THE ISSUE: Teen violence

OUR OPINION: Empowering teachers is primary tool against violence

Some like to say so much has changed since “back in the day.” One change has come in the prevalence of violence. It’s not as though today’s young people invented violence, but the threat to life faced by today’s teens, and in particular young women, is a complex problem.

One in three teens reports knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, kicked, slapped or physically hurt by a partner. Females ages 16 to 24 experience the highest rates of rape and sexual assault, and people age 18 and 19 experience the highest rates of stalking.

As much as the problem is one many will say should be addressed in the home − where major lessons of life, good and bad, are so often learned − home is often where the violence is. More than 15 million children in the United States live in families in which partner violence occurred at least once in the past year.

Schools are primary places where young people interact. They are focal points in the battle against teen violence. A new weapon is an old implement used in a different way.

The Family Violence Prevention Fund and the National Council of Teachers of English has a new resource designed to help teachers incorporate violence-prevention lessons into existing curricula. “Lessons from Literature” is a free online resource that gives English teachers a framework to use the novels, poems, plays and stories they’re already teaching to help their students build healthy, non-violent relationships.

Its Web site – www.lessonsfromliterature.org – is the central hub of the program, where teachers can download a classroom manual and access other resources. The Lessons from Literature program includes:

• Lesson plans aligned with national standards for the English language arts that address themes of abuse, violence, inequality, family/interpersonal issues and more.

• A lesson template that serves as a guide for teachers to create or modify their own lessons.

• Materials, including handouts and fact sheets on teen dating abuse, to prepare teachers and students to discuss abuse.

• An online resource library of books, poems, songs, movies and more to help build creative and meaningful exercises into pre-existing lessons.

• Opportunities for teachers to share lesson plans, ideas, resources and experiences with each other and to identify professional development opportunities through this work.

“Teachers are in a prime position to motivate their students to think critically about social issues, and inspire youth to think and act differently about relationships that go beyond friendship,” NCTE Executive Director Kent Williamson said. “Lessons from Literature gives teachers resources they can use to help students strengthen their academic skills while at the same time learning to recognize abusive situations and choose alternatives to violence.”

“Every day millions of lives are affected by violence in the home and the community. By engaging teens and helping them think critically about abuse, respect and relationships, we have the opportunity to interrupt the cycle of interpersonal violence that affects so many young people and puts them at risk for further violence later in life,” ASCA Assistant Director Jill Cook said.

Breaking the cycle is vital and can be very much a case-by-case matter. On a broader scale, with concepts such as Lessons from Literature, teachers can be lifesavers.

A teacher’s influence today can change the behavior of tomorrow.

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