By Cierra Kaler-Jones

As schools across the country moved to emergency remote learning, Erin Coppola-Klein, advisor and social studies teacher to 7th and 8th graders at Capitol Hill Day School, wanted to continue to provide interactive and engaging lessons for students. Coppola-Klein used the lesson U.S. Mexico War: “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God”, a mixer by Bill Bigelow, to introduce her 22 7th-grade students to a document-based question (DBQ) about the causes of the Mexican-American war.

As part of a foundational discussion as a warm-up to the lesson, Coppola-Klein showed students a map of the Thornton Affair to provide background for the disagreement. Students deliberated on the questions:

• Is Texas sovereign?

• Did they successfully achieve independence?

Some students felt Texas wasn’t independent because Santa Anna signed the Treaty of Velasco under duress and the rest of the Mexican government believed the treaty was a sham. Students pondered their questions together,

• Why did Mexico feel the need to reclaim it if it was already theirs?

• Was it a land grab? 

After this conversation, students went into the U.S. Mexico War mixer lesson with an understanding that there were a variety of perspectives.

Coppola-Klein sent students their roles via e-mail on a Friday and invited them to use Google Classroom over the weekend to write a question. In their “question” they would introduce themselves, using the information presented in the blurb as part of their role, and incorporate additional research about their person over the weekend, if they were interested in adding more detail. Students were also encouraged to reach out to Coppola-Klein about source evaluation to review any of the historical facts or context they were researching. After all of the introductions were on Google Classrooms, students had 24 hours to respond, although Coppola-Klein shared that if she were to do it again, she would give more than 24 hours because students wanted to continue to add to the conversations.

Students delved fully into their roles with rich dialogue:

Many students were struck by the idea that there were people who were apathetic to the war, as well as the fact that individuals had varying positions, even within groups. For example, when Sgt. John Riley with the U.S. Army realized the brutality of the war and how Protestants in cities throughout the U.S. burned Catholic churches, he (along with 260 more U.S. soldiers) joined the Mexican side.

To deepen some of their role analysis and portrayal, some students did outside research to better understand their perspective and the context that influenced that perspective. Coppola-Klein noted,

They even continued to add to the discussion after it was due. Additionally, as we've transitioned into the DBQ, they’ve asked where the Native and Californian perspectives are. 

In addition to the mixer lesson, Coppola-Klein encouraged students to explore secondary sources on Mexican-American War from the Mexican perspective. In these sources, the war is called the U.S. invasion, which further illuminates the whitewashing of what is typically taught in the United States, as it places emphasis on the violent conquest and the greed to subjugate stolen land. They also examined maps to understand the geography. Coppola-Klein said, 

They’re making the connection that we’re just jumping to take more land that’s close in proximity. 

Through the investigation of documents, students collected evidence to strengthen their points for a larger argument around the question:

What was the most important reason the Mexican-American War was fought?

Students chose one of the reasons to argue to answer:

1. land

2. slavery

3. power/manifest destiny

4. pre-existing tensions.

As part of these arguments, they first caucused with their peers in breakout groups and then had another breakout group with one other student, where they each had 90 seconds to articulate their argument. They then came back to their caucus group to prepare a rebuttal and then shared that rebuttal with the same classmate from their one-on-one argument. 

As the next step in the unit, students wrote a paper on their opinion and what they learned from the experience to argue what they believed to be the most important reason the Mexican-American War was fought.

At the conclusion, students read A Young People’s History of the United States to compare their thoughts to the book. The mixer lesson, coupled with document-based question inquiry and writing, helped Coppola-Klein to develop a virtual learning space rooted in encouraging students to express their thoughts and opinions through multiple modalities. 

One of the challenges, she noted, is the disconnection that occurs in virtual spaces. Coppola-Klein was in the midst of discussing the Trail of Tears with her students when they moved to emergency remote learning. One of their first conversations as a virtual class was about ethnic cleansing. The term was a part of the reading and students had thoughtful questions as they tried to unpack the violence of colonization. As an educator who roots her teaching in social justice she shared,

I get a lot of information from my students by their body language, especially when teaching difficult history. I can see how they react to certain conversations. Online, I’m not able to check in with them the same way I can in person. It’s challenging discussing hard topics without being able to see them after class to let them know that it’s okay to have feelings about history and what we’re learning.

As Coppola-Klein grappled with providing interactive lessons and content, she centered the importance of maintaining social connection and fostering social and emotional well-being for students. In shifting to a virtual format, which for her school has been set up mostly through Google Classroom and Zoom, she said that they are all leaning into patience together,

As I learn the ins and outs of Zoom, they [students] are learning the areas of where the routers are and where they get the best connection. In all of this, I am reminded of what great humans they are — they’re funny, they’re smart, they’re empathetic. I teach middle schoolers because they give me hope in humanity.  

Cierra Kaler-Jones is the Education Anew Fellow with Communities for Just Schools Fund and Teaching for Change. She is also a Ph.D. candidate at University of Maryland, College Park studying minority and urban education.