Day Ninety: Blackouts

Today I put our projects on hold and did a little cross-curricular social studies lesson.

If you are reading this on the day I posted it, you probably have heard about SOPA. If you haven't, this must be the only page you've seen all day. Across the internet, websites are staging a protest through online blackouts against the proposed legislation.

Since the planned protest was today, I felt it was the best time to bring it up. We started with an activity exploring students attitudes about music, movies, the internet, and freedom of speech. After sharing this and related information with my students, a few of them had very strong feelings about it. We talked about how even though most of them are not old enough to vote, the internet helped them to have a voice and to share that voice. I let them get online and post information about it. I showed them how to look up and contact their representatives. And lo and behold...some of them got on and did! The girl in my 4th period who normally fights me on things was the most determined to send him an email. She was planning on contacting her senators next. Later I found out some students were still talking about it in other classes and one of the social studies teachers was so excited that the kids now knew who the name of their congressmen. Part way through the day, I started finding articles about some supporters changing their votes and showed the students that it was because of people like them contacting their leaders that these changes were happening. Their voices can make a difference.