Columbus Day Debates

We love debating as a way of developing critical thinking, practicing analytical skills, and thinking through persuasive arguments before we start writing them down as essays. Today, on Columbus Day (still a federal holiday), we had our students debate whether or not Columbus Day should be a holiday.

To set up this lesson, we have the students in two groups and give each group a different text.  One is framed to be pro Columbus and one is framed to be anti Columbus. We have them read and learn more about Christopher Columbus and then we offer them the opportunity to choose a side for the debate.

This series of lesson serves to introduce debating and giving them an opportunity to be try it out themselves, help students recognize the problematic nature of history from one perspective, and demonstrate that author’s purpose really does make a difference.  We go on to teach more lessons about critical reading and looking at language used, voices heard or omitted, and facts emphasized to understand the author’s perspective and biases.

This year, we were pleasantly surprised that only a few students wanted to be on the pro Columbus Day side of the debate. Many were undecided or in the middle, which was resolved after they went through the debate experience. We did hear the usual, “If he hadn’t come here we would never be here” argument as the lack of authentic or humanized Native American peoples in history, society, their lives means they identity with Columbus.

We also had to teach our students to say “discovered” in quotes, but they don’t fully understand how problematic that is until we give them an example that relates to them. Also, it is so hard to stop the “he discovered America” narrative because they have heard it SO. MANY. TIMES! No matter how many times we show them a map with his route to the Caribbean, it is something they “know” and is in mainstream society’s collective “knowledge” and consciousness.

The students continue to say that they enjoy learning about history even when it is painful, and that they prefer to know more sides to a story and something closer to the truth. They asked about why we (as adults and schools) continue to not correct the narrative and share more of the truth.  They had many thoughtful questions about why weren’t they taught the correct events and wanted to know why we (as a society) still teach children that Columbus was a good person?

Related resource:

Reconsider Columbus Day

Zinn Education Project: Abolish Columbus Day

 

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How do we START? Setting up a community that talks about current events!

Is it only Wednesday? There's so much happening this week!

The world keeps spinning! In our classroom especially there is a buzz about the upcoming election (especially the debates) and protests on protests on protests. One realm of protests our students have some background on in different capacities are the Black Lives Matter protests, largely the sports related ones. Another area of protest news that we have had energy around is water protectors against the DAPL (largely from us, because that protest has had a severe LACK of coverage).

All of this is to say, while we have been working hard in 5th grade to tackle routines and settle in for the school year-- the world continues on! Finding the time and space to be informed about these news stories and issues can seem daunting and frustrating.

Meet… the current event case studies block!

We created this block using only one hour of instructional time to give our students the time to get 'briefed' on multiple different news issues. We do what many people call a jigsaw.

How it works:

• Students vote for issues they are excited and interested about.

• They get assigned a work group in which they study a topic (Immigration to the US, Campaign 2016, BLM, Water Protection.. etc)

• They are given a document with a list of resources. One resource is a 'Must read' and is an overview of their topic. We also provided some "Must watch" resources for some groups.

• Once they have completed the mandatory reading, they had choices of reading anything from the second list of resources. We love to find places for choice!

• Then they had time to talk with their group and take notes: What did they learn? What is going on around their issue? What are they still wondering about?

• They prep to share for a collective 2 minutes (in an informal way). They need to be ready to brief the class so we can all be filled in on the topic.

The benefits:

• They are excited about reading the news and the world around them

• They practice research skills without feeling like it is tied to a big project (it has been a great spot to observe how our students approach research at the beginning of the year)

• Independent time and group time give them multiple ways to process tough information and build on their ideas

• They have some ownership to be in front of the classroom with the responsibility of filling the rest of us in on what they have learned

• It is dynamic (and fun!)  

• It gives us a great starting point and a basic foundation about these issues for every single student

• It sets us up as educators to be responsive and to continue to have conversations and bring in different news stories as the year progresses

We love current event case studies as a way to get the year started and as an accessible way to progress with integrating world events into our curriculum. We highly recommend it! How do you all get started talking about the news with your students? Colleagues?

More soon! 

Nina + Gabby 

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Service Learning Possibilities for the Year!

Service learning has been really tricky for us in the past as it can feel contrived or otherizing or at the very least, feel less than meaningful for our students.

Below are two ideas we have to incorporate thoughtful, beneficial service learning into our new school year.

