On the last day before break (a glorious two weeks!), I decided to give out pencils. It was a set I found in HomeGoods, pastel with "positive messages of kindness." I sharpened them all and then had students pick.
The messages varied --
"I am powerful"
"I am enough"
"You look good" (didn't love that one, because appearances are over-emphasized in our society, bit it was chosen by a student who loved doing hair and nails and when she picked it up she said, "Mmmm hmmm, I DO look good!" I guess that's the best possible life for that pencil.
"I am magical" (the student misread that as "I am majestical" which I think is a better option. anyway)
"I am strong"
"You've got this!"
"I am worthy" or something like "I belong" (chosen by a student struggling with mental health who was like, "I need this reminder" which simultaneously made me warm and fuzzy AND broke my heart).
And then there was the last one.
"Happy thoughts only"
What a scoldy message. One of my students almost picked it and then said, "I'm not sure I like that one." I said, "Nope, I don't either. It's feels like it's yelling at you. Also, that's a bunch of BS."
At the end, everyone had their pencils, and the offending one was still there.
So we talked about why it's okay to have thoughts that aren't happy sometimes and how it's normal and healthy to feel all the emotions, not just positive ones.
Suddenly, I had an idea. Kids like pencils. Kids need pencils. But what do kids like to do with pencils most?
"Who wants to break this pencil?"
Eruptions of glee. I ended up pulling a stick to choose because everyone wanted at it. My student who loves systematically disassembling pencils and his binder case and pens won the lottery. I was like, "well, guys, you know if we want to utterly destroy this pencil, he's the one to do it!" They all agreed.
And that's how the toxic positivity pencil met its well-deserved demise, shattered into a zillion pieces while 13-14-year-olds with pencil-murdering glints in their eyes looked on and cheered.
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