Decolonizing the Curriculum: Summer Series
Teaching for Change and the Washington Teachers’ Union hosted a Decolonizing the Curriculum summer series July 27-August 12, 2021. This six-session series featured presentations disrupting the master narrative in classroom curriculum by providing hands-on strategies with lessons to be used in-person and virtually. The six 90 minute sessions were:
Decolonizing the Curriculum with Teaching for Change
Building Compassionate Communities: Black Lives Matter in Early Childhood Classrooms with Laleña Garcia
Teaching for Liberation: A People's Tribunal on the Coronavirus Pandemic with Caneisha Mills
Politics of Hair with Dr. Cierra Kaler-Jones
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Role Play with Jessica Rucker and Judy Richardson
Teaching about Voting Rights with Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
Judy Richardson and Jessica Rucker discuss the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
More than 300 educators signed up to participate in the sessions. Educators shared what they gained from the sessions and what they planned to take back to their classrooms:
Participating in the Decolonizing the Curriculum Series is doing something that I love, which is planning my curriculum to help students find and use their voices to ensure that America lives by its decree of equality and justice for all. I am honored and appreciative!
This will help me understand my students and have a basis to challenge any racially biased dress code norms that pop up in my teaching career.
I will not shy away from important conversations with kids and their families!
I loved that the activity led to argumentative discussions that require students to think critically and justify their position. I also loved that the information (bio) was front-loaded, so students all have an entryway into the activity.
[I will] continue to use SNCCDigital.org as a valuable resource for my research and writings, refer others to the site as a way to be more educated about our history in this country, and to use the information for direct actions, including voting to affect lasting changes.
I teach about culture in 4th grade and part of that will include teaching about Black hair.
Ensure that my grade level and school not only participates in the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, but teach these principles and ideas throughout the school year.
Read below to learn more and view resources shared during each session.
Decolonizing the Curriculum with Teaching for Change
Teaching for Change staff Keesha Ceran and Deborah Menkart shared resources to encourage teachers and students to question and rethink the world inside and outside their classrooms, build a more equitable, multicultural society, and become active global citizens. Participants shared ways that they are decolonizing the curriculum and took part in a role play on Central America.
RESOURCES SHARED
Introduction to Central America Lesson
This lesson introduces students to key people in Central American history through a short interactive, introductory activity.
The March on John Philip Sousa: A Social Action Project
This article written by Elizabeth Davis explores a research and action project by students at Sousa Middle School, which was part of the Brown v. Board of Education case.
Building Compassionate Communities: Black Lives Matter in Early Childhood Classrooms with Laleña Garcia
The guiding principles of Black Lives Matter offer a framework for a compassionate society and offer not only a way to envision the world we want our students to be able to build, but also a way to discuss the world we live in. By connecting the principles to children’s lived experiences, we can give them the tools to become responsible and caring members of their communities, not only in their classrooms, but in the wider world. This workshop laid the groundwork for creating compassionate communities, as well as practical, hands-on strategies for educators to use with their students.
RESOURCES SHARED
What We Believe: A Black Lives Matter Principles Activity Book
This powerful activity book will engage hands, hearts, and minds as it introduces children to the guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter movement. This question-and-answer guide offers tips and suggestions from Laleña Garcia on how to include What We Believe in your relevant setting.
Black Lives Matter at School Posters
Order posters for your classroom.
Resources from Laleña Garcia
Recommended books, websites, films, and more.
Teaching for Liberation: A People's Tribunal on the Coronavirus Pandemic with Caneisha Mills
This session highlighted the theory, implementation, and student responses to the lesson she authored, “Who’s to Blame? A People’s Tribunal on the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
RESOURCES SHARED
Who’s to Blame? A People’s Tribunal on the Coronavirus Pandemic
This people’s tribunal begins with the premise that a heinous crime is being committed as tens of millions of people’s lives are in danger due to COVID-19. But who was responsible for this crime? Students weigh the evidence.
Zinn Education Project Teaching People’s History in the Pandemic Resources
Lessons, films, podcasts, digital collections, and more for teaching about and during the pandemic.
Politics of Hair with Dr. Cierra Kaler-Jones
Hair is a form of expression which can make a political statement and connect us to our ancestors and our history. In this workshop, partipants learned about the sociopolitical and historical context of natural hair, discussed curriculum and dress code policies that restrict hair expression, and shared resources for how to incorporate hair into the curriculum in an affirming way. Attendees participated in an interactive lesson where they predicted, explored, and examined historical policies that police hair, as well as discussed how hair has been used as a form of community building, creativity, and resistance.
RESOURCES SHARED
The Hair Line
An activity to help students predict and analyze the ways that hair has been used throughout history to make a statement, tell a story, and to control and create racial hierarchy through messages of inferiority/superiority.
I Love My Hair Readers' Theatre
Ideas for a readers’ theatre activity that can be adapted for different age groups using the book I Love My Hair.
Representation of Hair in Children's Books Guide
This resource document includes guiding questions for selecting children's books on hair, tips for talking to students about hair, hair definitions, and suggestions for book lists.
Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books
Children’s books continue to be an invaluable source of information and values. They reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships, and various social identities. Read and share these guidelines for selecting books for young children that support the development of a healthy self-image.
Support the CROWN Act
Currently it is legal to discriminate against a person in the workplace or in schools because of their natural or protective hairstyle in 39 states. The CROWN Act is a law that would prohibit race-based hair discrimination and correct racial injustices by making hair discrimination illegal.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Role Play with Jessica Rucker and Judy Richardson
Jessica Rucker engaged participants in a lesson on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) adapted from a role play by Adam Sanchez at the Zinn Education Project. The lesson was followed by a conversation with special guest SNCC veteran and Eyes on the Prize series associate producer Judy Richardson.
RESOURCES SHARED
Teaching SNCC: The Organization at the Heart of the Civil Rights Revolution
A series of role plays that explore the history and evolution of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, including freedom rides and voter registration.
Adapted SNCC Lesson presented by Jessica Rucker
SNCC roleplay slides, participant roleplay direct action packet, participant roleplay voter registration packet, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” (song), “Ella’s Song” by Resistance Revival Choir (song)
Additional resources to continue your learning about SNCC:
Teaching about Voting Rights with Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
Just as the United States has never been a true “government by the people, for the people,” the right to vote has always been incomplete, contested, and compromised by the racism, sexism, classism, and xenophobia of policymakers and the interests they act to protect. Through a mixer role play, this workshop helped participants — and their students — see that yes, voting rights have expanded in the last 400 years, but they have also been taken away, requiring activists to rise up, again and again, to restore the achievements of prior generations.
RESOURCES SHARED
Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States
Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States.
August 27–29: Teach Truth Pledge Days of Action
Lawmakers in at least 28 states are attempting to pass legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history. To raise public awareness about the danger of these bills, we invite educators to make that pledge public in gatherings nationwide August 27–29, 2021.
How to — and How Not to — Teach Role Plays
Like any classroom strategy, role plays can be misused and poorly designed, as a number of recent stories illustrate. We believe role plays are pedagogically powerful, but their success in the classroom requires planning and care. Here, we offer five points to keep in mind when planning a lesson using a role play.