Entry #4-How do we teach slavery?

Around the time I read The politics of Children's Literature, What's wrong with the Rosa Parks Myth, it was Black History Month. I did a read aloud about the childhood of Martin Luther King Jr. and the book I chose made a reference about the bus boycott. It described the boycott as being a strong influence in the fight for equality. When I read the book to my class, I made sure to tell them about the two different people which were Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. Children's books talk about both historical figures in the same book, which the article by Herbert Kohl describes the version as “Rosa Parks the Tired” (The politics of Children's Literature, What's wrong with the Rosa Parks Myth, p.1). Which was the same version that was given in the book that was suppose to describe the childhood of Martin Luther King. After learning the truth about Rosa Parks, I told my class that we would talk about Rosa Parks another day but the boycott lasted over a year. The book described it as if it had happened in a few months, when I was doing the read aloud I was clarifying and explaining more. In the midst of getting students to understand how difficult it was for the African American community, I was also thinking about the way to teach students about slavery. Many of my students did not understand why other people will treat African Americans differently due to the color of their skin. As I continue to learn more about history, I will choose better books for my students that way they can think critically about the events that happened.

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Entry #2

The introduction of History as a Weapon reminded me of a history class I took here at the University of Houston, the professor started the lesson with a question in which he would answer throughout the lesson. When I first took history courses at the University level, I felt that I had been lied to my whole life because the history that was explained at the University was completely different to what high school teachers told me. The first thing that I did after a few history lectures, I decided to not think about what I “had been taught” in high school. Every week there was a new idea or a thought that conflicted with me, I either was surprised or interested at what had happened. Whenever I learned something interesting such as the reason for Thanksgiving or the way that religion was forced to Indians among other history topics, I was amused of how much it had been kept from me and the nature of people and their actions towards others that were different than them. A Brief Histo...

Entry #8

The way this quote was used in learning through activism, was from an activist point of view (Learning through Activism, Ch. 6 p. 100-121). Ms. Cowhey wanted her students and their families to think of ways in which they could reduce, reuse and recycle materials that were in their houses. Ms. Cowhey reminded herself that she did not accomplish her initial goal but she did get student to think about ways in which they could help out their community. By discussing and researching about recycling, students were conscious on the things they threw away. That was one example of how students were active in the community, there was also the voter registration drive. Ms. Cowhey makes her students be part of important issues that can help the community and have lasting effects. The most important thing to remember after reading about how Ms. Cowhey taught activism, is that I will have to plan and research accordingly based on the grade level I teach. I will also need to have activities and l...

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