We are very excited about some programs that are in the Dominican Republic, specifically, Alta Gracia, which would go really well with our Economics unit. Alta Gracia pays their workers a living wage and says that, "In addition to this salary, we respect our employees’ rights as workers and as human beings, including the right to a safe and healthy workplace, the right to be treated with dignity and respect on the job, and the right to form a union." We met with Alta Gracia employees and multiple union leaders and workers this summer, and feel like this could be a great conversation and mutually beneficial experience for our students and the company.

The other piece we have been thinking about is the Dakota Access Pipeline. Any of you who follow our work know that we care deeply and work to educate ourselves and our students as much as possible about Indigenous peoples' histories, struggles, and excellence, and to do our best to be in solidarity. We are thinking about how we might get our students involved in this conversation in an effective way.  We have already told them when we planned on attending protests and offered them the option of helping us make/decorate our signs!

Please, please fill us in if you have thoughts and skills on incorporating service learning into your classroom. This is definitely an area we want to grow!

More soon.

Nina and Gabby

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Introducing Goodreads!

Our students were beyond excited to learn all about Goodreads! They feel grown up having graduated from physical “reading logs” and love the social interaction Goodreads provides. It is much more dynamic than reading logs as you update what you are currently reading (so the page by page tracking option is still there) and what you want to read in the future. Also, when you finish a book, you rate it, review it, and can recommend it to others!  In a classroom where we really could talk about books all day, Goodreads provides a framework for reviewing and recommending books as well as a meaningful way to get ideas for new books to read.

Some of our more competitive and numbers minded students also love the “challenge” option and how Goodreads automatically keeps track of the number of books you read.  They set goals for the number of books they hope to read in the remaining months of 2016 and thought critically about what was realistic for them as a reader and how to make sure they could meet their goals.  They also LOVE keeping track of each other's challenges as it is far more interesting than looking at your own!

Our last year’s students called Goodreads “book book” (“Facebook for books” - took us a while to figure that out!) and many of them continue to update their profiles and interact with us through Goodreads even though it is not required for class (and we are no longer technically their teachers). It has been a wonderful tool to help us usher our students into being “grown up” readers who read for fun, think critically about their books, and develop their knowledge and interests through reading!

How do you motivate your students to be social, active, and analytical readers?

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My Homework on the 1st Day of School

Every year on the first day of school (or Teacher's New Year as we like to call it), we ask our students to write a letter to themselves detailing their expectations, hopes, and goals for the year ahead. Tomorrow, we will collect their (sealed) letters and put them away until the last day of school. It is always fun to watch students laugh as they open their letters at the end of the school year and are shocked by their growth (as writers, learners, and more) and how their perceptions and expectations have changed!

Below is my letter to myself:

Dear (future) Nina,

No matter how many first days of school you teach, they always feel the same: exciting, exhausting, and nerve-wracking! There are so many things I am joyfully anticipating this year: a third year in a row teaching the same grade at the same school with the same co-teacher (unprecedented stability for me), mentoring an apprentice teacher, and adding more "action" components to our social justice curriculum, to name a few.

It also seems like every year my students get younger. Today, looking at their faces, I was surprised how  emotional I felt about wanting to protect them from the world. My students are in fifth grade and initially seemed so grown up to me compared to my former first graders. I also am a huge proponent of talking about the news at school (in a developmentally appropriate way, of course). But today, looking at their faces and thinking about so many things that happened over the summer, I just wanted to shield them. I just wanted to keep them safe from harm and hurt. This is always our first priority as teachers, but my feelings today were more visceral than practical.

We had our students write top ten lists about themselves: the top ten things you should know about _______. One of my students wrote that he loves school. Another wrote that she is not a morning person (modeled after a similar point on my top ten list). They were beyond thrilled to read what their teachers wrote about and had follow up questions and remembered details related to the facts shared. One of my students told me over lunch that he had heard we have a "puberty" unit. He looked suspicious, but simultaneously very curious.  That juxtaposition of emotions is precisely why our health and wellness unit is so essential.

Tomorrow, I will put a copy of this letter in an envelope, seal it, and put it away until the last day of the school year.  My students and co-teachers will do the same.  Hopefully, when we open our letters to our future selves, we will be amused by the limits of our expectations and find that we have broadly surpassed them.

What were your impressions on the first day of school?  Do you have reflections to help students record where they were at the beginning of the year? I would love to hear thoughts and variations on the first day of school letter!

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Preparing for the school year: Post #2: Things we are changing!

And we're back to continue our reflection on preparing for the upcoming school year.

