Social Justice Team

It is so fun to watch Mrs. Miriam teach the Social Justice team, because I know she is very passionate about Social Justice. I knew it would be a good night to sit in on the Social Justice Leadership team meeting because they were going to do an intriguing activity and start discussing a new topic. While we were walking up the stairs to the classroom, I over heard Diamond say to herself “I love Social Justice, it’s the best team”.

First off, I would like to tell you who is participating in the Social Justice team for this semester of ILA. The students are Diamond, Dillon, Sevahn, and Cameron. Each of these students brings a special part of their hearts to the team and I know Mrs. Miriam is glad to have every one of them.

On this particular evening, the Social Justice team was starting a new unit on “Access to Clean Water”. To begin, Mrs. Miriam asked the students to think of all the things you use water for in one day from the time you wake to the time you go to bed. The students came up with things like (take a shower, brush teeth, use bathroom, drinking water, wash dishes, wash hands, for cooking, and lots of other things). The students were then told that the average American uses 150 gallons of water a day, and the average person in a developing nation struggles to use 5 gallons! Most of the students were just staggered at the thought, I know I sure was.

Mrs. Miriam had taken the time to write all the things that were thought of for the use of water on a piece of paper in the front of the classroom. The students were then asked to work together to prioritize what things on the list they would do if they only had access to 5 gallons of water each day. After much debate on what would be necessary to use the 5 gallons of water for, the students decided on these things: to brush teeth, to drink, to cook, wash face, and wash dishes.

After the discussion, the students gathered around Mrs. Miriam’s laptop to watch a power point about sanitary water. I was able to help Mrs. Miriam out with an activity by taking 4 glasses of clean water and making one of them look like it had dirty water in it by mixing different colors of food coloring in the glass. The students were watching the power point in the dark and so when each student got their glass of water they could not tell if their water was clean or dirty. She was really trying to drive home the point “What would it be like to not have access to clean and sanitary water?” Dillon actually ended up with the glass of dirty colored water and let me tell you he was not about to drink it! It was really gross looking; a very dark murky green color. Even though Dillon did not drink the water, I know he got the point of the activity.

When the power point was over the students discussed some questions. I would like to share a few questions and responses with you.

Question 1 “Which facts make you sad?”

Diamond- “One in 6 don’t have a choice of what they drink.”

Sevahn- “All the people who die.”

Question 2 “How do these facts change the way you look at water?”

Diamond- “No more long showers!”

Dillon- “Stop using as much water as I am using now.”

Mrs. Miriam then shared ways that her family has saved water. I really thought it was a good introduction into the new unit and I know all the students were interested because they participated in all the discussions and activities. I can’t wait to see where all this will end up!