Maintaining the Momentum of Change

Having the opportunity to hear Peter Bailey, friend of Malcom X, speak at the Shabazz Center was priceless. Although the curriculum of the grade level I teach never reaches the Civil Rights Movement and Black History Month is not a part of my district's curriculum, I like to take a class period or two in February to have students investigate key figures in Black History. While I have never directly taught the comparison of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, I would say I accepted the shallow understanding that the two were complete opposites in their quests to improve life for Blacks in the United States: King promoting peaceful protest and Malcolm promoting violence.

After Mr. Bailey's lecture, I have come to discover that the comparison between the two men (like anything else is history) is not so black and white. King is commonly known for saying, "I have a dream." While King did promote peaceful protest, and likely dreamed of peaceful times, this quote is often taught to young children out of context. King had political aggressive tendencies which Bailey noted are clearly stated in King's book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos and Community. I am very curious to check out this book and learn more about the man who had a dream. Mr. Bailey also made sure to note that "Brother Malcolm" did not promote violence, but encouraged self-defense. If someone violently attacked him, he believed he had the right to protect himself through equally violent means. Although the two men had their differences, they were really more alike than what history tends to lead people to believe.

Another idea from Mr. Bailey's lecture that struck me was his opinion on what the current generation of Black Americans could do to reach equality. He stated that this generation must figure out how to use it's economic power to support companies that hire multi-ethnicity and promote equality while boycotting companies that do not. I found this interesting because the previous day at the City Museum of New York, we saw an exhibit on activism. At one point in our discussion we touched on how abolitionists acted as activist by using their consumer power to boycott products made by slaves.

With this experience, I feel much more prepared to teach the comparison of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. It would be interesting to engage learners' background knowledge about the two and challenge them to analyze their different perspectives via writings/speeches to determine how different or similar they really are.

Pieces from the stage that Malcolm X stood on when he was assassinated.

Silly Teacher, Children's Books are for Kindergartners...Not!

Teaching social studies means distributing a lot of non-fiction reading sources. While it is a necessary skill to be able to read and decipher rigorous non-fiction text, it is also important to reinforce that reading can be pleasant, relaxing experience, too. Although I teach middle school, I use children's books every opportunity that I get to harbor a love for reading...and I would do so if I taught high school, too!

In our free-time to roam and discover the city, I ended up at the New York Public Library, which had an exhibit called "The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter." I think children's books have a sort of magic about them. Walking through the exhibits, I was channeling some of my fondest childhood memories of my parents reading stories like Good Night Moon and Winnie the Pooh. I could even imagine the weight, texture, and smell of the books. My hope is that when I gather the class on the carpet as I sit on my reading stool and read a children's book about Christopher Columbus' encounter with Native Americans (Encounter by Jane Yolen) or the founding fathers (John, Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith) or the Constitutional Conventions (Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation by Jacqueline Jules) that the experience, the illustrations, and the discussions we have resonate with them just as classic children's books do. I was really happy to have seen this exhibit, for it has given me more purpose and drive to integrate children's books into my curriculum.

W. H. Auden made the observation that, "There are no good books which are only meant for children." I believe learners benefit greatly from children's books sprinkled throughout academic, non-fiction reading and that they keep learners curious and excited to hear more stories from the past.

Using Art to Interpret History

I found a lot of inspiration at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. First of all, I love the "tableau vivant" strategy of analyzing paintings. I frequently use art in my classroom and ask my students to analyze body language, emotions, light/dark, etc., but I never thought to have them reenact the paintings. The idea of tableau vivant is to assign a student to be the director and help the other students get into proper position. This strategy forces learners to really observe the finer details and what they might implicate, allowing learners to take their analysis a step further.

Our group takes a stab at "tableau vivant" with Washington Crossing the Delaware!

