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From Blacksburg to the Bay Area
In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting, Youth Radio's Ayesha Walker reflects on violence in her own city...Richmond. Ayesha says while the mass shooting of 33 people shocked the nation, no one is shocked when young people die from gun violence in her neighborhood.
" When a young person is seen as having a bright future, their life seems more valuable - at least in terms of media coverage - than someone living in a city like Richmond."
Click here to find the full script and audio for this story.
Teach Youth Radio
For this month's feature, you will be able to view these strategies and resources:
1. How teachers can align this Youth Radio story to National Standards in the classroom.
2. Suggestions for lesson plans that link the story's content to your classroom's themes and subject areas.
3. Suggestions for lesson plans that explore media literacy, using the story to re-read mainstream media.
4. Bios of the Youth Radio reporters who produced the story.
5. A list of resources and further research related to the story's themes.
6. Links to Youth Radio’s media production techniques as guides and inspiration for your students’ creative media-making projects.
1. NATIONAL STANDARDS: Standards Alignment
Subject: LANGUAGE ARTS
NL-ENG.K-12.1 READING FOR PERSPECTIVE
NL-ENG.K-12.2 UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE
NL-ENG.K-12.3 EVALUATION STRATEGIES
NL-ENG.K-12.6 APPLYING KNOWLEDGE
NL-ENG.K-12.7 EVALUATING DATA
NL-ENG.K-12.8 DEVELOPING RESEARCH SKILLS
NL-ENG.K-12.9 MULTICULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
NL-ENG.K-12.11 PARTICIPATING IN SOCIETY
Subject: LIFE SCIENCE
NS.9-12.6 PERSONAL AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES
Subject: HEALTH
NPH-H.9-12.1 HEALTH PROMOTION AND DISEASE PREVENTION
NPH-H.9-12.2 HEALTH INFORMATION, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
NPH-H.9-12.3 REDUCING HEALTH RISKS
NPH-H.9-12.4 INFLUENCES ON HEALTH
NPH-H.9-12.7 HEALTH ADVOCACY
Subject: ECONOMICS
NSS-EC.9-12.1 SCARCITY
NSS-EC.9-12.2 MARGINAL COST/BENEFIT
NSS-EC.9-12.3 ALLOCATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES
NSS-EC.9-12.4 ROLE OF INCENTIVES
NSS-EC.9-12.5 GAIN FROM TRADE
NSS-EC.9-12.7 MARKETS -- PRICE AND QUANTITY DETERMINATION
NSS-EC.9-12.8 ROLE OF PRICE IN MARKET SYSTEM
NSS-EC.9-12.9 ROLE OF COMPETITION
NSS-EC.9-12.13 ROLE OF RESOURCES IN DETERMINING INCOME
NSS-EC.9-12.14 PROFIT AND THE ENTREPRENEUR
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2. NEWS YOU CAN USE: Story content in your classroom, Suggestions for lesson plans
Listening Activities:
Preparation activity:
Before listening to the story, students can reflect on how they viewed the media coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting. What are the first five words that come to mind? What made that event significant? How did it affect students’ thoughts, feelings, and actions in their own lives?
Something was wrong: In the third paragraph of Ayesha’s story, speaking about her cousin, she recounts, “The night of the shooting, when my family hadn't heard from him since that morning, we knew something was wrong.” After this line, pause the audio and allow students to reflect on what they think happened to Jr. How has Ayesha laid the foundation for the story up to this point?
Post-listening reflection: Ayesha takes a risk in this commentary. She wrote this essay in the immediate aftermath of the killings at Virginia Tech. Some might say it was too soon to focus on anyone but the victims of that specific tragedy. What do your students think? When, in their view, is it appropriate or even imperative to make the kinds of connections Ayesha develops here?
Language Arts:
Telling a story: Ayesha has a knack for storytelling. She frames a personal anecdote of her cousin getting shot with a recent news commentary about the Virginia Tech shooting. By beginning and ending her segment in this way she creates a context for violence that is recognized nationally and then narrows the scope to the violence acted upon a member of her own family. Students can connect current events in the world to their own lives by using this format of enveloping a story that is related to a news item.
Feeling secure: How do students feel about their neighborhood? Do they feel like their friends are safe people to be with? As they listen to this News Break, they will hear Ayesha talk about how her cousin was shot because, as Ayesha puts it, “He was standing in the way of one of his friends - the real target.” Start by having students design a survey to measure their peers’ feelings about personal safety and violence on and off campus. Where do they feel most safe? Where do they feel threatened? What makes the difference? Students can administer their survey to various populations inside and outside of the school, and then analyze and compare results. Students can use their original research to write up a briefing and position paper laying out the steps campus leaders (students, faculty and staff, parents) can take to create a safer environment for students.
That’s bad: As Ayesha describes, “Little boys even take pride in living in one of the most dangerous cities in America.” Students can provide examples of children being used in advertisements for mature items. Also, how is taking pride in danger a reflection of taking a negative word or action and making it cool, or hip? Can students cite other examples of this? Does changing the “feel” of the word or action actually change the context? How do your students make sense of the “pride” Ayesha describes in her story? What’s behind it?
Taking Action: Part of stopping violence is drawing attention to the severity of it. Please see the article on Richmond’s “Tent City” a project that local activists took on to address the violence in their neighborhood: Students can create an exhibit at the school that displays writing and artwork about violence in their community or prepare some type of visual that communicates a message of violence prevention.
Health:
PTSD: How does losing peers in a violent shooting compare and contrast to soldiers seeing their fellow troops die in war? Have students do research to learn about the phenomenon of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. See Teach Youth Radio’s July 2006 News Break from Jesus Bocanegra, about a young soldier suffering from PTSD after fighting in the Iraq war: PTSD. Then consider the recommendations the American Psychiatric Association released in response to the Virginia Tech shootings for dealing with the mental health aftermath of that traumatic event: Condolences To the Virginia Tech Community. Have your students draw on these resources and their own experiences to consider what young people need to survive up-close encounters with violence.
