How Do We Speak with Elementary School Children About Complex Reality?

 

People ask me all the time how to speak with children in elementary school about complex, difficult, or controversial realities.

Below is the approach I have used successfully for many years:

1. Make a Values-Based Decision That This Matters

Teaching children to engage with complexity begins with an ethical choice by the educator:
to believe that this is important.

It also requires understanding that this is both:

• a personal process for the educator, and

• a developmental process the class will undergo together.

2. Recognize That Children Are Already Exposed

Children and adolescents are exposed to enormous amounts of information.

What they often lack is not exposure—but:

• context

• understanding

• answers

• and a safe space for discussion.

Beyond this, education grounded in real-world complexity is essential for developing active citizenship.

3. Build a Team Culture That Welcomes Complexity

Schools must create a staff culture in which complex and controversial issues can be discussed.

This can begin small:

• with one grade level

• or with several committed educators.

Not every school changes all at once.

4. Adapt Thoughtfully to the Specific Class

Clear pedagogical adaptation is critical:

• Which materials are appropriate?

• Which issues are relevant?

• What do students already know—and what knowledge gaps need filling?

• Which students may find this especially difficult?

• How and when should parents be informed?

There are no two identical third-grade classes—just as there are no two identical twelfth-grade classes.

5. Use Student-Guided Inquiry

Complex and sensitive lessons become significantly easier when students are given the floor.

When we begin with their thoughts, questions, and language:

• we meet real curiosity rather than assumed curiosity

• we respond to actual needs rather than hypothetical ones

• and we create authentic engagement.

A Real Example

During a sixth-grade sex education lesson I taught as a principal (with boys, while the counselor and homeroom teacher worked with the girls), I asked:

“What do you think sex education is?”

The board was divided into two columns:

• What I Know

• What I Want to Ask

Simply making students’ knowledge, questions, and thoughts visible created an extraordinary platform for discussion.

Two concepts were intentionally left outside the discussion:
with a clear boundary, a very general explanation, and clarification that some topics were not yet relevant developmentally—while leaving the door open if they arose again.

6. Use Indirect Materials to Open Direct Conversations

Books, poetry, television, and stories are powerful tools for opening sensitive conversations indirectly.

They allow us to discuss values, dilemmas, and social realities through mediated material rather than immediate confrontation.

Examples

“Ozo and Mozo from Kakaruza Village”

• Grades 3–4: Teach the text as written and hold a social discussion

• Grades 5–6: Add the question: Have you seen situations like this in real life?

• Middle/High School: Discuss the broader issue for which the text was originally written

“Children Are Laughing” by Zakaria Tamer
Use the story to discuss:

• War and peace

• Why peace is preferable to war

• Syria’s location and regional context

• What it means for countries to have peace or conflict

Adapt the discussion according to age and developmental level.

7. Do Not Avoid Existential Questions

Questions such as:

• What does it mean to die?

• Have you ever thought about death?

• Why are there so many memorial days?

• Why do children hear so much about death in the news and adult conversations, yet rarely discuss it directly?

Children create explanations when adults leave informational voids.

When there is no conversation, children fill the silence with their own narratives.

That is precisely why these conversations matter.

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Teaching children to engage with complexity is not about exposing them to more difficulty.

It is about giving them language, structure, and support for the reality they are already living in.

Avoiding complexity does not protect children.
It simply leaves them alone with it.

Trauma based education - key principles for education teams

 Israel, 9/4/26, Second round Iran War

And here we are, returning to our educational settings.

In many cases, school leaders receive information late—and consequently, so do their teams. On the one hand, we understand that this is often how sudden “back to routine” moments unfold. On the other hand, it is unreasonable that such uncertainty persists. How is there no organizing framework, familiar to everyone in advance?

With almost no transition time—the kind all of us need: parents, children, and staff alike—to sleep, breathe, do something enjoyable at the end of what was officially a “Passover break” but in reality a period of war, and prepare for the return of the most important system we have.

To support a high-quality return to routine within educational spaces, we must apply the principles of trauma-informed education.