Secondly, I also teach world geography and I wish my students could explore the Met themselves to see how the cultures compare and contrast through painting and sculpture. I find it fascinating how much you can learn about a culture simply by the art it produced! Not to mention how much you can differentiate and identify unique qualities that belong to each culture. To compensate not being able to take a field trip to the Met, I think I could make a PowerPoint slideshow or make handouts/posters to give the illusion of examining artifacts at a museum by including images with brief descriptions (omitting time and place). With an artifact from each major continent/civilization, learners could engage their prior knowledge and inquiry skills to make observations and identify which time and place the piece originated from. Additionally, they can characteristics that set them apart, such as clothing, hairstyles, and uses of artifacts, to make inferences about the landscape each one comes from. Fur coats might imply cold climates whereas loincloths might imply warm climates. Weapons reveal how advanced a civilization might be, comparing guns to spears. Learners can discuss the details that led them to their conclusions and discuss the importance of art in society, past and present.

Understanding the Concrete Jungle

When we first arrived in the city, I found being surrounded by concrete a little unsettling. Grass existed no where and trees were few and far between. Dr. O'Donnell's three day walking tour helped me appreciate the city by explaining just how the concrete jungle came to be and how it divided into different boroughs. Nothing evolved by chance; the city developed in a very methodical manner. The following are observations from May 30th to June 1st.

Photo by Dana Tuyls

Dr. O'Donnell revealed much information about the city that is not visible to the naked eye. Being a colony founded on trade by the Dutch, it made sense that some of the streets of New York were once canals. However, it is still strange to gaze down a blacktop road with cars and imagine waterways with boats traveling on the very same location. Not to mention, the shorelines we see today did not exist until settlers decided to expand the land and tamper with the landscape using landfill. Also, I had not thought about the evolution of the city once the country became independent, changing British street names to something more American to symbolize severing ties with the crown. "The Grid," a term for the layout of Manhattan streets, is another example of how the city developed very methodically as the streets were laid out in a very logical system where streets and avenues are numbered that makes it very easy to navigate. With the rise of skyscrapers, the city's landscape began to change more visibly in the early 20th century. In 1915, zoning laws were put in place to keep the skyscraper frenzy under control, ensuring that all building received proper lighting and air. Instead of allowing buildings to shoot straight into the sky, the zoning laws mandated that after a certain level the buildings had to go in and up like a wedding cake. Another interesting point when looking at skyscrapers is that the real estate value goes beyond the square footage on the ground; virtual real estate exists above the buildings to protect views for property value. The walking tour with Dr. O'Donnell caused me to think more critically about my surroundings and to realize that there is much more to urban development than what meets the eye.

I would like to challenge my students to do the same with areas in Colorado Springs. Although the architecture of Colorado Springs barely compares to that of New York, they can still develop questions about historical landmarks, parks, street names, school names, etc. Looking at a photo of the landscape before the city was settled sparks one huge question: Where did all trees come from? William Jackson Palmer put millions of dollars into making the bland plains look attractive to people out East, planting acres of trees and hiring architects to design elaborate gardens and parks. I would like to see what kind of inquiry my students could come up with, but here are a few ideas that come to my mind: Why is Palmer High School named after William Jackson Palmer and why is there an equestrian statue of him in the middle of the street downtown? Learners would investigate and learn about the city's founder. What is the significance of the Hilton/Antler's Hotel? Learners would investigate the location and discover that being right next to the train tracks, it was a railroad station along the Rio Grande Railroad where many people stayed when they visited. Learners would also discover the importance of railroads to a city's economy. And much like the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge with an unknown number of deaths that occurred in the process of building, learners would see the danger and controversy of immigrants working on the railroads. In conclusion, the walking tour opened my eyes to the development of New York and I would like to do the same for my students to enhance their understanding of the city they live in.