In this post we want to share with you some of the things we want to change for the upcoming school year.

Change is constant, and we are excited to take it on, even as it brings some discomfort (and often a little extra work) into our lives. As Emily Style says, "Half the curriculum walks in the room with the students on the first day.." Which to us means that this list will most definitely get a whole lot longer and intricate as the year progresses!

We are going to try…

Mini-home groups:

• We already made a push to have affinity groups at our school. We now run an affinity group for 3-5th graders that we feel has brought so much life and love to our students of color. We love it so much that we have been wondering how to bring even more of that into our classroom, so that it isn't just that once a week moment where our SOC attendees feel exceptionally seen and heard.

• As a result, we are going to test out having little 'advisories' within our classroom. We are going to have to be creative about this schedule-wise (never enough time!) but we are willing to take on the headache to test this out.

• We have some new students this year, as well. We love the idea of a group of six kids getting to really know each other, have each other's backs, decompress together (especially after tough talks about the news), and take turns sharing together in a conversational community.

• We also love the seeds this space sows for storytelling and honoring one another's stories. We can get them well on their way feeling comfortable sharing from their own point of view as storytellers, before we have even begun our storytelling unit!

• We are going to try to facilitate with them as teachers at least once every two weeks to ensure a safe space and check in on how it is going. Depending on how things go, we will release our facilitation process (ideally!) as the year goes on.

Differentiating homework more effectively:

• This is something we are going to keep thinking about. See our post from our Differentiated Instruction conference here. We are going to be thinking (as always, but even more so) about differentiation and student support all year. Stay tuned.

Service Learning Work:

• We love the work our students do with SOME (So Others Might Eat) in which they create portraits of seniors who visit the SOME program.

• In general, however, we have struggled with how to do service learning work in a way that doesn't set up an 'us' / 'them' dichotomy and that is realistic about what is actually 'helpful'. We recognize that 26 ten year olds running around a quiet space so they can feel like they 'gave back' is not helpful. We also want to constantly question this notion that students already have about who needs help and who does the helping. This is a lot for 5th graders, and thus, we haven't quite figured it out yet ;).

• However, this year, we do want to teach/inquire specifically into the dynamics of help, and discuss working with people and organizations and talk through how we might do that.

• Two possibilities that are on our minds are working with Alta Gracia around labor rights and activism about the Dakota Access Pipeline

There are other things we will change, of course, but these are the big ideas we are mulling over.

In the meantime, let us know what kind of changes you have made (or think we should make!) that have improved your communities and your classrooms. We are always looking to make 5th grade better!

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Preparing for the school year Post #1: Things we are keeping!

It is that time again (ahhh how does it happen so fast?!) We know many of our fellow teachers and friends have already begun.. To those colleagues we wish you a joyful, honest, and growth-filled school year!

This summer was full. On a global and national level, it was full of pain, confusion, and fear. There is also Olympic excitement. There are protests continuing on for the Dakota Access Pipeline… The list goes on.

For us personally and professionally, the summer was full for those aforementioned reasons, and also because we traveled a lot, went to a few conferences, and listened a lot. We see summer as an integral part of educator reflection.

As we head into the school year, we want to share with you the kinds of questions we ask ourselves to prepare for the amazing humans we will foster community with in a few short weeks.

This will be a multi-part post as we think about the coming year in two sections: Things we want to keep and things we want to change.

So here is a peek at the.. THINGS WE ARE KEEPING !

• Talking about the news. (We could go on and on about the importance of this, and the privilege we have as teachers at our institution to do so, but for now, just know we think it is EXCEPTIONALLY IMPORTANT). Along these lines we will continue to:

• • Use Newsela.com as a way of talking about the news with our students.

  • Send resources home to parents about why talking about the news with students is important and valuable and how they can support that work at home (two resources we share here, and here)

• Experiential Learning and Simulations

  • We will continue to do our anarchy, republicanism, totalitarianism simulations, along with the many other simulations we do in our classroom. We always go back and think of how to do them better, and this year we might even have a couple new ones we created this summer. Regardless, we know this is a key way our students get invested, have fun, feel challenged.. And learn!

  • We will also be keeping the reflections that we require our students to do both written and frequently verbally as well. One of our all time favorite prompts for pretty much any kind of reflection which will continue to use is.. "I used to think… but now I am thinking.." This prompt is gold. Trust us and try it!

• Practicing routines, revisiting routines, and having students name and clarify what they should look like/feel like/sound like.. Along with naming why we have them.

