Why Do You Ask?: Conflict & Change - I Think We Got It!

Today, we finished up the concept of Conflict & Change.

I think the most difficult thing for everyone to understand is:

If Change can be a good thing...
And if Conflict always leads to change...
Then it is possible for Conflict to be a good thing...at times.

The struggle is that when students have a conflict, they usually get in trouble of some kind. Demerits, Suspensions, Counselor's office for "conflict resolution." All of these actions are negative in the mind of most students.

But, most students agreed that The Revolutionary War of 1776, which gave the United States its independence from Great Britain, was a good thing.

It is possible that if freedom is the result in Iran, that the election protest of this past summer - violent as it was - might serve as a good thing for the generations that follow.

We agreed that conflict is sometimes started because we have differing opinions and points of view on certain topics. When someone disagrees with our opinion, then conflict can happen, and change will result.

Differing opinions and beliefs will lead us to the 2nd concept - Culture.

The big idea, or as I like to call it "You Should Know This By Now" point, is culture is the product of religion, beliefs, traditions, customs, and governments of the society.

----------------

We also learned more about my beautiful, ugly shoes.

TOMS Shoes are something we are beginning to look at as a project for this year (and I hope for many years to come). I shared two videos (along with my own shoes) so students could begin thinking about buying some of their own, and providing shoes for a child in need. The videos are below.

TOMS stands for Tomorrows - the idea is making better TOMorrowS for children who suffer disease and infection because they have no shoes to wear. I am becoming a victim of "TOMSitis" (defined at 1:12 in the video).

TOMS Shoe Drop