From the Mouths of Babes

We just finished a two week study of the Mexican Revolution. This was historical background for a novel we are reading, Esperanza Rising. She is a Mexican girl whose family migrates the United States around the end of the Revolution. I had SO much fun teaching this 1. because I love Mexico 2. because this history has some serious drama to it and 3. my students were reeeeally into it. Each time a new president was put into office, he was ousted by someone / some group who thought they could do a better job. At times, I got their suspense going with the whole "AND YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED NEXT" and they would all say "What! What!!!" and I would say "HE HAD ZAPATA ASSASSINATED." The whole class GASPS! So dramatic! So intense! This was by far my favorite part of the day for a solid two weeks. I checked out books from the Chicago Public Library on the different heroes like Emiliano Zapata or Pancho Villa and also Historical Fiction novels from this time period. They practically fought over them, calling dibs and taking turns.

 Note: I probably make myself sound like World's Coolest Teacher on here, but you should know that not every subject is this engaging with me. I tried desperately to make multiplication exciting, and at some points I succeeded. But we also do writing and vocabulary and reading and science (which is sometimes awesome, I'll post pictures soon...if that's legal). Anyway, not every lesson is fireworks and dynamite.

The following is a response written by the class history buff. He's the one I call on when I want something explained or whose explanation I avoid when I want students to find out for themselves. You would never believe a ten-year-old wrote this. But he did.

Note: In class we discussed the quote from Fredrick Douglass, "Without struggle, there is no progress" (which was actually one of the speeches a student from my class recited at the Black History Assembly earlier this month) and its validity regarding the struggle of the revolutionaries.


Q: Throughout 1910-1920, what kept Mexico from making progress?

A: Struggle. Some say struggle leads to progress, only the right amount of struggle. There was so much struggle for progress that struggle turned into a civil war for power. When there are too many people rising up for one thing, that common goal changes. Struggle was what kept progress from coming.

Q: Do you think it would be frustrating to live in Mexico during this time?

If I were to live in a time of such struggle and war, I would try to escape. War held the civilians' very souls in fear. Hunger would sweep the country. Other countries would pay attention to the weakness of Mexico and claim it. A country can't have anything to help the civilians if it is in a civil war. Thus, it would be aggravating to live in Mexico between 1910-1920.



I read it to the class the next day and posted it on the board with all the pictures of Mexican revolutionaries and other student work. When I was ten years old I'm pretty sure I did not think like that, nor have any sort of awareness of global issues.

More from me soon regarding Chicago in the spring, job search, and the nearing of graduation. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Also, if you want the speech I wrote for graduation (that did note get selected) then you may comment on this post and let me know. We'll do this the democratic way, and it's gonna need some encouragement to post on the world wide web since it was not good enough for the School of Education at Loyola University Chicago.