Take Your Students to see "12 Years a Slave?" This Teacher Did.
I saw 12 Years a Slave last weekend. And I'm still reeling, flashing back from horrible scene to horrible scene, pondering the mindsets behind slave owners reading the Bible aloud to their slaves as proof that they were divinely entitled to dominion over other human beings. The film is so layered with meaning and questions--and deep, ugly shame.
Beth Sanders, connected educator extraordinaire at Tarrant High School in Birmingham, Alabama, took her students to see the film last week, too. Beth is an incredible teacher--I've engaged in rich Twitter chats with her students around critical issues in American democracy--and whatever she had to do to make it possible for her students to see and experience this masterful film was worth the cost. She's 
agreed to share her students' experiences and--very powerful-- thoughts here. (Photos, top to bottom: Ms. Sanders, Courtney, Kim, Enrique and Asherah.)
agreed to share her students' experiences and--very powerful-- thoughts here. (Photos, top to bottom: Ms. Sanders, Courtney, Kim, Enrique and Asherah.)Tell us a little about you who are (as a student), and why you thought this was an important film for you to see. What was your overall take-away from seeing the film?
Courtney: I am a junior in high school who hasn't been given the opportunities that most high school students have, but I've still managed to succeed in the things that I want to do, academic- wise. I thought it was important for me to see this film because it is based off of a true story, and I wanted to