These principles matter in every educational setting—this is a well-established field internationally—but in our context, given the shortage of therapeutic and support professionals, they are essential.

Core Principles for Returning to School After Crisis

• Time – transitions should be clear, but must allow room to breathe

• Autonomy – educational settings need flexibility to adapt to their communities

• Connection – relationships come before curriculum

• Transparency – students, staff, and parents need clarity

• Order and Routine – structure restores a sense of safety

At the Staff Level

Leadership teams should conduct personal check-ins with staff before reopening, identifying emotional or logistical barriers and recognizing that supporting staff readiness is our responsibility.

A staff preparation meeting should include:

• How the first days will be structured

• Guidance on how to speak with children and adolescents about what has happened

• Building a transition narrative that supports a healthy return to learning and functioning

Staff should also receive space for decompression. Even shortening the learning day slightly to allow this may be worthwhile.
Staff well-being sustains the school.

Professional support during the first weeks can help create:

• Practical guidance for educators

• Attention to vulnerable students

• A clear and unified school-wide language

At the Parent Level

Parents need clear communication:

• What the coming days will look like

• Why the return may be gradual rather than immediate

• What challenges the school anticipates

Homeroom teachers should personally reconnect with families and invite updates if children need additional support or time before returning.

In some communities, a parent Zoom conversation may be valuable—acknowledging that “returning to normal” may look simple externally, while in reality it contains accumulated fear, adjustment difficulties, and the need for shared communal understanding.

At the Student Level

Students should receive communication before returning:

• When they are meeting

• What the first day will include

• What to bring

• An invitation to share what they may need

The first days should be intentionally structured around:

• Emotional check-ins

• Guided discussion about returning to routine

• Collaborative planning for the coming days

• Explicit conversation about the learning process ahead

Movement and music should be integrated intentionally; both reduce stress and improve attention, calm, and motivation.

Academic learning should resume gradually, beginning with shorter lessons and increasing toward full schedule over time.

Students should also be invited to reflect on remote learning:

• What worked?

• What failed?

• What tools do they need to strengthen?

This is not only preparation for future emergencies, but for stronger independent learning overall.

Education Must Also Engage Reality

From approximately Grade 5 onward—or at least from middle school through Grade 12—we should connect current events to educational language and critical inquiry.

Whether through civics, geography, history, international relations, or facilitated values-based discussion, students deserve frameworks for understanding the world they are living in.

This includes concepts such as:

• International relations

• Territorial waters

• Ceasefire agreements

• Political interests

• Power dynamics

And equally, thoughtful discussion of the dilemmas raised by prolonged conflict and its effects on civilian life.

Returning to school is not merely logistical.
It is pedagogical, emotional, communal, and ethical.

If we want schools to hold children well after crisis, we must design re-entry with the same care with which we design learning itself.

Available for questions.

About Me
I am an educator, school principal, and activist in the fields of education and society.
I specialize in emergency contexts, with international experience in establishing educational spaces during disasters, building communities, training teams, and developing psychosocial support systems.

20 Reasons to teach Poetry, at all ages

In the English language there is a difference between the word "song" to the word "poem", which does not necessarily exists in other languages, such as Hebrew for example. In elementary school, we give a lot of room to rhymes and recitations at the lower grades, and later on, we discuss poems or songs while discussing a certain holiday/season/poet. Later on in junior high and high school, we analyze specific literary works.

Personally, I teach a big variety of songs and poems throughout the school year, for various reasons:

1. Exposure to the material and expending the vocabulary
2. Exposure to different views and ideas
3. The connection between a poet/writer to their works
4. Word games
5. Developing the Imagination
6. Explaining and teaching grammar rules that apply only in poems and not in the daily language, Linguistic manipulation that exist only in poetry
7. Development of listening skills
8. Developing the ability for personal commentary
9. Discussing emotions
10. Developing a discussion
11. Discussing the connection between lyrics and music
12. Using art as a tool for expressing criticism - personal/expressional
13. Developing curiosity
14. Learning about a Historical period, general knowledge etc.
15. Creating logical connection to relevant issues – the cycle of a year, famous figures, personal events etc.
16. Developing a reflective, emotional and logical thinking
17. Enabling the children to express their inner-world in the class
18. Reading comprehension
19. Developing the skills for poem writing
20. Exposure to music tones, structures and mobility

