Martin Luther King Day in 2023

When Barbara Walters died at the end of December, I saw a tweet noting that she and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were born the same year (1929) and that is how much (potential) life was stolen from him. It was a stark reminder for me. This year marks 55 years since Dr. King was assassinated. 

How to best address Martin Luther King Day in the classroom is a constant question for us. We’ve written about it before and always wonder what the best approach is. Doing or saying nothing doesn’t feel right, but neither does a quick one day activity. You can read about our approach last year here: MLK Day 2022: Reminders & Ideas and our approach with 5th graders here: Observing MLK Day in the Classroom. Teaching the History of Voting Rights in the USA is also always a timely reminder and important lesson.

There are so many book lists out there already, so we will just share a few books for read aloud ideas below. I keep coming back to thinking about his larger legacy and the legacy of his family members (especially Coretta Scott King) as well. Even if you don’t end up reading the books to your entire class, you can have them available for students who would like to learn more.  (Thanks to Diverse Book Finder for inspiration in my search for read alouds).

Coretta Scott by Ntozake Shange and Kadir Nelson (pictured above).

I have a dream by Martin Luther King and Kadir Nelson

Love will see you through by Angela Farris Watkins and Sally Wern Comport (written by Dr. King’s niece),

Someday is now by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Jade Johnson (I definitely need to learn more about Clara Luper!).

One last note - many schools and communities have a day of service in honor of Dr. King. Make sure your students know why this is taking place and answer their questions (they will have questions!).

Teaching about Elections

Happy Election Day Eve! I know many of us are feeling a lot about the election, and waiting for the results will make for an anxiety ridden late night. I often end up staying up too late for inconclusive results, so I have learned to turn off the TV, put my phone down, and go to bed! 

Two years ago, when we were all waiting for the presidential election to take place, addressing the topic on everyone’s mind and Teaching the History of Voting Rights in the USA actually gave me some relief and channeled some of all of our nervous energy into learning about participating in democracy and civil rights. Also, students were excited to share the way many of their family members voted (by mail, early voting, etc). We read Granddaddy’s Turn, A Journey to the Ballot Box for that lesson, but another great picture book to use to start the lesson is Lillian's Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Teaching is inherently political as you are always choosing what to teach, how to teach, whose voices to include, and more, but depending on your school situation and whatever is best for you and your students, you can also just teach about the process and answer student questions instead of leaning into the political discussion. Remember children pick up on the anxiety adults are feeling around them and they hear, see, and notice EVERYTHING. So giving them time to talk and process and put words to the feelings going on around them and for them is always helpful. 

Also, in case election results are rough, here is a reminder from an incredibly hard day in the past: Post-Election in 5th Grade.

Newsela has some great resources too. This article: What's at stake in midterm elections? Here's what to watch before Election Day could also be a great starting place as a way to give students background information, or this text set: Midterm Elections 2022: Introduction  would work for a more in-depth exploration.

Two books that I haven’t yet gotten the chance to read, but look intriguing and potentially good fits for an election related lesson are The President of the Jungle and Equality’s Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America. For younger students, Grace for President or Duck for President have both worked well for me in the past.

One other thing to consider is talking to students about local elections, as the national elections often occupy most of the news coverage, but local issues might resonate with students more and give them more of an opportunity to relate to the lesson and see how things work in their community.

Some other useful election resources are below. The first link is a video I have not yet had the opportunity to share with students, but think it has potential for a lot of learning, discussing, and more. Some students might be very familiar with disenfranchisement of specific populations, while others will be shocked to know it takes place today.

Should People Convicted of a Crime Be Allowed to Vote?

2022 Election Teaching Resources for Midterms

The Election Collection | PBS LearningMedia

Teaching Resources for the US Elections - Facing History

Voting and Elections | Resources for a Civil Classroom

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MLK Day 2022: Reminders & Ideas

Photo credit: https://www.childrensbookworld.com/book/9781629799391 

Another 3rd grade teacher I know had a colleague forward her a link to an Art of Teaching post I wrote 4 years ago (a slightly modified version of this post on our blog) about teaching MLK day! It was a nice surprise and funny coincidence, as well as a welcome reminder to use primary sources with my 3rd graders.

This year, however, we went with a different approach as my co-teacher (who is new to me this school year!) had the brilliant idea of widening our focus to Dr. King’s legacy and movement and thinking about the people who came before and after him.

I also always remind educators to tie Dr. King’s work back to today and future work. This is not a one lesson or one day reminder, it is something you should think about all year. Two obvious examples of this work continuing are Black Lives Matter at School Week and Black History Month, but you don’t have to stop there.

