This Blog is a resource tool for the students taking the "FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES" elective at Westborough High School, Westborough, Massachusetts.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
"In The Eye Of The Storm" - Period 5
Today, we watched the documentary, IN THE EYE OF THE STORM. What did you learn from this film?. Post a reflective comment about the film and make sure to comment on one other student's post. Mr. Gallagher
26 comments:
Alison DeFiore
said...
I thought the documentary was extremely interesting. It was rather scary how quickly the kids adjusted to either feelings of superiority or feelings of self-depreciation. They're third graders, and therefore willing to accept what the teacher tells them. It is dangerous to inject kids with an adult's opinion. They were too young to have formed any lasting prejudices, and easily impressed upon. The video was offsetting. I'm not exactly sure how to react to it. But I did learn that we need to be careful about what we tell kids. They'll pick up our own beliefs and these beliefs could be wrong. Also, when someone is told they're superior or a less than everyone else, they'll believe it, if you say it long enough. And that's sad.
I agree with Alison. This was a very insightful documentary and it was really scary how fast the kids adjusted to the social change. It shows how impressionable kids are. I think doing this with children is the only way to do it correctly because the filter in their mind isn't fully developed. You will get truthful reactions out of them because adults can tell the difference between an act and real life. With kids, their minds don't work this way. I think that this teacher was quite brave and brilliant for doing this exercise. She found a way to leave an impression on these kids and help to shape their worlds. She is much like the teacher from "Freedom Writers" in that she took a chance, did something out of the ordinary that didnt get popular reviews. Despite all of this, they were both able to have an effect on the children they were working with and in the end, help to change the world.
I also thought the documentary was very interesting.I agree with Alison when she says that kids will believe what ever their teacher tells them. The kids have slower cards table times just because of what their teacher told them. The video also surprised me in the way that kids would refer to African-Americans as niggers in a casual way. The kids eventually learned how to put themselves in African-American's shoes, which is what they lacked prior to the experiment.
"In The Eye Of The Storm" is a very interesting film. Like Alison said it is scary how children adapt so quickly to what they are told because of superiority. These third graders easily believed in what their teacher had told them and went along with her rules even though it meant hurting their classmates. An adult giving opinions to kids and then pushing it on them is harmful since they will follow through forgetting their own beliefs. In the movies case, I thought it was right for the teacher to do what she did to teach a lesson.
"In The Eye of the Storm" was a very interesting film. I agree with Alison when she says “This was a very insightful documentary and it was really scary how fast the kids adjusted to the social change." It truly amazed me that the kids believed what ever the teacher said. I think that the teacher was right for what she did. Although society at this time didn’t agree with what the teacher did, it was the right thing to do in the long run.
I liked the documentary that we watched today in class. It showed how easily children are influenced by the authorities. I agree with ALison about how dangerous it can be if an adult decides to inject kids with their opinions. It just goes to show that kids are more guillble when an adult tells them what to do. I think that adults should be careful about what they tell children about our society. The exercise was a good example of discrimination that existed in our country. I think that the teacher should of tried this experiment on an older group of kids.
I applaud this woman's bravery to carry on the task of showing kids just how it feels to be discriminated for something that should not set you apart, or make you any different from anyone else. Her thoughtful way of showing the kids was very awe inspiring, because it showed them on an elementary level exactly how it felt, when just minutes before they were listing off who was racist against who and not giving any thought to it whatso-ever. The movie was inspiring, to say the least, that this woman could make such a huge change in groups of kids like this, and for having the bravery to do it time after time again.
I agree with Nick when he says, "It truly amazed me that the kids believed what ever the teacher said." These kids are so young and were taught to not like other races. I found it shocking how fast they would change their opinions due to the teacher. I thought it was a very clever and affective way that the teacher taught her lesson. Although many people do not agree with what the teacher did it was the right thing to do and took a lot of courage
I agree with Alison's comment when she said that it was scary how quickly the kids adjusted to either feelings of superiority or feelings of self-depreciation. But I don't necessarily think that this video applies to the idea that adults shouldn't feed their opinions to young children because of the fact that it was about racism. I think that the experiment was very smart and the thing is, they're 3rd graders, therefore they probably didn't remember what they learned long enough to apply it in real life but i thought it was good to give them a taste of what discrimination feels like even if just for a short time.
