I am not sure if sexual molestation by school personnel against students is on the rise or if the explosion of web-based media has simply drawn more attention and awareness to the problem. Either way, it’s absolutely tragic when this stuff happens.

And it devastates lives.

As this story in the L.A. Times shows, the victims, the kids, suffer in ways that color their existence and worldview for the rest of their life… and what scares me is how numb I think we in our society have become to the crime because of the frequency with which it is being reported these days.

Having had students confess to me their victimhood over and over (it’s so much more common than I ever realized — like SO MUCH MORE!) is what drove me to want to do more. And the fact is, an incident right out of my own classroom (the tale a female student told me about her uncle) was the original spark for my latest book of fiction, The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez.

In some ways, I am just amazed how SONIA has hit a nerve with so many kids. Especially girls. And even more especially, with Latina girls. This novel hasn’t become breakout big like TWILIGHT or anything like that but it does have a very strong group of kids and teachers that really support it extremely well and it’s being brought into classrooms all around the country. (And oh the emails they send to me.) For that I am honored.

But still, I want to do more.

I guess the question is, how can we better protect our kids? And what more can we do to help them when this stuff happens?

BTW, was it always so prevalent and yet under-reported, or is society so much more sexualized that seeing more and more of this type of abhorrent behavior is simply inevitable?

Yet, this still brings me back to the bigger point: what can be done?

I do know that banning books like Laurie Halse Anderson’s SPEAK is not the answer. Books open conversations in a way that few other forms of media can do. Read Laurie’s answer as to how she feels about banning books right here… you go Laurie!

The tragedy of sexual molestation is a plague on teens today and yet so many folks are sweeping it under the rug pretending it’s not happening in their school, their community, their world.

As Mark Twain once quipped, “Denial ain’t a river in Egypt.”

If you were to enter my class today you probably would wonder, “What the heck is going on in here? Where are all the students?” Aside from the occasional group of 2 or 3 kids who enter to get something out of their backpacks, there’s literally no one in my room.

Why?

Because they are all out on campus working. They are interviewing, filming, getting B-roll footage, shooting themselves, and so on. It’s “Production Monday” meaning that all my students know that they have this class period today to go and work. Just work. On what? Well, that answer varies for each group of students.

My kids are producing multi-media expository essays. The subjects vary based upon their own interests. Some kids are doing an expose’ on the dangers of teen drug use, others are exploring how gang violence impacts the community, some are delving into the issue of sexual molestation against young women, others are looking at ways in which our schools can better serve the needs of the kids. Many groups, many kids, many ideas.

All RIVETING!

Essentially, they’ve spent 2 weeks doing the work on the page, writing rock-solid outlines, constructing scripts, doing factual research based on credible, verifiable sources, and so on. Now, they are out scaffolding. Some are making enhanced podcasts, some are making short movies — all of them are critically thinking, creatively contributing and deeply problem solving.

At moments like this I often think back to a wonderful line that all teachers should remember: Who is doing the thinking in the classroom? If I, as the teacher, am working my brains out while the kids’ brains are on cruise control, then something ain’t right. But if my kids are intellectually sweating, pumping mental muscle in a way that deeply challenges them, then good stuff is going on. Me, I got to get caught up on some grading, deal with some papers that have been sitting on my desk for about 3 months, and just be here to help my students should they need me. But since we put in so much rigorous work at the start of this project, right now my kids don’t need me — they simply need time to work. Time that is spent as they best see fit.

And why should I feel the need to micromanage them? Truly, the students are growing up right in front of my eyes. They are taking responsibility for the completion of high quality work within an assigned time frame. And what adult doesn’t need to know that?

It’s great to see.