Source: Colorado Springs prior to settlement

Remembering the Forgotten "Colony Builders"

Photos from African Burial Ground National Museum: (left) man known as Burial 323 found without a coffin--skull had been sawed off after death for an autopsy or medical training and can be seen resting in arms, (bottom right) images of excavations revealing graves, (top right) first published map that indicated "Negros Buriel Ground" in 1754

Development of the colonies largely depended upon slave labor, yet those "colony builders" go largely unnamed in history. While visiting the African Burial Ground National Monument and Museum, I connected to the importance and purpose of knowing how history relates to modern day. In middle school, it can be difficult to guide learners to see abstract connections between the past and present. The Burial Ground is such an eerie reminder of how history is connected to modern day in a very literal sense, that I believe would resonate well with middle school students. I get goosebumps thinking about how Lower Manhattan is built on a mass, unmarked grave of 15,000 free and enslaved African Americans and that daily routines (i.e. running errands, going to work, tour groups, etc.) go on in the area with no indication of such a tragedy until the construction of the monument.

Source: African Burial Ground Monument

I have found that learner engagement is very easy when it comes to the issue of slavery. Learners are very hungry for information on this topic. Therefore, I thought the African Burial Ground would be of good use at the beginning of the school year to get students engaged early on in the class to see how history can directly impact modern day and exercise their critical thinking skills. Brad Stamer and I discussed possible lesson plans as we looked at the monument. Imagining that the burial ground was just discovered, the class could debate several issues, from what to do with the remains that were dug up, to why it is important to remember this part of our history. We brainstormed an idea that I am particularly fond of, in which learners could work in big or small groups to develop a plan for a monument as if the burial ground had just been discovered. Learners would have to determine a "mission statement" of the memorial (why it is imperative that a monument be erected for the burial ground) and develop a sketch of the monument with an explanation of the symbolism involved. Depending on the ability level, I can showed what the actual monument looks like prior to giving the assignment, or after the assignment so learners can compared their ideas to the actual thing. This activity would be first-hand experience for learners to realize the importance of history, the importance of monuments, build teamwork, justify their decisions, and be creative.

A handful of the symbols used in the African Burial Ground Monument. Clockwise from top left: wisdom and prudence,  guardian of crossroads, endurance, and understanding.

Tenement Living

Today we visited the Lower East Side Museum where we saw an actual tenement home from the infamous immigrant slum founded in the 19th century, Five Points, and interacted with an actress portraying the life of a young girl from a Greek immigrant family, Victoria Confino. The tour began with a background briefing of the Confino family, looking at family photos and immigration documentation (available under the "Primary Source" section). Then the museum educator gave our group a role in preparation to meet Victoria Confino. The educator told us that we were an Italian family that recently got off the ferry from Ellis Island and were now wandering the streets of New York. It is very noisy and busy. We hear a lot of different languages being spoken. What do we do next?

Source: Depiction of the Five Points neighborhood to image the sights and sounds.

I think this would be a great exercise for learners to engage in. Previously, I have only briefly discussed the poverty and the living conditions of immigrant slums with my students. During discussion, we connect Five Points immigrants to immigrants new to the country today. Often times, they come from poor countries and have little to start with. It makes sense why the immigrants struggle during their initial years in the country. Traditional American values encourage them to build their own fortune over time through hard work.

However, I like the idea of having learners forget the present to really imagine the struggle and anxiety that the immigrants must have experienced. After visiting the tenement, I would like to take more time in the classroom to allow learners to speculate on how they would go about survival as newcomers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Learners would need background information about push factors that caused the immigrants to leave their homes and physical/health inspections at Ellis Island. I could do a similar set-up to what the museum educator did for us by examining the same primary sources we saw on our tour as a whole group. In small groups, learners can choose from the selections on the Interactive Journey with Victoria or set up their own backstory: what country they left, why they left, what they packed, and why they came to the United States. Then learners can see the state of the tenement through this Virtual Tour. Afterwards, students can develop questions that they would ask Victoria--things that they would naturally be curious about as newcomers to the United States. Ultimately this lesson would bring the immigrants' journey to life for learners, hopefully resulting in an unforgettable and humbling experience.