In this film a brave teacher stepped up and did something that we have been shown that we need to do this whole course. Not be a bistandard, if you nbelieve something is wrong than fix it, don't just stand their and hope something happen. If everyone in the world did that, than the world would be a much different and worse place.Andrew talked about how this teacher found a way to really leave an impression on these kids, not just by giving them a lesson but by giving them an experience. She went above and beyond to accomplish her goal, and because she did that she not only affected her class but the whole world.
I liked how the teachers method was so effective. She turned these kids into monsters using discrimination. These kids went crazy when the browns eyes were inferior to the blue. Fights were started, and the 3rd graders really got the first hand experience. We learned that kids who are treated like their superior actually do better in academics as well!!! The parents who shunned this teacher and her family are terrible.
I agree with Alison's point on how the young students adjusted to either roles in the classroom so fast. The feelings of superiority or the feelings of self-depreciation also shocked me because the transformation took place in a matter of minutes. This film has reminded me of a quote from the film "The Freedom Writers" when Hilary Swank was talking with her department head. She said that while she was watching the LA Riots on television, she though that you have to teach the children in schools, the difference between right and wrong because it's too late once they're adults. This is a perfect example of that quote; this teacher decided that she needed to teach her young third graders that racism is wrong. This act of courage is also an example of how one person can make a difference. While other white children don't know what it's like to be descriminated against, the children in her class will always have that memory and how it taught them that a person shouldn't be descriminated against because of their looks.
I think the documentary was very interesting. It was interesting to watch how the children reacted to the teacher when she told them that one eye color was inferior to the other. I also think that the way that the teacher acted was interesting because she stayed in her role of making one eye color feel inferior to the other for two days. I agree with Alison when say said, "Its dangerous to inject kids with adult's opinion." I think that it was good that the teacher showed the children what its like to be "different" than others. I also think that it was bold of her to have an experiment in her classroom that is controversial and was made even more controversial because of Martin Luther King's death. I think that the childrens' way of thinking was truly changed due to a teacher that reversed the role for a day.
In The Eye of the Storm" was a very interesting film. the film shows that kids are good to teach this stuff to when there younger becuase they all b3elive evey thing you say. and this film show how they dont belive that people should be treated diffrently. what she did to show these kids this was a really good thing to do.
i thought the documentary was really an eye opener. i think alison is right on scary it was on how quickly the kids adjusted to the feelings of superiority and self deprecition. they were 3rd graders and they really took in the exercice deeply.
I thought this documentary was really appealing. It was ridiculous how fast the kids reacted to what the teacher had to say. They immiediatedly went against there friends who had brown or blue eyes and became very egotystical. This just shows how innocent kids are and how you can change a kids opionion in a matter of minutes without argument.
I belive that the eye of the storm expierment was won that kids during this era needed to be taught. Kids needed to understand what it was like be black during times of hatred. This expierment was the only way they were going to learn it to. The firt day Ms.Elliot makes blue eyes suprieor to brown ones. Things get chaotic. Brown eyes cant play at recess use the water bubler or even get seconds or sit in the front of the room. One brown eye boy feels so low and helpless he punches a blue eyed quote on quote " In the gut" I feel this expirement did work esppecially when things like that happened. I thought it was ridicolous how Ms. Elliot was harresed for doing this. Her daughter got harresed to and callesd names like " Nigger Lover" Then her sone in highschool got beat up and ganged on. This is just proof to why this expierment was completly neccicary.
This documentary was quite interesting even with the poor quality of the film. Its amazing how the kids got right into the teacher's experiment. It goes to show you that you have to be very careful to what you engage children into to. Its as if the kids completley forgot that this just another lesson dished out by the teacher. What really got to me was how the kids used racial words like "nigger" with out the slightest hint of hesitation.
I was taken back by the documentary "In The Eye OF The Storm". I was really surprised about how quickly and ethusiastically the students participated in the activity. I agree with Allison when she said,"They were to young to have formed any lasting prejudices, and esily impressed upon." The Documentary showed me that children that are still at that age are stil forming their opinions. When they are exposed to either racism or prejudice beliefs it may have a very lasting effect on them for the rest of their lives.
I really liked this film because it showed first hand how racism and the feeling of superiority come rather quickly. I think the teacher that lead this experiment is amazing. I think she discovered the perefect way to teach kid's about racism because it's very hard for kids to imagine something unless it's happening to them. I also think she was brave to do this experiment. Especially because she kept doing the experiment every year even though she was isolated from the rest of the community because of it. I foudn this film interesting and informative but also scary.
