Archive for Tuesday, February 19, 2013  District orders changes
to 8th grade slavery lesson  February 19, 2013   For several
years, Mike Wormsley has used a role-playing exercise to give
his eighth-grade social studies students a physical sense of
what slavery felt like.  During the two-week assignment,
Wormsley would have his students at Liberty Memorial Central
Middle School take on the roles of being both slaves and slave
owners. At the end of the unit, students would discuss and write
about the emotional impact of being in those roles.  Part of the
exercise involved having students — including African American
students — wear mock shackles in school to make them feel more
like slaves. But no more.  While Lawrence school district
officials say they support the role-playing exercise and believe
it has educational value, they scaled back the assignment to end
the physical simulation of shackles.  “We asked that that not
take place,” said Adam Holden, Lawrence’s assistant
superintendent for teaching and learn