Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Thursday, May 12, 2011

Gallery (click any photo to view the gallery)

The seventh-graders' presentations featured stark photos of children who were victims of abuse.

Tansy Mullins, a first-year teacher at Lexington Traditional Magnet School, remembers writing a prize-winning essay about child abuse when she was in middle school. The impact of that experience inspired an assignment for her LTMS seventh-graders with special needs.

“It actually has engaged them quite a bit. They’ve really taken off with it,” said Mullins, who introduced the idea in April during National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The kids’ creativity impressed her and a representative of Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky who helped judge the classroom presentations this week.

The goal was to educate their peers and the staff through various media. As they researched the sometimes difficult-to-comprehend topic, the students realized the gravity of the problem.

“It’s sad, and it shouldn’t happen,” said Brandon Lopez, who teamed up with a classmate to make a video showing the effects of child abuse. “It makes me wonder …”

Another group wrote and performed a rap song with their video. Other students prepared individual projects such as a poem, a speech and a collage. Mullins gave them plenty of leeway to explore different avenues of learning and expression.

State statistics, graphic photographs and real-life examples like a couple trying to sell an unwanted baby all gave weight to the short presentations. The rap’s haunting refrain – “Child abuse is so wrong, wrong, wrong” – was particularly poignant.

“Any child can be abused,” noted the rap team’s Elijah McKinney. “It can be anyone.”

Mullins, whose support skills class helps with social skills and culture acclimation, was proud of the kids’ legwork and the final products.

“I want them to take away the experience of doing something educational and powerful on a more personal level,” she said. “I also want them to understand that they are agents of change and they can take a stance on social issues.”

Project sample

• "Stop the Silence," a poem by seventh-grader Cameron Rankin

Resources

• Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky; 1-800-CHILDREN