I thought Mrs.Elliot'S idea was great. It's not shoccing to me that the kids loved the feeling of superiority to me. The truth is everyone enjoys the feeling of having power or influence over another. I remember as a child having fun with the feeling of "greatness" over others, as though i could not be touched. Today weather or not people want to admit it they share the same attitiude as me; that sense of power embraces them and makes them feel good about themself. The teacher simply displayed it to the world that no matter the age people enjoy this mind state of superiority.
I agree with Alison that it was rather interesting to see how quickly the kids picked up on the discrimination. I feel that the society would learn in the same manner and that this showed how the overall society worked as a whole. That would explain as to why blacks were so easily discrimintaed and hated because of the color of there skin. Simply because someone told them that blacks were lesser and weren't of equal value.
sorry im blogging so lateguys i got home at 10 last night and it totaly slipped my mind. I actualy foudn this movie to be very haunting in a good way. it was fasinating to see that children as young as third grade could be so hateful as to fight just because of a silly difference like eye color. It really shows us how the seeds of prejudice and hatred are spread through out its culture through the ejucation of children. The scene in the play groudn where the children wear their blue colors around there arms is an errie reminder of the hate that was spread through the hitler youth during the second world war.
I agree with Ali D with the fact of how scary it was to see how quickly the kids adjust. It really shows how exposed to everything that was going on with race issues back then. The fact that several children came out and said the word "nigger" really shocked me and opened my eyes to how exposed they were.
I also agree with Alison. I was amazed by how quickly the students identified with their roles. I might have expected the "minority" group to feel bad, but i would not have guessed that the majority group would be so mean. I also thought it was interesting that scores on tests increased on days that the students were "superior". This must meant that self confidence is linked to superiority. I would be interested to see how I would Respond in this extreme situation.
In the begining of the film when Mrs. Elliot asked her kids what they thought about black people I was very suprised how racialy prejudiced they were. I also didnt like the way that the blue eyed children were treating the brown eyed children. Its scary how influencial one person could be. The children really thought that blue eyed people were better. On a larger scale millions of people believe that white people are better. Its hard to stick up for your rights if your constantly being oppressed.
26 comments:
I thought the documentary was extremely interesting. It was rather scary how quickly the kids adjusted to either feelings of superiority or feelings of self-depreciation. They're third graders, and therefore willing to accept what the teacher tells them. It is dangerous to inject kids with an adult's opinion. They were too young to have formed any lasting prejudices, and easily impressed upon. The video was offsetting. I'm not exactly sure how to react to it. But I did learn that we need to be careful about what we tell kids. They'll pick up our own beliefs and these beliefs could be wrong. Also, when someone is told they're superior or a less than everyone else, they'll believe it, if you say it long enough. And that's sad.
I agree with Alison. This was a very insightful documentary and it was really scary how fast the kids adjusted to the social change. It shows how impressionable kids are. I think doing this with children is the only way to do it correctly because the filter in their mind isn't fully developed. You will get truthful reactions out of them because adults can tell the difference between an act and real life. With kids, their minds don't work this way. I think that this teacher was quite brave and brilliant for doing this exercise. She found a way to leave an impression on these kids and help to shape their worlds. She is much like the teacher from "Freedom Writers" in that she took a chance, did something out of the ordinary that didnt get popular reviews. Despite all of this, they were both able to have an effect on the children they were working with and in the end, help to change the world.
I also thought the documentary was very interesting.I agree with Alison when she says that kids will believe what ever their teacher tells them. The kids have slower cards table times just because of what their teacher told them. The video also surprised me in the way that kids would refer to African-Americans as niggers in a casual way. The kids eventually learned how to put themselves in African-American's shoes, which is what they lacked prior to the experiment.
"In The Eye Of The Storm" is a very interesting film. Like Alison said it is scary how children adapt so quickly to what they are told because of superiority. These third graders easily believed in what their teacher had told them and went along with her rules even though it meant hurting their classmates. An adult giving opinions to kids and then pushing it on them is harmful since they will follow through forgetting their own beliefs. In the movies case, I thought it was right for the teacher to do what she did to teach a lesson.
