Talk About Pop Music--Wicked!

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Friday school mornings mean we listen to a soundtrack while doing school work. Today's selection was Wicked. 

During lunch we had a great conversation about presumptions and assumptions. The kids realized that trouble began with the prejudice of Elphaba's green skin. "No one took the time to get to know her...they were afraid of her because she was different...the good things she did weren't seen as good...people thought she was bad..." 
When I asked them to apply that to real life, it didn't take them long to make connections. 

So timely. 

Skin color = obvious. 

They concluded that you have to get to know someone before you assume what they're like. 

They took it even farther and decided they wouldn't judge what other people have to say about Hillary or Donald, but that they would listen to their own words, and that they would have to be careful of who was relaying those words and context--because other people's assumptions could be at play.
Black, white, cops, candidates, gorillas at the zoo, ponds at DisneyWorld, Olympic swimmers, Brangelina....
plenty of things to apply this to. I didn't plan this deep lesson, y'all--I just wanted to bring some Broadway to our Friday! But I'm thankful for good hearts, good art, and challenging conversations that spur us on to listen and love before assuming and judging.

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