Tuesday, October 14, 2014

The Revolutionary Optimists

Children are working to save lives in poor areas of Kolkata, India. They work to combat poverty, forced child labor and, through their efforts, dramatically transform their neighborhoods.

That’s the premise of The Revolutionary Optimists, a documentary airing on PBS’ Independent Lens. Filmed over the course of several years, the film shows young people as change makers, fighting for a better future.

After viewing the clip, answer the following questions:  Make sure you develop your answer before you publish it!

1.  The children Amlan Ganguly works with goes to community elders to ask for a new playground and other things.  Write a paragraph that explains what neighborhood improvements you would make to your community. The paragraph should detail the ways in which those improvements would enhance everyday life for the community’s residents.

2.  In the clip Amlan Ganguly talks about the ways his work with the children empowers them to fight for a better life for themselves, their friends, and future generations. Write a paragraph describing the one person in your life who inspires you to be the best you can be.

Once you have posted your response, read the responses posted by your peers and reply thoughtfully to at least two other students.  Compliment strong points, make connections, ask questions and build on ideas shared!

As always, I look forward to reading your responses!

Mr. Boettger  :-)


18 comments:

  1. dust0980
    1. if I could change one thing about my community i would improve the park, by improving the park i would build a new skating rink, this would help the community by giving a better place to skate.
    2. my grandpa helps me be the best i can be because he is always at the arena watching me and brother play hockey, and i want to do the same when I'm his age.

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  2. loga1770
    Some of the changes I would make would be the littering around Wyevale because there is lots of garbage in the ditches, some of the ways we could reduce the amount of littering is that make the fine more money and we could also have more cops to see the littering happen. I would also put a new hockey rink floor in because the floor isn't level, we could help do this by doing a fundraiser to get the money to pore the concrete in the rink.

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  3. etha0440
    1. I would put more trails in so kids and adults could go for longer walks, bike rides, ATV rides and dirt bike rides. I also think it would help kids walk to school faster and parents would let their kids walk because they would not have to worry about cars

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  4. zach8820
    some of the changes I would do to our community Wyevale is that I would put a new hockey rink in 1 for public skating and one for hockey. Also we need some volunteers to do some maintenance on our rink. We can do this with fund raising.

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  5. mich5112
    1. a neighborhood improvement that I would want in Wyevale would be to have a soccer field to play soccer on and it would also be good for outdoor gym in school. Another improvement could be to have a trail for bikes, so that you can be safer on trails because there are no cars.
    2. someone that inspires me is my aunt because she taught me how to draw and sketch, my drawings were not the best but she gave me books and sites that I should try to give me tips of how to draw ,that's why she inspires me.

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  6. dela6980
    -1 we could pick up moire garbage in the parks
    2 my moms friend inspires me because she helps people with disabilities

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  7. etha0440
    2. My dad inspires me to be nice and help with community festivals like the butter tart festival. He is also healthy and fit and he is 45 and not all 45 year old people are healthy. He also inspires me by being strong for me and my brothers when we are going threw hard times like right now my parents are divorcing and he and my mom are really helping us. I hope I am like him.

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  8. tara3050

    An improvement for Wyevale could be making the park into a park. Other then that I don't see anything else I would want to improve it is a nice little town.

    One person that inspires me is my family, because they lead me and then show me what is right and what is wrong it helps and inspires.

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  9. anys8250:
    1) In my community I would have more parks and trails with lots of nature. I would have this to encourage kids to be outside more and also families could go out their and have picnics with their families so they could spend more time together. I would also get rid of all the vandalism everywhere because I would not want to spend all that money getting the vandalism off. I would have a wall that people could draw on to express how artistic they are because some graffiti is really cool.
    2) No one really inspires me. I haven't found the person that inspires me yet. I would be inspired if someone cured a really big disease or did something really big for their community. Malala, the girl that got shot in the head, kind of inspires me because she fought for girls rights to go to school. She never gave up so she kind of inspires me.

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  10. zach9331
    1. I would improve my neighborhood by trying to get rid of most of the garbage. I understand that people are busy at work during the day, but that doesn't mean they get to throw their Doritos or whatever they were eating out the window. The garbage all over our neighborhood cannot be excused.

    2. The one person in my life who inspires me to be the best person I can be is my father. He has always been an amazing example for me that I do my best to follow. I also have a younger sibling that will follow this example as well. He is very patient, relaxed, fun, and overall easy to be with. He will always be my life example.

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  11. ashl1881
    1) if i could improve something in Wyebridge i would want to have more houses there are only 4 houses on my road and not very many kids to hang out with.
    2) i think that the person who inspires me the most is my older cousin Rebecca. She is always kind, nice, helpful, and is always there to talk to. she inspires me to be all those thing. that's why she inspires me.

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  12. alai1860:
    1) If i could add something in Wyevale i would add more walking trails because there is not very many walking trails in Wyevale. I also would add a skate board park because lots of people want to go to a skate board park but the you have to go to Elmvale or Midland for it.
    2) No one inspires me because i inspire myself to do the best that i can do.

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  13. jenn0362
    1) If I could improve one thing in my neighborhood it would be the litter on the side of the road because people have dogs that could eat something bad, it goes into the farmer's fields and it could damage crops.
    2)My family inspires me to be the best that I can be because they support my decisions and push me to be better.

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  14. conn8841:
    1. The thing I would change about Wyevale is I would add a soccer field because I like soccer and it would be cool to have a real soccer field.
    2. I think that my mom because she told me when I was a little boy my mom said that I could be what ever I want.

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  15. ryan8910

    1. I think I would change the amount of vandalism in Wyevale because then it would be a cleaner place to live.

    2. I think who inspiers me the most is alex ovechkin because succeeds at sports and that is my goal

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  16. stef5580
    If i could change one thing in Wyevale it would be the park because i think there should be more things to like basketball court or something different.
    My family inspires me to keep me moving to push me do my best.

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  17. 1. I would improve Wyevale by getting the school more grass and more field to play.
    2. my family inspires me. they are kind and nice to me and help me out with things. owen1422

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  18. cade8790
    1. One thing i would change about my community to make it better would be, the highway... hwy 93 doesn't have any sidewalks so i would put sidewalks along the highway but only through Waverly. This will help my community because it will make walking along the highway safer and faster to get to places in Waverly.
    2. The one person in my life that inspires me to be the best that I can be is my mom. She inspires me by always being there for me and looking out for me. Or if I'm having a problem then my mom is there to help me with it or give me a solution that will help the problem that I'm having.

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