"In The Eye of the Storm" was a very interesting film. I agree with Alison when she says “This was a very insightful documentary and it was really scary how fast the kids adjusted to the social change." It truly amazed me that the kids believed what ever the teacher said. I think that the teacher was right for what she did. Although society at this time didn’t agree with what the teacher did, it was the right thing to do in the long run.
I liked the documentary that we watched today in class. It showed how easily children are influenced by the authorities. I agree with ALison about how dangerous it can be if an adult decides to inject kids with their opinions. It just goes to show that kids are more guillble when an adult tells them what to do. I think that adults should be careful about what they tell children about our society. The exercise was a good example of discrimination that existed in our country. I think that the teacher should of tried this experiment on an older group of kids.
I applaud this woman's bravery to carry on the task of showing kids just how it feels to be discriminated for something that should not set you apart, or make you any different from anyone else. Her thoughtful way of showing the kids was very awe inspiring, because it showed them on an elementary level exactly how it felt, when just minutes before they were listing off who was racist against who and not giving any thought to it whatso-ever. The movie was inspiring, to say the least, that this woman could make such a huge change in groups of kids like this, and for having the bravery to do it time after time again.
I agree with Nick when he says, "It truly amazed me that the kids believed what ever the teacher said." These kids are so young and were taught to not like other races. I found it shocking how fast they would change their opinions due to the teacher. I thought it was a very clever and affective way that the teacher taught her lesson. Although many people do not agree with what the teacher did it was the right thing to do and took a lot of courage
I agree with Alison's comment when she said that it was scary how quickly the kids adjusted to either feelings of superiority or feelings of self-depreciation. But I don't necessarily think that this video applies to the idea that adults shouldn't feed their opinions to young children because of the fact that it was about racism. I think that the experiment was very smart and the thing is, they're 3rd graders, therefore they probably didn't remember what they learned long enough to apply it in real life but i thought it was good to give them a taste of what discrimination feels like even if just for a short time.
In this film a brave teacher stepped up and did something that we have been shown that we need to do this whole course. Not be a bistandard, if you nbelieve something is wrong than fix it, don't just stand their and hope something happen. If everyone in the world did that, than the world would be a much different and worse place.Andrew talked about how this teacher found a way to really leave an impression on these kids, not just by giving them a lesson but by giving them an experience. She went above and beyond to accomplish her goal, and because she did that she not only affected her class but the whole world.
I liked how the teachers method was so effective. She turned these kids into monsters using discrimination. These kids went crazy when the browns eyes were inferior to the blue. Fights were started, and the 3rd graders really got the first hand experience. We learned that kids who are treated like their superior actually do better in academics as well!!! The parents who shunned this teacher and her family are terrible.
I agree with Alison's point on how the young students adjusted to either roles in the classroom so fast. The feelings of superiority or the feelings of self-depreciation also shocked me because the transformation took place in a matter of minutes. This film has reminded me of a quote from the film "The Freedom Writers" when Hilary Swank was talking with her department head. She said that while she was watching the LA Riots on television, she though that you have to teach the children in schools, the difference between right and wrong because it's too late once they're adults. This is a perfect example of that quote; this teacher decided that she needed to teach her young third graders that racism is wrong. This act of courage is also an example of how one person can make a difference. While other white children don't know what it's like to be descriminated against, the children in her class will always have that memory and how it taught them that a person shouldn't be descriminated against because of their looks.
I think the documentary was very interesting. It was interesting to watch how the children reacted to the teacher when she told them that one eye color was inferior to the other. I also think that the way that the teacher acted was interesting because she stayed in her role of making one eye color feel inferior to the other for two days. I agree with Alison when say said, "Its dangerous to inject kids with adult's opinion." I think that it was good that the teacher showed the children what its like to be "different" than others. I also think that it was bold of her to have an experiment in her classroom that is controversial and was made even more controversial because of Martin Luther King's death. I think that the childrens' way of thinking was truly changed due to a teacher that reversed the role for a day.
In The Eye of the Storm" was a very interesting film. the film shows that kids are good to teach this stuff to when there younger becuase they all b3elive evey thing you say. and this film show how they dont belive that people should be treated diffrently. what she did to show these kids this was a really good thing to do.
i thought the documentary was really an eye opener. i think alison is right on scary it was on how quickly the kids adjusted to the feelings of superiority and self deprecition. they were 3rd graders and they really took in the exercice deeply.
