all types of people. In our class, we keep working toward a better understanding of how to be caring, open-minded, reflective, principled, and knowledgeable thinkers and communicators — because these characteristics allow us to function well as a community and lead to better success in our future lives, no matter what career or personal experiences we may pursue.

I encourage you to talk about these things as they come up, especially given students are going to be spending more time online as they get older, reading higher-level articles. They need these discussions to better understand what they are reading and the words they are using aloud in conversation.