Proud Mom Moment

This post is way out of chronological order but I need to write it down before I forget.

Yesterday (May 16th, 2013) in my son's fifth grade class something cool happened and a fabulous lesson was learned by all.

The kids came in to class and the teacher, Mr. Hall, told the kids that today they were going to be divided. All the kids with names that started with A-J were the "good" kids, got a free day off, got a sticker on their shirt signifying their status, got praised by the teacher and could play.  The students with names K-Z were the "bad" kids who had to start working on their assignment on the floor and do it quickly. They couldn't talk or be around the rest of the kids, just had to be quiet and get to work, all the while being shunned by the rest.
Jackson said, "Mr Hall why are you treating them unfair?" He said, "because you guys get better grades then the rest." Jackson began to argue about that fact, tore the sticker off of his shirt and threw it away.

Jackson then went over to Mr Hall and asked for a piece of paper. Mr Hall told him he didn't need to do the assignment and he could have the day off. He should go enjoy himself and not be seen with those "other" kids. Jackson insisted on getting a piece of paper, once he was given the paper he walked over with the students on the floor and immediately got to work doing the assignment.

Children who began to finish their assignment would take it up to the teacher where he would either tear it up or just tell them to redo it better. At this point there were kids who were crying and really upset.

 When recess came he told the "good" kids to go out and play and asked, "should we make the rest of the class walk laps or write sentences?" Jackson then spoke up and said, "No, you need to treat them fair, they should be able to go outside."
Everyone went outside.

After recess Mr Hall announced he made a mistake and that the "good" kids were really the K-Z and the "bad" kids were A-J. He told the A-J kids to sit down and get started on the assignment of writing from a text book. Jackson refused to sit down. He just stood there and said, "No, I will not sit down you have to treat us fair, we are all human beings." Mr Hall demanded that Jackson sit. Jackson refused and by this time he had coaxed others into standing as well and a mini-revolt was being started.

Mr Hall wanted to carry this little exercise on a bit longer but because of Jackson standing up for what was right Mr Hall stopped and then explained the whole object lesson was how slaves were treated. Which led to the discussion on the Civil War.

Like the teacher said, the students would not get the whole point of the lesson if they just had to read about it, they had to have feelings about it.  What a GREAT teacher!

Mr Hall told me today at school that he has done this several times and never had a child stand up and refuse like Jackson had. He was very proud of Jackson. Mom and dad are pretty proud too.

(obviously I wasn't there so this information is from what Jackson can remember and the little bits the teacher shared with me)