Lessons and Literature: Intentionally Teaching Students About Histories Different Than Their Own

Intentional Lesson Planning: Why it is Important for Educators to Give Students Opportunities to Learn About Other Histories.

Elementary educators sometimes struggle to navigate conversations about race and diversity within their classrooms, it can be difficult to summarize and discuss these topics with young learners, seeing as these parts of history involve mature content that their students have usually not been introduced to. I have met many teachers who would like to avoid discussing these topics all together, but that is unacceptable and does a great disservice to the students within those classes. It is our job, as educators, to teach our students about other histories, one’s often not taught in schools, in order to equip them with the knowledge they need to know about, and prepare them for, the world around the (Cultivating Genius, pg 139). 

In order to teach any topic, educators need access to quality resources, this is especially true when teaching history, and, unfortunately, texts picked by schools today are too often not adequate, they focus on student skill and assessment, not fostering student-identity (Cultivating Genius, pg 151). The responsibility, then, falls on Educators to accumulate, provide, and teach their students with well-rounded, inclusive materials that are not always provided by their schools. It is our responsibility, as teachers, to intentionally plan lessons for our students to ensure that we are teaching them more than the white-centered curriculum includes. When educators expand the curriculum to be more diverse and inclusive all students benefit, but students of color benefit specifically because they get an opportunity to learn about content they can relate to. When educators expand course content and diversify who and what is covered, students of color often remain more engaged with the lesson because when “students are not responsive to the texts that don’t represent their identities, historicies, and literacies” (Cultivating Genius, pg. 139). When we, as educators, intentionally teach about other histories we have an opportunity to show our students of color that who they are is beautiful and who they have the potential to become is limitless. Educators can change the narrative often found in history books that supports the idea that people of color, and other marginalized groups of people, are beat down and broken, we can frame their history in a more positive, respectful way. 

Lastly, it is important for educators to plan learning opportunities that focus on other variations of history because each individual student will benefit from it. In order for our schools and classrooms to become more equitable, teachers need to intentionally teach about other, non-white euro-centric, histories in their classrooms. Teaching, and providing your students, with a diverse, culturally competent assortment of texts provides them all with the opportunity to learn from people who are like them, showing each student that their identity and culture matters, and people who are not like them, providing students within the majority an opportunity to learn the value of diversity.

Diversity in Classroom Literature: Teaching Children About Different Histories and Perspectives Through Classroom Readings

As I mentioned earlier, teaching about other histories and topics regarding race can be difficult for Educators, especially those in early childhood and elementary school classrooms, this is why many teach music, poetry, and books when covering these content areas. Books utilized during group read alouds are especially helpful because “read-aloud time to offer mirrors and windows” (Souto-Manning, Martell, & Ladson-Billings, 2016, pg. 96), meaning students have an opportunity to see themselves or learn about other perspectives through the text.  I have chosen two books I would utilize within a 3rd grade classroom to utilize in a lesson about the civil rights era and Ruby Bridges, the first book I would like to share with you is Freedom on the Menu written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue. 

Freedom on the Menu is a historical fiction children’s book, the story follows a young black girl growing up in the segregated south during the 1960’s who witnesses a sit-in organized by four of her brothers friends. Throughout the book Connie, the narrator of the story, starts to

recognize segregation and racism within her hometown. Readers will empathize with Connie as she struggles to understand why she cannot sit at the same tables, drink from the same water fountains, and why her brother’s friends must perform a sit-in to protest this treatment. The book is told from her perspective, a child’s perspective, providing the reader with a unique point of view from the civil rights era that is not often thought about. I selected this book partly because it is told from a child’s point of view, but also because both the author and illustrator of the story are black. I knew that I wanted to discuss Civil Rights and race, and since “most of the children’s books published do not represent people of color or their experiences. Moreover, books with diverse characters are not widely written by authors of color” (Cultivating Genius, pg. 138), finding a book written by a black woman, illustrated by a black man, and told from the perspective of a young black child, just made sense. 

The second book I chose is The Story of Ruby Bridges written by Robert Coles and illustrated by George Ford. The Story of Ruby Bridges is a non-fiction children’s book that

follows six-year old Ruby and her family as they move to New Orleans in hopes for a better quality of life. In the story Ruby is ordered by a judge to attend an all white school, where she was met with angry mobs and angry families who did not want to send their white children to a school with a person of color. I was hesitant to select this book and I struggled with the idea of using text written by a white man to teach about black history, but since I plan to layer content when discussing Ruby Bridges I conceded and chose this book because it is a powerful story. Coles writing style is straight-forward and thought provoking, and the illustrations done by George Ford, the first illustrator to win the Coretta Scott King award, enrich the text and make reading this story far more profound. 

Both Freedom on the Menu and The Story of Ruby Bridges have powerful themes and discuss topics related to the Civil Rights era. These books will give my students an opportunity to advance their knowledge about the Civil Rights era past the white-centered perspective often taught in schools. The books I have selected aim to, and will hopefully succeed in, helping students know themselves, their worth, and their potential, while teaching the true history of a group of people who do, or do not look like them. Additionally, these books are told from the perspective of children, I chose these books partly because of that. When I was planning this blog post and choosing my texts I worried that my target age group would struggle to empathize and understand the lesson regarding Civil Rights if it was presented to them from an adult's perspective. Introducing young learners to the concept of racism is difficult because children are not born racist, to a lot of children the idea of disliking someone because of their skin color is bizarre. My hope is that by selecting stories where the main protagonists are both children, my students will have an easier time relating to the experiences of the main characters and think to themselves “What if that happened to me?” or “What if this happened to my friend?”

Student Comprehension: How Layering Texts Can Increase Student Understanding of Topics Covered Within the Classroom. 

In the book The Story Ruby Bridges, Ruby is only six years old and she comes face to face with racism, threats, and is subjected

to unfair treatment. My young learners may think that this is just a story, but I plan to build off the text and provide my students with a variety of powerful, multimodal texts (Cultivating Genius), so they can better understand the content and themes I touched on during the readings. The first additional resource I would use is this real photo of a young Bridges being escorted into her school by armed marshals because “primary source documents can help to historicize and intellectualize a wide variety of teaching topics by providing social and political thought across eras. These documents give accurate accounts of the perspectives of the people who lived during that time, a more truthful history of people of color than text books” (Cultivating Genius, pg. 149). Additionally, I plan to extend my lesson over Ruby Bridges past the end of the book, which leaves the reader wondering what lies ahead for the young girl. I refuse to stop her story there because by cutting off Ruby’s story, only discussing the struggles she endured, you are painting her as a victim to your students when she, in fact, is a survivor. The video below, which can be found on youtube, is an interview where, now an adult, Bridges discusses what her life was like and reflects on what she experienced as a young girl.

The use of the photo and video help students connect something they have read, or been read, to a real life event. The video changes the ending of Ruby’s story, it shows all the students in your class that the six-year old girl from the story, the girl they saw in the photo walking into a school where she was not wanted, the child they were able to relate to, overcame adversity, showed courage, and grew into a person each student, especially young black girls, will be able to look up to. I plan to end my lesson by teaching my students the song “Thank you, Ruby Bridges”, in order to model respect, empathy, and appreciation to my students. 

My hope is that after this lesson is over my students walk away with a feeling admiration for Ruby bridges. I hope that the overall themes of both books resonate with with my students, I hope that they recognize the unfair treatment of African Americans at that time, I hope that they see how valuable hope and courage are, I hope that they will be encouraged to practice kindness, understanding, and respect, and, most importantly, I hope that my students learn that diversity is strength and difference is a teacher.