My co-teacher helped my students (and me) learn about other people who contributed to the movement. The examples are endless, but here are a few with links to related pictures books:

• Lizzie Jennings: I had never heard of Lizzie Jennings, but she fought for her right to ride a streetcar in New York City in 1854 (100 years before Rosa Parks!). This is a wonderful story for so many reasons, but might help students conceptualize that the fight for equal rights on public transport was not limited to the South.

• Claudette Colvin: she was a 15 year old who was arrested and dragged off the bus in Montgomery for refusing to give up her seat nine months before Rosa Parks triggered the bus boycott.

• Georgia Gilmore: she sustained the Montgomery bus boycott by selling food and collecting donations. She also protected the members of her organization from employer retaliation. We read this book last year as part of work we did during Black Lives Matter at School week

Picture books are a wonderful medium for students of any age, but they are not the only option! Even if a picture book about something doesn’t exist, you can use photos, video clips, Newsela articles (or write your own!). You can always adapt materials that aren’t accessible for your students and explain to them how you did so. 

As always, we would love to hear how other educators (or families) addressed this topic or commemorated the holiday. If you didn’t have a chance due to so many factors complicating our day to day lives, remember it is never too late!

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Reflecting on our Field trip to the NMAAHC

What an AMAZING museum.

Our minds are still reeling with personal thoughts and our own identity politics, along with the incessant thinking that teachers do about every single one of their students and their learning. Our brains are on museum-fire!

Here are few things we are thinking about post-trip.

As adults -- we were reminded yet again the beauty, pain, and necessity of education. We especially loved the quote above. We also felt immensely grateful to be teaching at a (progressive and independent) school where we have autonomy over our curriculum and  discussion topics. We feel even more well-equipped (even just taking photos at the museum has given us so many resources and jumping off points). In addition, we feel even more charged to continue educating, re-educating, and unlearning with our students this year!

The students responded to the museum incredibly well. Being ten and eleven years old, they needed concrete artifacts and connections to confront the reality of slavery (and historical oppression) instead of thinking of it as a distant, past event in history. Our students found learning about ships used to transport enslaved Africans really powerful.

One student shared how one ship only arrived with only one person still alive (out of 171). He added that the conditions on the ships were terrible and Africans weren’t “being treated like people.” Another student noticed that some ships that carried slaves had names like Happy or Innocent, which really seemed like the wrong name to her, but it makes you think about perspective and how maybe what they were doing didn't seem that bad to them at the time. Our students really benefited from visiting a museum with a different perspective. One child mentioned that he often hears one narrative about Jackie Robinson, but at the museum he heard a totally different perspective about how the Negro leagues were deprived of their best players and took away some heroes from African American communities. This is, of course, a pattern we see in many avenues in our society.

For example, as adults, we see it admissions and employment and we love that they are starting to think about the complexity of a dynamic like this, in which accepting a few "model minorities" is a method of quieting the rest of that demographic and reinforcing the American Dream. Those few exceptional people who have 'made it' (ie a role model like Jackie Robinson) can now turn around to their own people and say (along with the rest of the system) "work harder and you can achieve this, too!" narrative. We won't necessarily take it there with our students, but we love that they could hear this idea explicitly at a MUSEUM!

Our students also have brains that are on museum-fire:

“I used to think that African American history was small and was mostly about being slaves. But now I’m thinking that their history is a big part in our society because they aren’t just slaves, or free, they are people and they had their own society.”

“My favorite part was learning history, even though it made me sad/upset. We can't pretend bad times didn't exist because they did and this museum made me more aware.”

We were a little apprehensive about whether or not this museum would be too much for our students. However, just as the incredible Ida B. Wells says, "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them." We feel so incredibly grateful to work as being educators (and in turn, lifelong learners), and we found ourselves especially appreciative to be educating students in this city at this time. This museum is not only a labor of our entrenched American history but it also serves as a beacon to our students to learn many truths and remind them that they can be our lights towards a more pluralistic society.

Lingering Wonderings/ Moving Forward...

Now is the time. Now is the time to call the timeout in a classroom conversation to discuss an interaction that seemed intertwined with nuances about race. Now is the time talk with our students about how complicated some pieces of this conversation are… and how clear some others are, to share with them explicitly what a movement like Black Lives Matter is all about and how it came to be.

As teachers, it is our job to move a schedule forward, meet curriculum deadlines, do that thing called grading.. It never feels like the 'right' time when we are in it. Nevertheless, our students (and kids) are not going to get any better about conversing about these integral issues.. Without practice. And quite frankly, neither are we.

So here's to all you brave conversationalists out there 'leaning in' (is that still trendy to say?) and taking on conversations that feel nerve-wracking, painful, and confusing. As we tell the students, conversations in which you have a lot of feelings are incredible things as that usually means you care and/or you are speaking your truth.

Let's get to it and keep on keepin' on! And if you get a chance, check out the NMAAHC!

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