I thought this documentary was really appealing. It was ridiculous how fast the kids reacted to what the teacher had to say. They immiediatedly went against there friends who had brown or blue eyes and became very egotystical. This just shows how innocent kids are and how you can change a kids opionion in a matter of minutes without argument.
I belive that the eye of the storm expierment was won that kids during this era needed to be taught. Kids needed to understand what it was like be black during times of hatred. This expierment was the only way they were going to learn it to. The firt day Ms.Elliot makes blue eyes suprieor to brown ones. Things get chaotic. Brown eyes cant play at recess use the water bubler or even get seconds or sit in the front of the room. One brown eye boy feels so low and helpless he punches a blue eyed quote on quote " In the gut" I feel this expirement did work esppecially when things like that happened. I thought it was ridicolous how Ms. Elliot was harresed for doing this. Her daughter got harresed to and callesd names like " Nigger Lover" Then her sone in highschool got beat up and ganged on. This is just proof to why this expierment was completly neccicary.
This documentary was quite interesting even with the poor quality of the film. Its amazing how the kids got right into the teacher's experiment. It goes to show you that you have to be very careful to what you engage children into to. Its as if the kids completley forgot that this just another lesson dished out by the teacher. What really got to me was how the kids used racial words like "nigger" with out the slightest hint of hesitation.
I was taken back by the documentary "In The Eye OF The Storm". I was really surprised about how quickly and ethusiastically the students participated in the activity. I agree with Allison when she said,"They were to young to have formed any lasting prejudices, and esily impressed upon." The Documentary showed me that children that are still at that age are stil forming their opinions. When they are exposed to either racism or prejudice beliefs it may have a very lasting effect on them for the rest of their lives.
I really liked this film because it showed first hand how racism and the feeling of superiority come rather quickly. I think the teacher that lead this experiment is amazing. I think she discovered the perefect way to teach kid's about racism because it's very hard for kids to imagine something unless it's happening to them. I also think she was brave to do this experiment. Especially because she kept doing the experiment every year even though she was isolated from the rest of the community because of it. I foudn this film interesting and informative but also scary.
I thought Mrs.Elliot'S idea was great. It's not shoccing to me that the kids loved the feeling of superiority to me. The truth is everyone enjoys the feeling of having power or influence over another. I remember as a child having fun with the feeling of "greatness" over others, as though i could not be touched. Today weather or not people want to admit it they share the same attitiude as me; that sense of power embraces them and makes them feel good about themself. The teacher simply displayed it to the world that no matter the age people enjoy this mind state of superiority.
I agree with Alison that it was rather interesting to see how quickly the kids picked up on the discrimination. I feel that the society would learn in the same manner and that this showed how the overall society worked as a whole. That would explain as to why blacks were so easily discrimintaed and hated because of the color of there skin. Simply because someone told them that blacks were lesser and weren't of equal value.
sorry im blogging so lateguys i got home at 10 last night and it totaly slipped my mind. I actualy foudn this movie to be very haunting in a good way. it was fasinating to see that children as young as third grade could be so hateful as to fight just because of a silly difference like eye color. It really shows us how the seeds of prejudice and hatred are spread through out its culture through the ejucation of children. The scene in the play groudn where the children wear their blue colors around there arms is an errie reminder of the hate that was spread through the hitler youth during the second world war.
I agree with Ali D with the fact of how scary it was to see how quickly the kids adjust. It really shows how exposed to everything that was going on with race issues back then. The fact that several children came out and said the word "nigger" really shocked me and opened my eyes to how exposed they were.
-Danielle Allen
I also agree with Alison. I was amazed by how quickly the students identified with their roles. I might have expected the "minority" group to feel bad, but i would not have guessed that the majority group would be so mean. I also thought it was interesting that scores on tests increased on days that the students were "superior". This must meant that self confidence is linked to superiority. I would be interested to see how I would Respond in this extreme situation.
~Kelly Urmston
In the begining of the film when Mrs. Elliot asked her kids what they thought about black people I was very suprised how racialy prejudiced they were. I also didnt like the way that the blue eyed children were treating the brown eyed children. Its scary how influencial one person could be. The children really thought that blue eyed people were better. On a larger scale millions of people believe that white people are better. Its hard to stick up for your rights if your constantly being oppressed.
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