Social Justice in the Classroom

From Research to Exhibit: Letting Students Tell the Story of History – The Teaching History Her Way Podcast

Send a textIn this episode, I share a powerful classroom project in which my middle school students created a museum-style exhibit exploring slavery in the President’s House in Philadelphia, the home of George Washington during the early years of the United States. Through research, art, writing, and hands-on building, students investigated the lives of the people enslaved there. Rather than writing traditional reports, students designed exhibits: research panels, artifacts, models, and visual displays that explored the contradictions between the ideals of liberty in the founding era and the reality of slavery within the president’s household.In this episode, I explain why projects like this matter, how students approached the work of interpreting history, and how teachers can create opportunities for students to think like historians and share their work with an authentic audience. When students are trusted to wrestle with complicated history, they often rise to the challenge in extraordinary ways.Let's be friends and continue the conversation!Instagram: @teachinghistoryherwayX: http://www.twitter.com/historyherwayOn the Web/Blog: https://www.teachinghistoryherway.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/teachinghistoryherwayBlueSky: @historyherway.bsky.socialSupport the production of the Teaching History Her Way Podcast by purchasing some really great history tees. Click here to shop now or go to www.teachinghistoryherway.com and click on "Merch."
  1. From Research to Exhibit: Letting Students Tell the Story of History
  2. Moving Beyond Memorization: Using Hexagonal Thinking to Deepen Student Thinking
  3. Teaching is an Act of Hope
  4. Teaching About Religion with Dr. Tim Hall: Why It Matters and How to Do It
  5. Teaching with Rock and Roll: Using Music to Bring History to Life with Drew Fortune

Lindsay defines social justice in the classroom as a foundational and cultural mindset of partnership between teacher and student in which students are talking and grappling with meaningful work that has eyes beyond the teacher and changes the community for the better in some way. Additionally, they are able to see mirrors of their own experiences and backgrounds of their identities as well as step into someone else’s experience through this work. To do the work, and fit it into our classes, she tells us to take a topic that students are talking about and then use our historical knowledge and pedagogical background to bring those issues into the class by designing our lessons from the present to the past. She recommends the Social Justice Framework from Learning for Justice as a way to guide you through making work developmentally appropriate.

Lindsay also makes the excellent point that you need to make your classroom a place where students are prepared and ready to talk about the issues at hand as well as be able to work through disagreements. She’s so generously given us a template for Circle Planning, which is a really great discussion method, for our students. Get your free Circle Planning Template here!

Resources:

Tagged , ,