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The leadership class is in its first year ever at the middle school, and it is currently offered exclusively to sixth-graders. It is a 20-week (one semester) pass/fail class aimed at developing personal leadership skills and fostering an understanding of group process in a democratic society.
"The goal is character education," said Hains. Her class focuses on three areas: individuality, belonging, and giving. These three concepts were borrowed from the PeaceJams Leadership Curriculum, developed for students ages 11 to 14, which incorporates the adolescent stories of Nobel Peace Laureates in an effort to develop positive identity and instill problem-solving skills.
"Why Frogs and Snakes Never Play Together" is a play by Jeff Sapp, made available by the Teaching Tolerance program. The program, developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, provides materials for educators looking to teach the pitfalls of prejudice and promote better inter-group relations.
The play is referred to as a "Pourquoi of Prejudice." Students explained that a "pourquoi" (from the French word meaning "why"), is an origin story that tells how some attribute of nature came to be.
This particular play, according to the script, is an African pourquoi tale that takes place "a long, long time ago in the jungle, before there were people." The story describes the meeting of two sets of siblings, the frogs and the snakes. The young amphibians have a wonderful time playing together but, after learning of the foray, the parents of both groups forbid them to associate with the other species again. The young frogs and snakes are saddened by the restriction, but must obey their parents.
Hains's sixth-graders acted out this brief play for the elementary students, the snake characters simply costumed in gray T-shirts and the frog characters in green. After the frog and snakes parted by drifting to separate ends of the stage, the entire cast came together to sing "I Will be Your Friend," accompanied by special education teacher Dan Haas on guitar.
Though the script never mentions the term "prejudice," said Hains, the subject is obviously addressed in this play. Following the performance, the leadership students posed a number of discussion questions for their audience.
The fourth-graders were asked what they thought might happen if the frogs and snakes continued to play together. Answers ranged from "the snakes might eat the frogs," to "the snakes might start acting like frogs and the frogs start acting like snakes."
When asked what might happen if the two families met and got to know each other, the elementary schoolers responded that either "something bad might happen," or "the families might like each other and let their children be friends."
The play demonstrated for the younger students that prejudice can unfairly affect relationships. "The message here today is that we can all be friends," said Hains at the end of the production. "If the snakes and the frogs can be friends, we can all be friends.
Hains' students had been working since mid-December in preparation for their performance. The play was an opportunity for the sixth-graders to apply some of the concepts that they learned and pass on these lessons to others.
The leadership class incorporates curriculum aimed at developing students' self awareness, goal orientation, creative thinking, communication skills, and problem solving abilities at a stage when these qualities are most valuable. "It would be nice if they could keep (these lessons) through the seventh and eighth grades," she commented, "and hopefully become role models for younger students."
