Our Group Book Talk

During our group Elluminate session we had an in-depth discussion about the poem song Silent We Stand. We used the Tell Me format to discuss the poem starting with our likes, dislikes and puzzles. After that, the questions came naturally as we hope would happen in our classrooms. The words of the poem and highlights of our discussion follow.

Silent We Stand

Music and Lyrics:  Lomenda and Pogue, 2003

Silent we stand, united by peace,

together we call for all violence to cease.

One human family under the sun,

together we look for a new day to come.

Working for justice, praying for dawn,

creating a new world where all fear is gone.

Peace and harmony, circle the earth,

standing as one we'll bring them to birth.

Silent we stand, united by peace,

together we call for all violence to cease.

One human family under the sun,

together we look for a new day to come.

This piece of music composed by Calgary music teachers Lomenda and Pogue, can be used in poetry format to effectively address the issues of peace, respect, and social justice. It stems from the picture book titled "Sadako" by Eleanor Coerr.  Teachers and students alike can further explore the true story of Sadako by visiting:  http://www.informeddemocracy.com/sadako. 

Liked:

Our group liked the ideas of togetherness; the power of working with one another. We felt that a poem/song like this tempts us towards the innate greatness in humankind rather than apathy or our more base instincts. The text was emotionally uplifting. The theme of diversity and global respect for the earth and all of its beings spoke to us on a deep and meaningful level. We also appreciated the connections to caring for nature.

Disliked/Puzzled:

The word “silent” seemed less ideal to some of our group members. We wondered why this word was used. Some members felt that “silent” was too inactive. We discussed actions taken by Gandhi and debated whether they too were silent or rather non-violent resistance. Some members saw silence as peaceful activism while others saw it as inaction. There was also a feeling of a purposeful juxtaposition between the words “silent” and “stand”.

We contemplated how humans can come together to take a stand. Power versus powerlessness and knowledge versus ignorance were mulled over. The overwhelming nature of “peace” (What does that mean? What does it entail?) was touched on. We discussed how humans, who are generally caring, so often do not know where to start; so do nothing.

Connections/Patterns:

In terms of the form of the poem, we discussed how the poem did have a rhyme scheme. Students tend to think poetry has to have a rhyme scheme but this is not always the case. This could be why students shy away from writing poetry because a rhyme scheme can be difficult to create and keep the sense of the poem. The poem uses a more simple language which makes it easier for children to understand however there is vocabulary which would warrant discussion such as justice, harmony and peace.

In our group we made connections to other songs about peace, respect and social justice like “Wavin’ Flag” and “Work for Peace” (Gil Scott-Heron). We also linked this work to Barbara Coloroso’s “The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander”. We wondered about the “silence” of the bystander. We discussed Gandhi and other famous peacemakers and pondered their methods of taking a stand and acting. Our group was also interested in the interest of corporations and the military industrial complex in keeping us compliant, complacent and confused.