I guess there are many more reasons to teach poetry and songs, and I want to present to you my way and to offer you a way to develop your own version. In my class the main goal of my teaching is to expose the children to a wide variety of songs and poems from different periods, different cultures and styles. The process is by reading-observations-understanding-discussing the poem/song. I sometimes add playing a related music from the same period/creator/subject/emotion before learning and discussing the relevant material.

I find the way in which the children draw the dots between the two works as very interesting, and I make it a point not to lead the discussion in the class, but to allow them to lead it on their own to the directions that seem relevant and important to them. I do sometimes try to add guiding questions or a summary of what was already said.

The sooner we will start to expose children to various poetry thus their abilities to discuss broader and deeper issues will grow.

Using Movies for Learning

Children and people enjoy watching a movie or a series because it feels like entering a different visual world, which is understandable. All in all, movies/series enable us to identify with a character, identifying with values, with acts/actions, and also the reverse emotional range – disliking a character or it's values.
In addition, we all know that children watch a lot of series and movies on a daily basis – did you ever wonder what do they take from them? Do they detect the nonsense? The sarcasm? The subtext or the emotional depths?
We can teach the children to observe and deepen their understanding while using the movie as a platform for opening many issues, exercise and exposure.

Why?
Built and structured content
Focused
Interesting
Help as a supportive to knowledge
Dynamic
Producing emotions
The ability to form associations

How?
Using series/ documentary series and fiction movies - using guided viewing:
Topics:
Language tasks – character description, information miming
Learning about an historical period
Geography
Religion – learning about different religious, discussion about religious issues
Sports
Emotional and social analysis- discussing a character layers, social situations, conflicts (personal and inter-personal), puberty, break-ups etc.
Nature and the environment
Biology
Economics
Law, ethics and morals etc.

An example – watching the movie "Clash of the Titans" – 6th to 12th grade
Objectives:
1. Getting to know figures from the Greek Mythology (History and Mythology)
2. Improving viewing understanding and data mining (Language and viewing skills)
3. Writing a phrase about a beloved character (language)
4. A discussion about conflicts (emotional)

Viewing task:
1. Trace all the mythological/ruling/philosophical characters in the movie
2. Line down all the conflicts in the movie – personal and inter-personal
3. List all the myths described in the movie.
4. Sum-up the information about a beloved character.

I'll be happy to answer any question, and will love hearing from you, Sharon

All right reserve to Sharon Michaeli- Ramon ©

How to develop creativity

Creativity,
Isn't it one of the most common words that people are using regarding education and business development? we really want to develop it since childhood, but research shows that it decreases from the point we are finishing pre school.

some will say that we need to create an environment that enable it, but it's too difficult to create it at home, school, afternoon classes etc. all together.
we can develop creativity in different ways, and I want to introduce you to some effective tasks and games we are doing on a daily basis in my class, and also in the teams I'm working with (when we are dealing with challenges and new designs).

You can use all those elements with any group/ class, define the difficulty levels, and most important- they are easy to use, and can take between 7 minutes to an hour.

1. Riddles, logic quizzes, logic missions, challenge tasks:
The element needed is thinking and creating multiple choices of solution while coping with the understanding that mistakes and trial and error are part of learning.
you can ask logic question from age 4- example- :why do we pound a nail on the wall?

I love giving an assignment that require an imagination and coping uncertainty, for example (from my 6th grade class)-
in groups of 4-
you are a group of archaeologists. the year is 1910 (no internet, no mega information libraries on line...)
you are working on ancient site in X
you have experience in the middle east/ South America/ Africa
Suddenly you see a written language you've never seen...
what will you do?

