We always hear about the power of one, how one person can make a difference in their community, lives of others, or the world. President Nixon escaped impeachment by one vote, Thomas Jefferson was elected President of the United States by one vote, and Rosa Parks bus ride had long term positive implications.
So if history is any example, one is important. We began to realize the importance of one as our classroom explored the concept of tolerance. However, we really did not understand the long term impact of one. We could not grasp how one of anything could be so important.
Then Mrs. Tsukamoto came to visit, and changed everything. After her visit we were motivated and inspired. She showed us that one could impact many. Our friends in Chico had the same experience with the Holocaust survivors they visited.
Our confidence increased. Then, during the video conference with our friends in Chico, many students took a risk and told how they were bullied. Justin’s story touched a nerve with many of us. He told about accidentally stepping on another student’s toe, and how that student pretended to apologize to him but instead lured him into the restroom where the bullying continued. Justin’s story inspired Mrs. Desler to write her own bullying account. One impacting another one.
So, as this year comes to an end Change Writers, how have you been impacted, touched, inspired or motivated? How will you, in your own way, keep the momentum going?
I will keep momentum going by always treating people well. – Nayeli
I will keep the momenton going by steping up to peaple.
i would not be a bystander. i have changed by turning into an upstander. i will keep this going by stoping bullying
If I want the world to be a better place,I would stand up and do my best so things wont get by.
I will keep on trying to make this school a better place to keep the momentum going of Change Writers. By being an upstander .
I will stay enspired by remembering the stuff we did in the classroom and peaple who made a change.Also I will keep on going by being a upstander and bystander.I will be a upstander by when there is a problem i will go tell a grownup and im going to be a bystander by being with a friend even if peaple are making fun of them.
I have been touched because I’ve heard and seen how other kids/people see other kids/people get bullied and did something about it like standing up for them.I will keep the momentom going by becoming and staying a upstander.
I am going to keep the change writter going by ,like if a child gets teased and the child is new,I would go and stand up to the bully and tell the bully to leave the child alone. If the bully does not, Then we will both tell on the bully .If a bully takes a kids drink, I would hand him another one. If the bully takes that one then we will go to tell the teacher.And the teacher will deal with it.And thats how I will keep change writting going.
I will keep this momentum going by keeping the place clean. For example picking up the oil from places with water.
I will keep it going by being an upstander and not a bystander.I will make the school a better place by stopping kids from bullying.
I will keep the momenton going by not bieng a bystander.
i’ve been enspired by helping caring for others and through the hole entire month we’ve worked on being a change writer by being motavated and organized for the entire semester.
I’m inspired that a lot of people are change writers.Also i will help people and be caring will help me still be a change writer.
If I were to make the school a better school,I would try hard to stop the danger and suceed my goals.
“The impact of one”… I truly believe each of you has the ability to make a difference. You are lucky to have each other as classmates! As Ms. McKillop’s 4th graders head for 5th grade and Ms. Bodnar’s 8th graders head for high school, I am pretty sure you will carry the Change Writers experience with you. The fact that many of you will continue to move through the next few years at the same school sites and in all or many of the same classes will be a plus…
I’m thinking about the power of one. What happens when the power of one becomes the power of many?!? Whoa… you easily could make a difference!
Please come visit this blog next year, and the year after, and after that one too…Let us know who the new heroes in the hallway (lunch room, school yard, bus. etc.) are.
What a privilege it has been to join you on this year’s journey,
Mrs. Desler
Alondra, how about if we did an interview with you a year later, so we could hear (and learn from) your experiences as a change writer?
See and Jada,
It’s those examples of how one person stands up for another that are so important for all of us. Not just for the inspiration, but also as a reminder. Being a crowd follower and a bystander is such an easy thing to do, but being upstander, and especially a Change Writer, takes thought, personal reflection, and courage.
Aaleeya,
I’m glad you recognize that you do not always have to be the one to stand up to the bully and that you recognize there will be times that, for your own safety, you’ll need to let a grownup know when another child is being bullied.
Mrs. Desler
Lucky me, Malik. I get to follow all of you into 5th grade and continue working with you on different ways to use technology as a writing tool. I look forward having another year to watch you grow as a change writer.
Mrs. Desler
Annie, I hope you will write about some of the incidents that inspire you to continue to be a change writer. A friend just sent me a link to what looks like a great site for publishing change writer stories – http://storyboxproject.com/?content=home.
It would be very exciting to go to the StoryBox Project site and find one of your stories!
Mrs. Desler
Being an upstander can be as simple as not laughing when others are making fun of someone – or it can be as huge as someone crossing the line from bystander > to upstander > hero. I think you might enjoy some of the stories posted to the MY HERO Project site.
Mrs. Desler
Dear Students,
I am very proud of your work and I am looking forward to reading from the Change Writers again next year. Your message and comments are powerful! Keep up the good work!
Mrs. Keval
To make the world a better place, I would step up to bullies and try to stop the concentration camps and internment camps that might be going on again in the future. Bullies try anything that will make you miserable, but if we stand up to them, we will demolish bullying.
To make the world a better place, I would step up to bullies. Maybe if we stand up to bullies making other people miserable, we can demolish bullying. Let’s all stop all the bad camps that will maybe come up again in the future.
I loved your class commments and ideas about being a bystander and a upstander.
Anne Frank that was the best story I have ever read but the sad thing is that they were caught and were sent to concertration camp