  • This works as the foundation of our classroom management and the community norms in our classroom. We work hard on our classroom covenant (see blog post here) and students having ownership over the space and expectations is so beneficial for all of us.

• A (fake) class pet.

  • Call us nutty, but we love the energy and the life that an inanimate object brings into the classroom. From inside jokes to true companionship, we find real love and memories form around our pet! This year we have a new class pet (a bird!) brought back from the DR who only understands Spanish. Let the language immersion begin! It might be a mess… we will keep you posted!

And those, among other things, naturally, are some key pieces of things we have done in the past that we have re-thought and are intentionally keeping in our wheelhouse this upcoming year. Let us know below what staple things you are keeping in your classroom or community that work and that you love. They might just be added to our next post about things we are going to modify for the upcoming year!

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Social Justice Tour to the Dominican Republic!

We were very fortunate to join a group of educators for a Friends Beyond Borders Social Justice Tour through the Dominican Republic earlier this summer. We loved exploring and learning more about a stunningly beautiful country as well as getting to know and collaborating with other educators.

Our trip covered so much ground and inspired a lot of reflection, so we will most likely be coming back to it in many future blog posts.  For now, here are a few key takeaways:

• Diverse authors: My main context for background information about Dominican history and culture came from Junot Diaz books. This background helped me make connections and build upon previous knowledge.  This is why diverse authors and voices are so important! Also, (sidenote) why do I know so little about a country the US has occupied twice in the last century?

  • Once starting on May 5, 1916

  • Once starting on April 28, 1965

Learning about the oh-so-incredible Mirabal sisters.

• The “developing” world: How do we understand poverty in different contexts? How can we talk about vast discrepancies in standards of living in other communities with students without dehumanizing or “otherizing” people experiencing poverty? How can we balance between confronting the reality of socioeconomic inequalities and simultaneously avoiding one dimensional interpretations or conceptualizations of a nation or people?

• Columbus’s legacy: his actions and racist policies still affect ALL OF US today. Part of the motivation for the genocide of the Taino people was to make way for African slaves. Also, “extreme” poverty in the developing world is not an accident. It is related to historically racist policies!

Visiting the Alta Gracia factory!

• Economics: we study Economics with our fifth graders and learn all about the labor force. After visiting the Alta Gracia factory, these issues came to life for us in a new way and now we are thinking about workers’ rights and humane conditions. Also, we need to add a more deliberate action component to this unit as there are real opportunities for activism here! As consumers, we really can vote with our money.

Please let us know your thoughts and reflections.  We would love suggestions or just to hear about what or how you are teaching!  Stay tuned as we try out some new things this school year!

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SEED 2016: Seattle!

Gabby here!

I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to learn a great deal at the National SEED Project this past week. SEED charges itself with "creating conversational communities that drive change" and then trains facilitators. The newly trained facilitators (now me!) go back to their communities and continue the work of creating a space for intentional conversations.

I had an incredible time spending a week with the facilitators of SEED. There are so many layers to the program and so much that I am processing that I am not currently able to explain.

However, below are some key takeaways that I will be bringing back to my classroom (and life) from all of the amazing people and the awesome work we did at SEED Seattle 2016!

1. "Windows" and "Mirrors"

SEED uses windows as a way of seeing into a perspective that is new to you, and mirrors as getting to see yourself. We used this terminology to reflect on other's stories. Regardless of whether or not something was a window or mirror, taking the space to notice windows and mirrors was valuable and bonded us. It also sparked a lot of conversations within our community. In the classroom, I cannot wait to use this language and framework with the students. We believe good teaching is when students constantly get to see windows and mirrors of themselves and others!

2. Let it get messy (and REALLY LET IT!)

We did so much self reflective work at SEED.  Sometimes the reflection or conversation was joyous, sometimes painful, and always personal. In retrospect, I am so grateful for our facilitators who gave space and modeled leaning into arguments, confrontation, and taking the time and space to try again. I re-learned that while something can feel like a huge mess, that mess is actually one of the most valuable ways to reflect, analyze, and really truly learn something. We did some great learning as a group from the messes we made and then worked through together. More messes, please!

3. Timers.

They are uncomfy, rigid, and a little stressful. HOWEVER, they give space for more voices (or all voices) to be heard, and they can create an automatic space for airtime. Big fan.

