What is our role as a teacher with controversial current events?

I was going to write about more of my reflections from this past year and ideas for the upcoming one, but events over the past couple of days changed my mind.  I saw some conversations on the twitterverse that got me thinking.  Obviously a lot has been said and written about the terrorist attack in Charleston (and yes, that's what it is and I'll explain more later why I feel this way) and I'm not sure what all I can add to it.  It's tragic, my heart and prayers go to the victims and all of those influenced by any of the nine men and women that lost their lives.  To me this should be put on the same level as a Timothy McVeigh or a Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as far as domestic terrorism.  Terrorism is defined as "The unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives" according to the FBI.  Or as "Criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act" according to the UN after the attacks on September 11.  I'm pretty sure what Dylann Roof did constitutes both of those.  I thought it was really well said on the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, if this was an attack on Christianity as some claim, Roof probably drove by over a dozen churches before he made it to AME.  This was cold and calculated, as his manifesto apparently is proving as well.  So I just don't buy any of the excuses anyone wants to throw out there when it comes to hiding the key fact, you don't say things like how you want to start a new civil war, unless your intentions are racist.  This isn't about mental illness (which I'm sorry never excuses taking the lives of other people in the fashion we're seeing) or attacks of faith.  This was a racist SOB who deserves the same treatment as Tsarnaev.
Now that I've gotten that off my chest, the conversation that struck with me was not about the shootings but the response (or lack thereof) by the teaching community (social studies especially).  Some were very passionate in what they were posting or saying.  But I didn't really know what to say, what could I possibly add (in 140 characters) to the conversation.  Several people were sharing very eloquently written pieces on race in America, modern problems, the events themselves, and I'll be honest, other than the cliche post about "thoughts and prayers for those in Charleston" what more could I say or add.  I guess the question is, is it my duty as a teacher (particularly a Social Studies teacher) to address these issues.  And this wasn't really a debatable issue.  No one is coming out and defending Roof or trying to rationalize his thought process.  How can one rationalize what to so many is completely irrational?  It reminded me of something a former colleague told me.  I used to work at a very (VERY) liberal college here in North Carolina, and there was an incident on campus involving some athletes and international students that even gained some national attention.  If you didn't know any better, you'd have thought the entire campus was on the brink of conflict with students and faculty having their say on both sides of the issue (which in the end was completely overblown by all involved).  Anyway, my colleague told me our school (and I believe this is true for most situations) that you have about 90% of the population are "normal" and they're concerned about the issues and what to come up with solutions.  The other 10% are the people on the extreme ends of things, and unfortunately they are usually the loudest and most divisive in regards to any issue.  I bring that up not because the people that are outspoken about the shooting are not in the wrong or at some kind of extreme, but because a vast majority of people out there saw what happened and didn't immediately jump to social media doesn't mean that we're not opinionated, outraged, and inspired to use the lessons of this event to share with our classrooms.  When the riots in Ferguson took place, I made a point to discuss with my students even though it didn't tie into any of the content we were focused on in World History.  And although Charleston isn't a place where I used to live like St. Louis, it'll definitely be brought up next year as we talk about any kinds of issues that deal with race, imperialism (with his badges from Rhodesia), apartheid, terrorism, etc.
Twitter is great for sharing ideas and disseminating information, but for highly charged issues, I'm not sure it's the place for discourse just because so much more needs to be said that 140 characters allow.  I thought this too when Arne Duncan went and asked teachers on twitter what they'd fix about education.  Well of course lots of the most vocal on twitter were quick to jump on Duncan and the state of education.  But I feel like many teachers are in that 90% and that while we certainly don't necessarily agree with things in the education world, we realize that our most important focus is our students and helping them.  Outrage on twitter or any other social media is great, but at the end it doesn't solve much.  Ultimately, I think we should use these topics to in the classroom, but perhaps we should have the discussion about how we can use these topics to teach our students rather than just react or give opinions on the world.
At least that's what I think....as always, thanks for reading

Another year down

Well it's definitely been awhile since I fired up the blog.  And now I feel like I do when I need to go for a run (which coincidentally I need to do after I finish writing) where I just don't know where to start, what to say, and so I procrastinate and find mindless things to do to waste my time and take away my focus.  Gotta trudge through I guess.

First I really enjoyed my first year at my new school and jumping up to high school (and AP).  I work with some good folks, got to coach lacrosse again, and had a blast even though it was quite a whirlwind at times handling all that AP entails.  I'll (hopefully) talk more about all that I'm planning for next year throughout the summer, but it was definitely good and reassuring to hear from many of my students that they thought they were ready for the exam and well prepared.  I've done something right as they're adding another class of APWH next year taking me up to over 110 AP students.  That or I've really pissed someone off as I now have another 27 or so essays and work to grade this upcoming year.  Either way, I'm looking forward to the challenge and to finding new ways to teach the skills and content this year.  I just finished my AP certification this week at the AP Summer Institute and am now in the overwhelmed mode with all that I've gotten and trying to break it all down and process it.  Got two new texts, a whole set of online resources and my own free review book.  I used some of the down time in this week to start mapping out the year and planning my first two units.  I feel I've got a good mix of readings, activities, etc so far, now I just need to figure out how to tweak my notes, which is my big summer project along with surviving daddy daycare.  I got some good feedback from my students, and I need to find a balance between the overload of notes we did at the beginning of the year and minimalist efforts we did in the spring.  The mock AP exam I gave them as a final backed that up too as my students usually did much better on the earlier units as opposed to the recent.  But I've had some good talks with the other AP teachers in my hallway about some similar practices we can all do in our classes, and now the next step is incorporating those, the new resources & information I received this week, and putting all of those things together for the fall.  And also finding time to read a few books and run a lot more.  Daddy daycare will hopefully be easier this year since the twins are nearly 2 and are mobile and more independent.  Of course the downside is they're more mobile and independent.  The playset and fenced in yard should help along with our gym's nursery to keep me sane and allow me for some adult contact here and there.

Will definitely write again next week as nap time will be my work time this summer and I want to get some headway before we head off for our family vacation.  I'll also do a good write up on my final AP tournament project in the next few days as well.  Off to run and find some inspiration, ideas, etc.  Thanks for reading, til next time.