Forty years ago, the United Nations declared September 21 the International Day of Peace to, according to the event website, “provide a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace.” FFT Fellow Amanda Hope (Dallas) committed her Fund for Teachers grant to this same cause last summer by examining in Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, AL, various methods of civic engagement utilized in the Civil Rights Movement. She chose to conduct this research to then teach students at Moseley Elementary not only learn what it means to be a citizen, but also what it means to be an active and engaged citizen who strives to make a positive impact on their communities and nation. We asked her a few questions about her learning  and plans for student learning this year:

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Why did you design this particular fellowship?

 

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Given the current political climate of our country, teaching civic education in schools is imperative. Students need to not only learn what it means to be a citizen, but also what it means to be an active and engaged citizen who strives to make a positive impact on their
communities and nation.

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Can you describe a specific moment from your fellowship that is particularly memorable?

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One experience I had during my fellowship was learning about my own family members who were some of the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama. Words cannot express the pride I felt when I saw my two uncles, Ulysses Blackmon, Jr. and James Gildersleeve, featured in an exhibit at the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma, AL. Seeing my uncles being honored reminded me that anyone, no matter their social standing, can play a role in the greater collective good.

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What are some specific plans you have to implement your fellowship in the classroom?

 

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap] My specific plans are to reintroduce my students to the “Good Citizens” unit that is a part of our curriculum. The goal of this project is for students to identify what a citizen is and develop an understanding of their roles as citizens in the classroom, school, community, state, and nation. The product of this unit will be a multi-media presentation that will be exhibited on our classroom website. I want this unit to be an opportunity for them to learn not only about the roles of citizens in a society, but I also want them to learn that citizenship is a right that has been denied to many. I will do this by specifically focusing on the civil rights denied to African Americans in the American South and their struggle to be recognized as full citizens. Our study of the Civil Rights Movement with a focus on the state of Alabama will allow my students to gain a deeper understanding of how civic engagement can be used as a tool to shape
legislation and pressure lawmakers to protect the rights of all U.S. citizens regardless of their race, class, religion, sexuality, gender, etc. I want my students to see how everyday citizens can unite and organize around a problem and/or injustice in our communities and our society-at-large. My plan is to introduce my students to how citizens can utilize civic engagement strategies to push policy makers to create and implement change for the greater good.

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]Q[/minti_dropcap] What is one way you can leverage your fellowship to create an authentic learning experience for students?

 

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap] I would definitely like to use this fellowship as a means of getting my students more involved with our community. My plan is to get students to start thinking about a problem or injustice within our school community and begin to brainstorm ways to get involved and put their ideas into action. I think allowing my students to determine a problem and figure out ways to address it will allow for them to feel a sense of connection and autonomy regarding how we decide to civically engage.

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]Q[/minti_dropcap] What did your fellowship teach you about teaching peace?

 

[minti_dropcap style=”circle”]A[/minti_dropcap] My fellowship taught me that achieving peace is always active and never passive and that everyone plays a role. I hope to instill within my students the value of seeing themselves as vital and active stakeholders in the pursuit of peace and justice in our communities, nation, and world.

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Amanda Hope is a K-5th grade Gifted/Talented Program teacher at Nancy Moseley Elementary in Dallas, Texas. Amanda has served as a classroom teacher for nearly 10 years. She most recently received the 2020-2021 Campus Teacher of the Year award at her school. In addition to teaching, Amanda is a senior policy fellow with Teach Plus, an organization that empowers teachers to advocate for policy changes at local, state, and federal levels to increase equitable opportunities for students. You can follow Amanda on @crayonsandsacapuntas.

Sixty-six years ago today, fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was lynched and shot for allegedly flirting with a young white woman at her family’s store in Money, MS. His body was recovered from the bottom of the Tallahatchie River three days later. Brandon Barr‘s students in Chicago are the same age as Till was when he died. Brandon felt that similarity would resonate with his English students in a powerful way. This FFT Fellow plans to add anecdotes and artifacts gathered from his exploration of sites associated with Till’s murder, as well as Civil Rights sites in Memphis, to develop a unit focused on his life and the legacy of his death. Brandon shared his motivation and plans for students below…

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As a veteran middle school teacher, a lot has changed over the course of my career, including learning standards, forms of standardized testing and the novel uses of emerging technology. For the most part, I have been able to navigate these changes well. One change that I have not been as quick to adapt to is creating curricular opportunities for students to think about why advocating for equity is important in history and in the present day.

The Civil Rights Movement is rife with historical moments that are sad and unfortunate. I have seen a number of my colleagues, and I include myself in this, who have taught in a way that victimize African Americans. While it is true that many African Americans were victims of living in segregated and oppressive societies, the Civil Rights Movement is also rife with examples of individuals asserting their collective power and resistance in fighting oppression. I am looking to reframe how I have taught history from the this time period to focus more on empowerment while also improving the accessibility of learning materials and increasing engagement for all learners. My students need to see examples of what it means to fight for justice in order to be ready to engage in “good trouble” when they encounter injustices and inequity in the future.

To that end, every year I try to teach about Emmett Till because his death has a significant legacy; it is often evoked when injustices happen in the present. I want to make the case study that I do with students more robust and highlight the actions of both Till’s mother and uncle. Both acted in ways that demonstrate agency and upstander behaviors, and my goal is to highlight their actions rather than leave my students focusing solely on the brutality of Till’s death. I think I can teach this history in a deeper way that shows the impact that direct confrontation of inequity and injustice can have when deployed in a strategic fashion. That’s why I designed this particular fellowship and joined Fund for Teachers’ Equity cohort with an Innovation Circle Grant. Next week, I will visit the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, MS, to strengthen my instructional approach to this period of his history using an equitable lens for how the information is shared and presented to my students.

In thinking specifically about equity, there is the principle of direct confrontation that dictates that there is no path to equity that does not involve a direct confrontation with inequity. When we think about the historical legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, we see the power of individuals actively confronting inequity. The actions of individuals created real change because of their engagement and advocacy. I want my students to understand that African Americans lived (and in many instances still live) in environments that sought to diminish their collective power and privilege. I want students to see the creativity that many individuals demonstrated in finding solutions that fought inequity and dramatically improved the quality of life that African Americans can have in the United States because of their direct action. By extension, I want students to think about problems in the world today that stem from inequity and reflect on how they may use their collective voices and actions to induce change.

In 2010, Brandon received a Fund For Teachers grant to explore Holocaust and WWII sites, meet with survivors, and build a relationship with a partner school in Berlin, Germany. From that experience, he became a regional consultant for IWitness and was present for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Read more about that experience on his blog published by Facing History & Ourselves. (Photo of Brandon courtesy of the USC Shoah Foundation.Top photo of Emmett Till courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center.)