Pledge of Allegiance-Views from a Middle School News Mentor

I say the Pledge of Allegiance every day in my studio with my news crew, no one ever questions it, we just do it because that is what we have grown up doing and acting out. After sitting in and listening to the First Amendment Rights we have in a presentation from Ken Paulson, I am wondering if my students really have enough background information on the topic as well. Another teacher mentioned (sorry I need to take better notes, not sure who it was) in the presentation that we should not be saying the pledge unless we understand the words that it states, that makes complete sense to me! What an AhHA moment to have with students. I am going to be putting that into my framework when discussing the rights and responsibilities so that the students really have a clear understanding of why it was written, why we follow it, and why we should say it or have the freedom to decline it. I also like the idea of giving the students the background information on the pledge and seeing if we can story map it. I am thinking some great stories that could flow from this topic would be religion in schools, reasoning for class items that we have to do, who else knows the truth behind it, etc. I can see how this could be a great learning objective in class! What a fabulous first day!



Heather Jancoski
Desert Sands Middle School
Phoenix, AZ