The group have 45 minutes for raising ideas and possibilities, then 45 minutes looking for answers on line, and then a class on the topic with me (you can read on the uncertainty model here)

2. Completion stories:
 when we teach language skills we teach how to write a story (structure); I use movies, inventing stories I tell, video clips, pictures and more to start an idea and let the children continue the idea, write it and develop a conversation on it.

3. Mazes, tracks and courses- building them for children and letting children build their own courses is an practical challenge. you can use every thing you can climb on, pass trough and underneath.
* you can use a rope or wool and create "spider net" in the room; ask the children to walk around the room while avoiding the net.

4. Object what?
give children / adults a practical object and ask them all the uses you can get from it- practical and imaginary.

5. Association games:
association games are amazing for improvement of response speed, creating contexts and increasing thinking speed.
you can play free association.
you can play association chain: every word lead to another that connected to it/ opposite/ parallel.
you can play association of a single term/ word/ concept:love/ food/ happiness etc.
you can play association regarding a question or a riddle that have up to 2 words answer.


I'm here for every question and every note, Sharon.

 All the posts and materials belongs to Sharon Michaeli- Ramon ©

The model of coping with uncertainty while solving problems, challenges and high volume tasks

I've decided to create a method of uncertainty in my class after I've noticed that children (and adults) are having all kind of barriers when they need to cope a challenge- difficult article, new question, new area, thinking missions, solving a problem and more.

I've decided to develop a model to help them cope, and I'm using it mainly in language classes (you can read on it here) and in a weekly lesson of solving a challenges, that is connected to the syllabus, but it's wider and demand different way of thinking (you can read about it here)

The model is build from 5 steps:

1. Excepting the fact that I (the student) will not understand some of the reading material (or task)-         and it's ok.
2.  brain storming all the ideas related to the question/ task.
     Read & summarize as we learned- high light difficult words/ expression, high light main sentence      in a paragraph and summarize each paragraph/ idea.
3. Trying in a group to build a logic flow of the article/ story/ task/ question- out of the box thinking, giving associations and answers (we work on the concept that assumptions in this stage can't be wrong).
3a. sometimes I give access after stage 3 to use technologies and the net.

4. creating data base of all the ideas, answers and information on the board/ app/ other and making sense and order.

5. Giving the holistic order, Giving the answer/s and all the information needed.

    Dialog on the subject.

All the posts and materials belongs to Sharon Michaeli- Ramon ©

5 reasons why coping with difficulties is important in the class - reading comprehension

In my class, sixth grade, I'm challenging my students every day. I've entered the public system four years ago, after managing different projects as an expert in creativity and being categorized as  a "problem solver". when I entered the school I'm working in today I've noticed that the children are dealing great with reading comprehension we have in the text book, but can't understand higher articles.

I've decided to use a method of uncertainty in the class, which build from 3 steps:

1. Excepting the fact that I (the student) will not understand some of the reading material (or task)-         and it's ok.
2. Read & summarize as we learned- high light difficult words/ expression, high light main sentence       in a paragraph and summarize each paragraph/ idea.
3. Trying in a group to build a logic flow of the article/ story/ other.

when the children started they were upset, confused and even angry. we worked step by step solving the articles I've brought to class (I can't share them with you, because they are in Hebrew; but the criterion to choose them are: suitable from 9th grade, have current affairs link to the students life and have a pedagogical context).

After a month I can say that I have 5 great reasons to continue with this method, once a week, a two hours lesson:

1. The level of expectations raised and the students understand the benefits and the wide range of      
    topics that are added to the class.
2. Higher use of reading strategies in all the language fields (history, geography, etc)
3. The level of the conversations changed and become broadly contexted to different areas, and I love
    connect areas of knowledge to subjects.
    Some students started to be herd in class.
4. While coping with higher language the understanding, the vocabulary and the expression and  
   developing.
5. I'm revealing difficulties that I couldn't see in a class of 36 students before, for example- the  
    difficulty of explaining a term with no examples- and working on it.

I'm here for any question, Sharon.


                         All the posts and materials belongs to Sharon Michaeli- Ramon ©