Answering Student Questions

In Focus Social Education 67(4), pp. 190-191, 236 © 2003 National Council for the Social Studies Iraq: Answering Student Questions In this special section, the editors of Social Education asked teachers across grade levels how, or if, they had addressed the war in Iraq with their students. Their replies show the approaches teachers are taking to explore current events in the classroom. Kim Kozbial-Hess teaches social studies for the fourth, ﬁfth, and of war, from both sides. This is the very first time that students sixth grades at Fall-Meyer Elementary School in Toledo, Ohio. She have asked if the war would come over here. has served as chair of the Steering Committee of the NCSS House of Delegates, as well as president of the NCSS Elementary Special I had lunch recently with two fourth grade teachers (both Interest Group (SIG) and Intermediate Elementary representative for Massachusetts Social Studies Council award winners) and asked the Ohio Council for the Social Studies. them what had been done in their school. It is located in a I asked students to find the weather in Baghdad and compare it wealthy suburb west of Boston. Aside from writing letters to a with the weather in our city and with the state of Ohio (weather fellow teacher’s son, who is serving in Iraq and who had attended .com). I blew up a map of Iraq and traced the positions of the local schools, they said little had been done. They found that troops with the students as the war progressed. I also arranged the war seemed unreal to their students. Both teachers use Time for students to become pen pals with Iraqi American students for Kids in the classroom but felt that even that did not make in Dearborn, Michigan, where there is a large percentage of the war real for their students. One reason for this was that the Iraqi Americans. students didn’t know anyone serving in the military. One of the Among the questions asked by students in our class discus- teachers lives in a distant blue-collar town, where a National sions were: How much money do soldiers make? Who can be Guard Unit had been activated. She said that in her neighbor- buried in Arlington National Cemetery? What is Taps? (The hood school, every class had at least four or five parents who music they play when a soldier is being buried.) Why do they were serving and in some cases both parents in a family were fire the rifles over the soldier’s coffin? What is the significance serving. In that school, the war news was a daily event. of the American flag that covers the casket, which the soldiers In my own classroom I use the newspaper (USA Today as well fold and give to the widow or mother? as a local paper) to maintain a classroom wall on news. When During the school year, prior to the outbreak of the war, I the war began to be daily news, I titled the wall “The Human organized many activities related to current events and past wars. Faces of War,” and we sought out photos and articles that made We had speakers from the Korean War, World War II, Vietnam, the action very real—sand storms in the tents, wounded children and the first Gulf War. On September 11, 2002, the class gave a and sad-faced American military holding the children, the first special presentation to honor soldiers from all wars. We invited American women POWs, families at home, etc. family and friends of the students to attend. The students and I also keep a map of the region posted, and we tracked the staff were on the front lawn in a semicircle. Speakers were movement of troops on both sides. We had spent many weeks present; we raised a commemorative flag for the Korean War in the fall studying ancient Mesopotamia so students were very (presented to our school by the Department of Defense), and familiar with the geography of the region. It made the headline all students were given buttons from the department. Students news very real to them. When the Nebuchadnezzar division of wrote poems and sang patriotic songs. Iraq’s Republican Guard was mentioned, every single student in grade six knew where that name came from. When the Baghdad G museums were ransacked and the items taken were listed, we had photos of many of them hanging in the room. The golden Mary Ellen Sorensen teaches sixth grade at Spoﬀord Pond School harp of Ur was a favorite, and when the class read about its in Boxford, Massachusetts. She is an active member in her state being destroyed for the gold, they were shaken. and local social studies council, has served on the NCSS board, and chaired the 29th Northeast Regional Conference on the Social This fall we had a pen pal project involving a local National Studies. Guard member who was sent to Kuwait. His letters and photos I have been teaching sixth grade for sixteen years in Boxford, were helpful as the war escalated, and students could see the a bedroom community about thirty miles north of Boston. My places he had photographed. Also, he answered a lot of ques- students have seen a number of U.S. involvements in world tions about how children lived in the region—school, sports, peacekeeping missions and have always expressed strong opin- dress, music, etc. ions. I try very hard to make sure that they see the human side Social Education 190 We are located fairly near a nuclear reactor plant (Seabrook) One really important cooperative group project I developed and are within the fallout zone, so we have talked about what was an assignment allowing students to learn about war. we might do if there were a problem at the plant. Some students Each group was given large sheets of paper, markers, cray- have expressed concern about the possibility of “them” coming ons, glue, scissors, etc., and directions for the assignment. Col- over here. It took a lot of talking to get students to be more lectively, each group was to come up with a poster defining explicit about who “them” actually was. September 11, 2001, war. Most groups focused on the current war and supported the had an impact on our school community because a number of troops overall. Only one group of students addressed the concept parents work for airlines and several families were connected to of war in general (which was the purpose of the assignment). companies based at the World Trade Center. Their poster was titled “What Is War?” They used America’s My school system has not taken a position on teaching about colors—red, white, and blue—with the following captions or the war but allowed individual teachers to handle it as they felt boxed descriptions: comfortable. Because I teach the oldest grade in the building, • War is like a big conflict at school, but they have weapons. have a strong interest in current events, and use the Newspapers • War is like a last resort between two countries or more. in Education program, it was very easy to include the war in • War is a big confusion where one country is better than the my curriculum. My students are interested and concerned about other. what will happen to the children of the region—when can they I thought that they did a great job of productive thinking and get back to a “normal” school day, etc.? of relating war to their own life situations. My classroom was affected by the war due to the fears my G children experienced. Some of the children had family members serving in the military and worried for their safety. Others were Suzanne Zaremba teaches U.S. history to sixth grade students at afraid of retaliation in the form of bombs or chemical weapons. Lucille Brown Middle School in Richmond, Virginia. She is a 1995 According to my students, one good thing that came from our Keizai Koho Center fellow and a former chair of the NCSS Instruction Committee. Currently, she is involved with the “We the People” discussions was that with dialog and more information, their Program and writing the curriculum for Richmond Public Schools. fears were calmed, and they felt that they were learning about My students predominantly come from lower income families. what was going on and in some way taking part. They are very street smart. Many are left to their own resources One difficulty I faced in dealing with the war was that due to the restrictions of parental jobs or other issues. Violence whatever I did had to correlate directly with the state standards. in many of their neighborhoods is the norm. Some of my I also needed to get administrative permission to use CNN in students regularly hear gunshots at night. Fights in our school class. It might have been simpler not to deal with the war, but are a daily occurrence. I felt that history teachers should be able to discuss the war. Teaching about the war in Iraq was a challenge on many We had already discussed the Civil War, the Spanish-American levels. Those challenges included misinformation, indifference, War, World War I, and World War II. I know the children have fear, and the fact that some students’ loved ones had been called benefited by learning about what is going on in the world up to serve in the military. around them. For learning about the war in Iraq we used various web- These issues have been important to my students.

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