4. Serial check ins.

This just means going around the entire group to see how everyone is doing or what they are thinking. These are done before a meeting or class period and end the period as well. I loved serial testimony as a way of hearing all voices. You need a timer for this or the prompt "one word or phrase..." in order for it to be efficient and effective. People can always "pass," but I loved knowing where everyone in the group was at. Sometimes, during a serial testimony, one person would say "Hopeful!" and another person during that same check in would say "Hurt". I found it important for the entire group to be aware of those differences and valuable as a teammate and community member.

5. More check ins.

I am now a huge proponent of setting time to check in with one another, and remind students (colleagues, peers.. Family members!) to circle back to one another.

Check ins can be about anything, for example check in about...

… something they said... (maybe a microaggression or something offensive?)

… consent to hug one another or touch someone's back...

… an odd signal you got from someone..

… how they are feeling...

More check ins all around, please! Check ins promoted honesty, personal growth and reflection, and ultimately more intimate relationships for me at SEED.

Finally, I want to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the training and Founding Co-director Emily Style's observation in 1981 and 2014 publications that,

"Half the curriculum walks in the room with the students, in the textbooks of their lives"

And that's it for now! 

Sending love out to all the amazing people I met at SEED last week! I am looking forward to co-facilitating a faculty SEED group at our school this year. Check back and see how I am doing and new reflections I have!

SDE Differentiated Instruction Conference!

Hello and happy July!

We are writing to you from the SDE 2016 Differentiated Instruction Conference in Las Vegas, where we are learning as much as we can about differentiated instruction! 

When we are not wondering about how the temperature can be 115 degrees or why there is a fake sky inside, we have found numerous takeaways we can't wait to bring back to the classroom. Below are a few different reminders and insights we would like to share with you! They cover a range of tips from the vast world of differentiation.

1. We (still) love Pop-up Debates !

We do these in our classroom and we loved hearing about how others do debates in their rooms/schools. We are re-committed to using these as a way to talk through news articles, get content moving, and especially excited to keep using debates before our Persuasive Essay unit. We were reminded to use templates to give students practice for how to paraphrase an argument, and then agree & add on, disagree, or complicate.

Paraphrase

"_____ you're basically saying _________.. "

AND THEN add on one of the options below:

Disagree with reasons

• "The primary problem with that is _________"

• "The reason that your statement can’t stand is__________"

• "I don’t agree because _________"

Complicate

• Well crafted question that makes the other person go back and unravel what they/you just said

• "But I can also see _____ being true.."

• "Do you think you might be missing ________?"

• "Isn’t it more complicated than that, though? I mean, what about________?"

Agree & Add on

• "I agree with what you are saying and I want to add on________"

• "You're on point and here's another reason why_______"

(example template inspired by They Say, I Say)

We were also just reminded how teaching students how to disagree and argue is such an important life skill!

"The goal is not victory but a good decision, one in which all arguers are at risk of needing to alter their views , one in which a participant takes seriously and fairly the views different from his or her own." -Richard Fulkerson, Teaching the Argument in Writing (1996)
 

2. ABC Brainstorm! 

We love this idea of an Alphabet Brainstorm to get everyone involved and connecting to prior knowledge. For example, if the topic is MUSIC, students would brainstorm alone/in pairs/in groups and try to fill in the entire alphabet. We are going to do this to assess background knowledge of a topic! This is a fun tool we are going to keep playing with in terms of grouping students, as well so we can make groups based off of their answers and interests (and not just on 'level').

3. Change your verbs!  

Changing verbs alters the complexity of the prompt, and can push students to think outside the box. We especially like "Defend.." (going back to debate practice) as a challenging one we will try out. We also like "Rank.." as a quick check in prompt to see what they are understanding in an easily accessible, quick bullet point way. We are going to try some of these out more often this upcoming school year!

We love these reminders of ways to change the game and individualize the task for each student!

5. There are so many different ways of being smart!

We really appreciated the reminder about assessing for multiple intelligences (thanks, Howard Gardner via Danielle Hickerson!) and the importance of knowing yourself as a learner. This school year, we will work extra hard to make sure we are teaching to all different learning styles and giving EVERYONE a chance to excel.

What insights have you come across this summer in terms of differentiated instruction? What are some of your favorite tools? Tips? Activities?

We'd love to hear from you!

Social Justice Scope and Sequence Project

Now that it is FINALLY summer (happy summer, teachers!  Congratulations on the end of the school year!) We had free time to work on a summer curriculum and instruction program within our entire school. We compiled a social justice education scope and sequence based on existing work and needs from an anti-bias perspective.  I (Nina) worked with one of the Art teachers and our author in residence to come up with common vocabulary, document existing work, and identify gaps or areas we'd like to see more work done.  For reference, our school is K-8 and independent with one class per grade.

