Blog Post #1 - Bridge to Terabithia by Colleen Weimer

Summary: 

Bridge to Terabithia is about two middle schoolers, Jess and Leslie, who find adventure in a forest near their neighboring homes. Using their imaginations alone, together they create the magical land of "Terabithia" where they face their fears, overcome challenges, and discover who they are and who they want to be. Jess and Leslie grow from classmates to close friends and learn how to help each other through tough times as they work toward finding their voice. After a shocking tragedy, one of them must decide how to move on and heal. The movie concludes with a hopeful outlook for the future and the land of Terabithia. 

1.) Stereotype #1: Middle schoolers have broken relationships with their parents and prefer their friends for guidance when in crisis. 

The lead male character, Jess, has a fractured relationship with his father. While middle school is certainly a time of increased conflict between parents and their pre-teen and teenage children, this does not mean that their relationships are hostile most of the time. As we have been learning in class, when middle schoolers are in crisis, they go to their parents first - not their peers. Because middle schoolers are in this "in-between time," there will naturally be conflicts and growing pains as they move from dependent child to an increasingly independent adolescent. However, this does not mean that most middle schoolers, particularly males, are constantly at odds with and disconnected from their parents. Looking ahead to our future classrooms, we need to support parent-child relationships as much as possible and use our platform as educators to encourage communication and respect between both parties. What we do as teachers should not undermine the parental influence. 

2.) Stereotype #2: There’s one upperclass bully who bullies everyone. 

This can certainly happen. More often though, there are groups of bullies who work together to make life miserable for a couple students. The movie depicts one singular bully, Janice Avery, as harassing practically every underclassmen and fellow classmates who are not in her "inner circle."Yet as stopbullying.gov, an official website of the U.S. government, states, "Bullying is not usually a simple interaction between a student who bullies and a student who is bullied. Instead, it often involves groups of students who support each other in bullying other students." Notice the plural nouns describing both the bullies AND those who are bullied. This is known as "group phenomenon." As teachers, we need to be able to look at the groups forming in our schools to be proactive in our approach in addressing bullying among our students and other teachers' students. 

3.) Stereotype #3: Middle schoolers do not have a concrete worldview regarding their personal morals and beliefs. 

With my preschool and elementary background, I know that moral development begins at a very young age, which is why character education begins at the earliest level of schooling. It is present in preschool, and if the child did not attend preschool, it is there again in kindergarten. From my perspective, it seemed that the two main characters did not have a clear understanding of their own personal morals and beliefs, which is usually uncharacteristic of this age group. While they may lack depth and experience living out their own morals and beliefs, middle schoolers do have a general sense of what they believe is right or wrong as well their own beliefs about life, death, and faith. Again, such is highly influenced by parents, but in this movie, Jess and Leslie seemed disconnected from their parents values and a clear worldview for themselves. 

Character: 

The characters in this movie are 12 years old. As a 12 year-old 6th grader, I was most like "Leslie" from Bridge to Terabithia. Sixth grade was my most favorite year of middle school. For me, it felt like my last year as "kid." I remember that year as very carefree, incredibly fun, and everyone was friends with everyone. In this movie, Leslie is not afraid to stand up for her convictions and beliefs, embraces challenges, and she is kind to everyone. That's who I was (and still am!) in middle school. Additionally, my parents were very similar to Leslie's parents - supportive and present in my life. They were not perfect, as no parents are, but they fought for me and told me to never compromise my values. I don't think I would have had the strength to stand up for my convictions if they had not encouraged me. Finally, Leslie uses her imagination to dream of the future. This was so me in middle school! I remember dreaming of becoming a teacher and writing down classroom management strategies and lesson ideas when I was a pre-teen. She has a hopeful vision for her future and that was definitely something characteristic of pre-teen Colleen. Looking back now, at almost 30 years old (wow!), I am grateful for the long-term vision I had at that time in my life. It's beautiful to see that most of the values I lived by then, are still incredibly important to me now and have grown deeper and stronger over the years.I am grateful for the influence of my parents and middle school teachers. The work of middle school educators is critically important and valuable.