Dying Young: When a young person dies, communities and families rely on traditions to pay homage to the dead: RIP t-shirts, putting up balloons, flowers, posters, and altars. What are some coping strategies that youth use to deal with violence and death? How do folks from outside their immediate communities understand—and sometimes misinterpret—these rituals? What functions do they serve?
School Shootings: Have your students research the recent history of shootings on school campuses in the United States. What are the profiles of youth who commit these acts of violence? In what settings have shootings taken place? What are some of the issues faced by those who commit these crimes? How can school leaders and peers provide support and create policies that help prevent violence on campus? Is your school currently taking measures to protect students from violence? What does that problem-solving look like?
Biases in diagnosis and treatments: In the closing lines of her commentary, Ayesha says, “When a young person is seen as having a bright future, their life seems more valuable - at least in terms of media coverage - than someone living in a city like Richmond.” These kinds of biases take various forms. For example, psychology scholars Todd Martin and Henry Jefferson Grubb have done research on juvenile offenders and shown that whites are given psychological treatment more frequently than blacks. The abstract for their 1990 article in the Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy says: “There is evidence that Black juvenile delinquents have received biased differential treatment in mental health care systems. Research shows that the White juvenile offender often is assessed as having a psychological problem while the Black juvenile offender is more often seen as exhibiting behavior characteristic of his culture and more often than not receives inadequate psychological counseling.” Martin and Grubb argue further that this neglect shows that there is a cultural blame placed on black people when they commit crimes. Although Ayesha doesn’t mention race in her News Break, how does racism play a role in health diagnosis and treatment?
Geography:
Tale of two cities: Ayesha describes images of wealth and poverty in her city of Richmond, California—almost as if there were several cities existing in one: “This isn't Point Richmond,” she says, “where bike trails surround parks near the San Francisco Bay, or Hilltop Green Richmond, where fast food restaurants have restroom floors that look spit shined. I live on the grimy, gutter, flat land; the Southside of ‘da Rich,’ where you can't even rub your bare feet in the sand by the Bay because there's a chance you might step on a used crack needle.” Have students reflect on their own hometown and the different enclaves found within. What separates people within these spaces? Ayesha uses vivid and specific details to characterize these distinctions—restroom floors, what’s hiding in beach sand. Ask your students to “map” their city using details like these—invoking the kinds of observations only someone who really knows the place might notice. Then have them broaden their scope from the details to the patterns: What economic conditions, government policies, historical events, environmental factors, and other forces help explain the differences in public safety and quality of life in various parts of their hometown?
Economics:
Job Search: Ayesha expressed her love for her cousin Jr. in part by taking practical steps toward helping him to find employment. Students can start by doing some research into the relationship between job scarcity/availability and rates of community violence. What patterns do they find? What are some the debates and controversies in this body of research? Next, have students move from research to practice. Ask them to find out what jobs are available, preparing resumes, mock phone calls, and interview etiquette. What are the career pathways (if any) and earning potentials for the different entry-level jobs they find? The following sites provide tips: Carrer Consulting Corner, Jobweb
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3. CRITICAL MEDIA LITERACY: Putting This Story in Context
An Eye for an Eye: Mahatma Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” How does Ayesha’s newsbreak echo this sentiment? What other messages in politics and in the media contradict this idea? See Devante Kelly’s piece about killings in Richmond. How does your class imagine a discussion about youth violence between Devante and Ayesha? Where do your students voices fit into the conversation?
Black Death in the Media: Chuck D of the hip-hop group Public Enemy said “America makes money off of Black death, misery, and destruction.” Students can find examples of how black death is marketed in popular culture. Have them research the music industry and the news networks to find out: What sells? Who’s profiting? Students can also research New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. How did the media coverage depict black people in the wake of that tragedy? Check out Youth Radio’s coverage at: Generation Katrina.
All-American High?: The Virginia Tech killings drew the nation’s attention once again to the question of why and how certain students become alienated and isolated within a student body. These questions made Ayesha think about how high schools and student violence are depicted in the news and entertainment media. After brainstorming movies set in high school settings, students can compare fictional portrayals with documentaries such as Bowling for Columbine. How do the movie depictions compare to students’ real-life experiences? What are the elements that create hierarchy and cliques in high schools? Students can compare and contrast schools in other countries and the United States. See related Youth Radio stories below.
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4. MEET THE COMMENTATOR
In 2003, Ayesha Walker was introduced to radio during her sophomore year at El
Cerrito High School's radio station, KECG. In 2005 she was elected Director
of Communications, where she supervised her own radio crew and hosted the
morning announcements. "Esha" is a graduate of Youth Radio's Core and Bridge
classes of 2004.
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5. RESOURCES AND RESEARCH
• Interview Tips
• Resume Tips
• Article: Why We Harass Nerds and Freaks: A Formal Theory of Student Culture and Norms
• Book: Jocks and Burnouts: Social Categories and Identity in the High School By P Eckert - 1989 - Teachers College Press
• Book: Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence By R Wiseman – 2002 – Three Rivers Press
• New York Times article and graphic accounting for daily gun deaths in the United States to provide context for shootings at Virginia Tech:
• Martin and Grubb article on race bias in treatment of juvenile offenders:
• Tent City
Related Youth Radio Commentaries
• Cliques
• Bullying
• Killings in Richmond
• Generation Katrina
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6. MEDIA PRODUCTION FOR LEARNING: Making Audio Narratives
Click here to link to Youth Radio's guidelines for conducting interviews, writing commentaries, and producing features.
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