Oct 10, 2017
Teaching connotation for change
Teaching connotation on a hs campus.
Lined up the following words on the board: terrorist, freedom fighter, patriot, militant activist. Got their feelings and associations for each word. Explained that all these words could apply to the same people depending on perspective. Unhappy faces! Described the Boston Tea Party. Even unhappier faces when they got it I was talking about our Founding Fathers.
Later, made them realize that, as strong as their feelings about the word liberty, they didn't know what it meant.
Tomorrow we compare coverage about St. Louis protests for biased word choice.
I feel ok about my job today.