First of all, it was fascinating and inspiring to hear about and detail the work our colleagues are doing!  We have some amazing investigative work around gender in Kindergarten, work around social class, wealth, poverty, and food insecurity in first grade, action and advocacy in second, and so much more!  As a fifth grade teacher, I am so grateful my colleagues who lay the groundwork for what we try to do and of course, also the colleagues who follow up after our students leave us!

We did our best to compile resources and vocabulary to address gaps in programming that we addressed.  Some online resources we loved for this quest where: Teaching Tolerance Classroom Resources, Perspectives for a Diverse America, and Teaching for Change Booklists!

One of the gaps we noticed was around ableism.  In our 5th grade classroom, we do a "What is DisAbility?" investigation, but agreed that we needed conscious teaching around ability and language use starting much earlier.

We also created a vocabulary list with simplified and more specific definitions to use as a professional resource, with students, and as a reference for common language across the school.  We are very excited to see our exhaustive vocabulary list in action next year!

Please comment and tell us any ideas, suggestions, or connections you have.  How does social justice education build in your school or practice?  What resources inspire you??

Our Storytelling Unit!

The year is wrapping up in 5th grade! Where has the time gone?! We love many things about the end of the school year, but our favorite is the culmination of our Storytelling Unit. We have a big Final Stage show in which every single one of our 26 students steps up onto the stage and tells a true story LIVE!

There are so many reasons why we love teaching storytelling. It is rigorous, social justice oriented, colorful, and has the power to be incredibly personal and meaningful. We love how it opens up spaces for each student's voice, and we love how it allows space for deeper connections with family friends, especially in the act of reflection. However, this year, we had our students fill out a survey so we could have a sense of what they thought about studying the craft of storytelling. Check out some of their thoughts below!

On what IS storytelling anyway?

G: I have learned that storytelling is more than words coming out of your mouth. It is a memory, a feeling and a meaning. I have learned how strong that is.

C: One thing I learned about story telling is that a real story has to have all these things that some memories don't.  I could have told a lot of different stories but they might not have meaning or change so they can't be a story.

R: Other than learning about what storytelling is in the first place, I have learned about how to make a sad story happy, and how to make a memory have meaning. I have also learned how to take these memories that I have and make myself learn something valuable that I will always carry with me.

On what storytelling taught us about others:

G:I have learned that everyone has their own thoughts running through their brains that I do not know about. They have things that I do not know about. I have to respect that.

R:I have learned about so many stories that people in my class have gone through. I have learned what people really felt during different times.

G2: I have learned what some people like and don’t like, I have learned what people have done in the past and if they liked it or not, and best of all I have more info about my friends and what might upset them if I somehow bring the subject up.  I also learned a lot of new messages that I didn’t have in my stories and now I can use those new messages in my lifetime.

S: What I have learned about others in this unit is that people have many stories to share and that if you listen, you can learn about them and get closer to friends.

On what storytelling has taught us about ourselves:

C: One thing I learned about myself is that even though I might not be the best writer and sometimes I have trouble with coming up with ideas I love the performing. I really love going on stage and performing. In a lot of the time writing is hard for me but, storytelling feels so natural because you're talking about you.

R: Other than learning that I love to tell stories I have learned so many things about myself. To list a few, I have learned that I am good at acting in the stories but I have to push myself a lot harder to find messages and to convey meanings; I have also taught myself how to push myself to do my best.

F: I have relearned these stories that were just in my head and released them from the back of my mind and let them come out of my head using words.  I have also learned these lessons from myself over again and I am going to follow the examples that I said in my story over again to be a better person.

S: What I learned about me in this unit is that I have had really meaningful experiences that I did not think were important, and that I could not see the value in the experience. Now I see value in lots of experiences I have had.

E: I think that writing this reflection right now is what is helping me learn about storytelling. This is because this reflection is giving me the time to sit back and and realize all these things about storytelling. There were moments during the storytelling unit where I was mad, or nervous, or unsure, or rushed, or many other things. Now, I can see beyond that and I realize that this unit, even though it has probably been the most challenging writing unit I have ever had in my years at Sheridan, it has helped me a lot. And I think I am learning from all the challenges that our storytelling unit presented.

