Donut Bribery

Today was the last day of regular classes and it was the last day I would have with my AP Gov students as most are exempting the final. After consuming 2 dozen Dunkin Donuts I picked up, they read their, "this I believe essays". WOW o WOW at what they wrote. Students anonymously shared their work and we voted on the entry I am going to submit to NPR's All Things Considered.

I am a huge fan of this Monday afternoon segment of the show and recently played one of my favorites, "always be nice to the pizza deli every guy" as a model. Likely their essays will only be heard by our class today, but I think the final exercise was a beautiful way to end the class. With her permission, here is an excerpt of what my student wrote.

I believe in coloring outside the lines. Remember the days when you were five and you picked up a handful of crayons and just started to color. All you had to be concerned about was whether the sun should be pink flamenco or mac and cheese orange or that it the fridge would have enough room to display all your artwork...If our five year old selves decided we wanted a hot pink barn with teal and orange strips, we colored it exactly like that. Coloring outside the lines is a simple joy of life, it has no rules. Besides, what else are you suppose to do with all the empty space on your fridge.

I could not be more proud of my kids, the effort they put in on this class, working on national presidential campaigns, and most of all the sense of community they created on a daily basis. I am also proud of myself for teaching, challenging them, pushing the envelope playing devils advocate when it was really hard, and most of all serving as a vehicle to encourage them to become politically active. I got lots of "this was an awesome class" as well as "it was so much harder than I ever thought, but so worth it" and for these sentiments, I am thankful to know my hard work was appreciated. I am sad to see them go but so, so fortunate that for a brief moment our lives crossed for common purpose.