I teach Elementary Music. This is what happened today in one of my 3rd grade classes.
We were learning/reviewing patriotic songs (America, America the Beautiful & The Star Spangled Banner) in preparation for the Veterans’ Day Program. As an introduction, we discussed why we sing these songs and what they mean to us. To help the students understand, I focused on the words related to freedom and explained that not every country enjoys the freedoms that we do. i.e. in some countries girls are not free to go to school, only the boys. How are education and freedom related?
One young man on the back row expressed his excitement about the possibility of being treated so special. He thought it was a really cool concept. Power to the boys! Then, the young lady next to him started crying. She said she remembered how it used to be in her country, how scary it was. She’s from Afghanistan. We listened to her. I asked him if he thought it would be a good idea for the student next to him to be in a place where she couldn’t go to school. He said no. We all agreed that it was good to be in a place where everyone can go to school. Taking away someone else’s freedom/education is not a good thing to do. Education can help us to keep our freedom. Being free allows us to become more educated. Powerful stuff.
When we sang the Star Spangled Banner, a student from Mexico raised his hand and said that this song makes him cry, and he feels it in his heart. The friend by his side agreed with him. I told them that sometimes it makes me cry too.
I love this country and I love teaching music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RssIN3ustUw
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