And finally, they wouldn't be 5th graders without some spunk (and emojis!):

G: Can you please tell the people who thought that we were too young for storytelling that this was one of the best writing units ever and that I had so much fun telling my story and hearing others! Thank you. (;

We hope even if you don't have time for a full blown storytelling unit, that you find spaces to hear and share stories in your classrooms and communities. If you are thinking about a storytelling unit or workshop and are on the fence-- please take it on! If you need any support, feel free to reach out to us, we'd love to talk about it with you!

Tribe Case Studies

Our final Social Studies project for this year was a case study of a Virginia Indian tribe. We wanted students to learn about the peoples who have been in this area for thousands of years and understand that each tribe is different.  For the final product, students wrote a top ten list indicating the top ten things you should know about this tribe. They also designed an annotated illustration to go along with their top ten lists.  We were very impressed with their work. 

One of our students who studied the Rappahanock Tribe reflected: 

"This particular tribe and many other tribes are facing a challenge that is that they do not have enough money. This is because of the white settlers pretty much completely. Many of them live on their reservation but if they did not many of them would be having a tough time finding shelter or even not able to find shelter. Some of them are facing the problem of other people judging them for their race and that they are a Native American. One member said they were in a gas station and going to the bathroom but the station said white on one door and black on the other and they did not know where to go. I think that people do not recognize Native Americans in general nearly as much as they should. Sometimes it seems like people think that Native Americans don’t have feelings. Sometimes people make it seem like Native Americans aren’t even human which is completely false and totally not true. In a couple of the videos we watched in class some people acted like Native American were not humans. When I heard that I thought why don’t they think white people aren’t humans. I think they are facing these challenges because when the white settlers came they acted as if they had lots of power and they were very mean to the Native people. I think these things are happening because of this. If when the white settlers came the Native people acted like the white people I think the people would be saying these rude comments and acting like this to the white people."

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One of our students who studied the Patawomeck Tribe created this illustration to showcase some of the amazing things about the tribe.

Update from the Classroom: Covenant Usurp Simulation!

Background: 

Following the Responsive Classroom model, the norms and expectations in our classroom are called our 'covenant'. 

In our classroom, we spend the first month and a half (!) trying to sort out what we value individually and as a class, so that we can create a covenant that feels true to us. We have three dynamic simulations in which students 'experience' Anarchy, Totalitarianism, and Republicanism.  After each class period, we reflect on each government model to decide what we like best about it. We take these positive aspects and try to figure out how we want our classroom to run and which pieces we would like to incorporate into our community. The covenant is a labor of love and becomes all their own. This year, our class created a written covenant, a song (they are an incredibly musical bunch), and a logo which was "reproduced" (AKA copied and laminated) for everyone to put on their lockers, computers, notebooks etc.. 

The idea is that our students sincerely care about their covenant. 

One simulation we do as a part of our Indigenous American/ American Indian/ Native American Studies unit is to have our covenant... usurped! 

How it works: 

This simulation requires 6th graders (older students) to come into the classroom and they tell the 5th graders that their rules are useless, they will not be prepared for 6th grade, and ultimately, they give the 5th grade class new and 'better' rules. We then dramatically take down all aspects of our covenant and the 5th graders become upset and frustrated. We spend the rest of the day/lesson abiding by the new rules put on us by the 6th graders. 

*FYI. Prior to this simulation we have given students plenty of background about European contact, along with discussed methods for oppressing Native people in the US (extermination, assimilation in boarding schools, forced into debt, reservations...). 

The response and reflection: 

This simulation is a visceral experience for students as their rules, community, and classroom culture is taken away from them by a group of people who have no context to who they are or what they have been working on all year. As we debrief this simulation we STRESS repeatedly that we would NEVER want to simulate any actual aspect of disenfranchisement of Indigenous people, and that this experience is a mere sliver of shallow understanding that might create more space for empathy as we continue our unit (and our lives). We come back to this point repeatedly. 

This covenant usurp simulation helped students be more invested in our discussions and learning about  people who have been in the Maryland and Virginia areas for thousands of years. We especially love the passion they bring to their work after this simulation, and their increased determination to comprehend  American history better, from essential points of view, and in more depth. 

Pocahontas Investigation!

In our classroom we have a Social Studies unit focused on Virginia's (and Maryland's) Indigenous people. This unit developed after we noticed that our students had no idea about the people, cultures, and communities that have been on this land for thousands of years.

One part of this unit that we are just getting into is an investigation about the one and only Pocahontas. She is from a tribe in the Virginia area, called the Pamunkey (part of the Powhatan Confederacy) and thus is very relevant. She also was a source of great interest to our students-- so we went with it!

