Seventh grade connects nationwide

photo: a seventh grader Zooming today with the founder of Shakespeare in Prison, a program of the Detroit Public Theater that has inmates at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility read, rehearse and perform Shakespeare

The Gordon community is pretty amazing, and it has some pretty amazing friends.

A week ago, a teacher reached out for help connecting students with experts on a variety of topics.

Seventh graders generated their own topics for their research projects, and part of the assignment is to interview someone who is engaged in the topic they are studying. This introduces the students to a new research technique, and gets them practicing some social skills along the way.

The topics students came up with is impressively varied, and included:

animal rights (shark finning, puppy mills, hunting for sport)
capital punishment
climate change
deforestation
food insecurity
gun control
immigration (detention, ICE, impact of COVID)
juvenile incarceration
LGBTQ+ youth
pollution (plastics, oceans, impact of COVID)
policing, qualified immunity, racial profiling
pregnancy discrimination in schools
the school-to-prison pipeline
sexual assault
sustainable agriculture
trangender healthcare access
universal healthcare

The Gordon community responded to the teacher's call, and student have been connected with community organizers, educators, scientists, shark experts, immigration lawyers, Nobel Prize winners, Senators, judges and activists at organizations including:

RI ACLU 
Black Lives Matter RI 
Physicians for Social Responsibility 
the animal facility at Takada Pharmaceuticals 
Nowell Academy 
RI State Senate 
Shakespeare in Prison, Detroit Public Theater 
RI Federal Court
Climate Reality Southcoast 
Be the Solution to Pollution 
RIPTA 
Urban Transit Associates 
University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Anthropology  
the Classical High School Gay-Straight Alliance
North Carolina Forest Service
Good Neighbors food pantry, Riverside, RI
Brown University Student Life, Office of the Sexual Assault Educator
RI Coalition Against Gun Violence 
The Innocence Project

Students had followed their own passions when they chose the topics, and they were thrilled to connect with people who are working directly on these issues. Connections like these are what progressive education is all about.

Thanks go out to everyone who gave of their time for these students, and to everyone who helped make these connections.

photo: after Zooming today with the manager of animal facilities at a pharmaceutical company, this seventh grader reports that she has a new, more nuanced perspective on animal testing