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Once upon a time, there was a little old lady who had a stroke and had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. When she woke up, she discovered that the stroke had left her face disfigured. She had twisted lips. She started to cry and her husband tried to comfort her. He bent over to kiss her and made a shocking discovery. It didn't work. He missed her lips. The same lips he had kissed a million times before. He bent over a second time determined to express his love. This time he manipulated and twisted his lips to accommodate hers. He made contact and she knew just how much he loved her.
As a result of crime, drugs and violence, many of our children have twisted lips. We can't reach them with traditional middle class curriculums or conventional teaching techniques. We need a fresh, new, innovative approach. We must be prepared to twist our lips to accommodate theirs.
Many of them have rejected the American Dream of getting ahead by getting a good education and working hard. They see that the American Dream didn't work for their kin and they have no reason to believe it will work for them. They also see a disproportionate number of their family members and friends going to prison. As a result, they question the fairness of the criminal justice system and their equality under the law.
Many of them choose gangs, drugs and crime out of desperation before they realize the life altering consequences of these choices. Making Choices And Facing Consequences is designed to:
1) promote the development of personal self-management skills;
2) teach readers what constitutes unlawful and risky behavior and how to avoid dangerous and unsafe situations; and
3) promote responsible citizenship and behavior standards.
Fifteen of the resource units in this book consist of real life stories about children and young adults. The stories revolve around gangs, drugs, violent crimes, property crimes and sexual assaults. Each story builds to a point of importance and then presents the character(s) with critical choices. Our message is delivered through these stories. The beauty of the program is the power of these stories, the way they are told, the way they engage the students, and the teaching opportunities they create.