Investigations are a great way to get students (or anyone!) invested in a conversation, and gives the space for everyone to get some more background information before taking on a heavier or more dynamic conversation.

Our Pocahontas Investigation was structured by having small groups (3-4 students) doing what is typically called a jigsaw format. Each group received multiple resources.

The resources were things like:

• letter from the Powhatan nation about Pocahontas
• lyrics from a song in the Disney movie (we used the first verse and chorus of the song Savages)
• images of her from different sources
• news articles
• a Brainpop video

Each group received a worksheet to track what they were thinking/finding from their resources. Students had multiple time warnings, including a heads up of when to begin to organize what they want to share with the larger group. Finally, each group shared their conclusions.

Here are some of our students’ reflections from this investigation:

• You need to look at multiple resources that take on multiple perspectives in order to fully understand a story

• The Pocahontas story we learned from Disney is not historically accurate. (See the image above: our students were astounded that Pocahontas was talking to a willow tree when willow trees were not yet in North America!)

• The stereotype of Native Americans/ American Indians/ Indigenous people being 'savages' and 'uncivilized' is in so much of our media. We know from our study of some awful American history along with our modern day work that this is a troubling stereotype we need to continue to counter.

• Images and language around Pocahontas and other Indigenous American people continue to be demeaning*, showing them as not counting as 'human' which we think might connect to the way they were treated.. thinking about extermination, boarding schools, reservations and even land allocation and broken treaties today.

• Harmful stereotypes about anyone hurt all of us.  As one student put it, "almost of the things through history that are bad all have to do with stereotypes like women being weak."

*Our class has had multiple dynamic (and far from unanimous!) conversations about mascots as one present day way students shared that they see 'Native American people'. It was awesome to see and hear them come back around to that!

 Let us know if you do anything similar or give this type of format a try! Also, please feel free to ask clarifying questions below. We aren't always sure exactly how many details to share and would be happy to explain more if need be!

Stay tuned for more updates from our classroom!

Unexpected thanks and support from a parent

This week, we shared a note in our all school newsletter about our presentation at the White Privilege Conference.  We were surprised and touched when a parent of a former student came to tell us she read our newsletter addition and she was so happy to hear about us sharing our work with a larger audience!  

Apparently, our work with her child last year changed the way she thought about inequity, structural poverty, racism and more. This has impacted her role as a teacher at an inter-faith Sunday school as they now do activities that she said she never would have thought of before we taught her child. She said that from experiential activities even the young students were able to understand more abstract concepts because they were engaged and felt something. She was thrilled to see that we are  reaching other adults and educators.

It's always lovely to hear positive memories from a former student or parent, but knowing we inspired other social justice teaching was even better!  Thank you for making our day. Keep us posted on the awesome work you all are doing out there! 

Facilitating at the White Privilege Conference

We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to facilitate a workshop at the White Privilege Conference in Philadelphia this past weekend.  We presented our workshop, Is This Equitable?: Experiential Learning Activities to Confront White Privilege and White Supremacy on Sunday twice and really enjoyed hearing feedback, ideas, questions, and suggestions from other conference attendees.

For our first activity, we had our participants draw people based off of descriptions we provided.  This led to a fruitful discussion about internalized bias and stereotypes and how this activity can be used to claim and work through unconscious racism and prejudices we all had.  The act of drawing people and then confronting the tangible visual of who you envisioned versus who we were actually describing creates cognitive dissonance and makes privilege real and personally relevant. We talked about how we use this activity as a way of combating 'post-racial' comments students were sharing, and quite literally pointing out that racism is very present and real (and within most of us!) today. 

For our second activity, we talked through a pom pom simulation we created to teach our students about privilege and systemic poverty and oppression. We were unable to do the activity with the participants due to time and space constraints, but we explained the three rounds with them and brainstormed parallel patterns and occurrences in life and society.

We are feeling energized and enthusiastic about continuing this work and collaborating with others!  We hope to get out and do some workshops at other schools and organizations as well as learn more about others' efforts.  Some questions we were asked that we are still pondering include:

• How do we make sure that students understand these systems of oppression hurt all of us?
•  How can this work be done in public schools or schools with more structured and less flexible curriculum demands?  
• How do you do this work depending on the demographics and space in your classroom?

Please share your thoughts, comments, and questions below!  We want to hear from you.  Let's stay connected.