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Paula Young Shelton, author of Child of the Civil Rights Movement, provided a dynamic reading of her book while projecting images of the gorgeous illustrations on the screen at Busboys and Poets on June 16, 2010. She interspersed the reading with suggestions about how to use the book to help children explore a variety of issues including fairness, discrimination, who is in our “village,” race, geography, how to speak out, and more.

Maurice Sykes, executive director of the Early Childhood Leadership Institute at UDC, introduced the session as part of a series of events at Busboys and Poets on social justice in early childhood education. He referenced the guiding principles presented by Ann Pelo earlier this year from her book, Rethinking Early Childhood Education.

Following Paula Young Shelton’s reading the audience asked questions about instructional issues and her experience writing the book. One parent said there was a debate at her child’s school about at what age is it appropriate to introduce topics such as enslavement and the Civil Rights Movement. Paula responded, "A lot of people think that Civil Rights is too difficult of a concept for young children; it's not. They know what's fair and what's not fair. They get it."

Two elementary school aged girls asked the author a few questions – including how long it took her to write the book and whether she was nervous when she was presenting. Paula Young Shelton ended by saying that she hopes to produce another book, this one on the Poor People’s Campaign.

The attendees thoroughly enjoyed the presentation, as indicated by the following comments:

“I loved the life she brought to her book reading and the approach she took with explaining a very complicated topic. I wish she could have been my teacher!” Heather Fluit, Truman Scholar, South Dakota

"I more than enjoyed Paula Young Shelton's reading of her children's book, Child of the Civil Rights Movement at Busboys and Poets. She is a dynamic reader, as great first grade teachers must be, and had young and old enthralled with her intimate memories of the experiences she and her sisters shared during the Civil Rights Movement. As she herself said, calling Martin Luther King Jr. "Uncle Martin" brings a personal face to a historical super-hero. She also did a great job of sharing and discussing ways of building curriculum around the Civil Rights Movement that goes beyond the marches and develops a consciousness of fairness and justice in very young children. It was a great evening." – Elizabeth Kenyon, Special Education teacher, DC

Photos by Heather Fluit.

With the ban on ethnic studies courses in Arizona public schools and the rewriting of the US history in the Texas standards, it is a critical time to deepen our understanding of these attacks and develop an effective response. Therefore, we were pleased to play an active role in the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) from June 1-5, 2010 at the National Harbor in Maryland. Teaching for Change hosted the book signings for most of the keynote speakers, offered a workshop on Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching, and co-coordinated The People Speak performance. See photos of Teaching for Change at NCORE.

Photo above: Dr. Janice D.M. Mitchell, Professor, Gallaudet University having Debating Race signed by Dr. Michael Eric Dyson after his keynote speech at the 2010 NCORE conference on June 5, 2010. Thanks to Cristine Clifford Cullinan, Ph.D. for the photo.

To see and order many of the speakers' books, visit the NCORE pages on our Teaching for Change's Busboys and Poets Bookstore webstore.

Our Teaching about Haiti web page continues to be widely used by educators across the country, with over 18,000 page views since we launched days after the earthquake in January, 2010. The page offers a free downloadable version of a teaching guide we produced on Haiti in the 1990s. We added a new, carefully reviewed resource guide with a focus on K-12 books and films, an updated interview with Haitian-American teacher Marie Lily Cerat (in photo above), and a poem on the earthquake, Quaking Conversation, by Lenelle Moise. We worked closely with Rethinking Schools to include many of these resources in their Spring 2010 edition of the Rethinking Schools journal which reaches 15,000 in the print edition and many more online. We continue to add new resources and promote the site to ensure that attention to Haiti lasts way beyond the earthquake. New titles of note are a collection of essays by Haitian-American teenagers called Haiti on My Mind and the Images of Haiti poster set from the Syracuse Cultural Workers.

In 2010, Teaching for Change celebrates 20 years of building social justice, starting in the classroom. Visit our 20th anniversary pages to learn about our history and how you can contribute to our 20th anniversary campaign. Help make sure we can continue for another 20 years to provide teachers and parents with the tools to create schools where students learn to read, write, and change the world.

Over 100 teachers, parents, and friends of Teaching for Change had a wonderful evening at the preview of Federico García Lorca's play, El retablillo de Don Cristóbal/The Farce of Don Cristóbal and the Maiden Rosita. The play is directed by acclaimed Argentine director Adhemar Bianchi and puppeteer Ximena Bianchi. In this staging of the play, Republican soldiers and members of the Abraham Lincoln International Brigade who are fighting in the Spanish Civil War celebrate their cause for freedom with impassioned songs of the war and a creative performance of Lorca’s puppet play. In Spanish with English surtitles.

We extend our special thanks to the GALA Theatre for selecting Teaching for Change as the beneficiary for this preview night. (The play runs through May 2, 2010 at GALA Theatre 3333 14th Street NW Washington, DC 20010.)

Thanks to Rick Reinhard who took photos of the reception. Special thanks to Ad 2 DC for preparing professional posters for display about the work of Teaching for Change.

“As a mother, I feel that we have been meeting and meeting and meeting, and meanwhile the school system is just playing with us.”

“What kind of world we will have for our children when no one seems to care about their education.”

These were just two of the many comments from parents of Bruce-Monroe at Park View ES in Washington, DC (one of the schools where Teaching for Change supports parent engagement) who demand that a new school building promised for 2011 be built immediately. They argue that the city must find the necessary resources to make this happen. The children are the ones who have suffered and been left at a disadvantage from the delays, disruptions and broken promises.

Three years ago the parents and staff at Bruce Monroe ES fought to remove their successful school from the Chancellor’s school closure list. After a year of protests, they won. But they were told that in order to save their school, they would need to vacate the building for three years while a new building was erected as part of a private-public partnership. Their requests for time to plan carefully for a move so as not to disrupt the successful academic programs were denied by the Chancellor who cited the urgency of moving forward with the new construction. So, the staff and families moved to Park View ES. The two schools managed a consolidation the best they could with limited time and resources.

Education of this largely Latino and African American student population was disrupted with the explanation that the result would be a new improved learning environment.

Two years later, the parents demand an answer as to why not only has nothing happened with the Georgia Avenue building, now there are discussions about “interim use” for the space. 

On Monday, March 8th, 2010, over fifty parents, children and staff from Bruce-Monroe at Park View ES marched to a community meeting about the “interim use” of their former school site. The parents made it clear that they do not want to hear about interim uses of the property until a plan is in place for their new school building. Trust is thin after a decade of broken promises. (See photos and articles in The Washington Hispanic.)

As a result of the parents’ outcry on March 8th, city representatives met with parents at Bruce Monoe at Park View on March 9th. Claudia Lujan, from the Chancellor’s office, and Donny Gonzalez from The Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization attended the weekly parent meeting at Bruce-Monroe at Park View on Tuesday, March 9th. The parents talked with Ms. Lujan about the status of the Park View building. Mr. Gonzalez toured the facilities with the parents, taking pictures and promising to address all the facility concerns within 30 days. Washington Post reporter Bill Turque also attended. While the parents would be pleased to see repairs to the temporary building, their primary concern is the promised new facility. More....

Photo: Univision reporter interviewing a student about the conditions of the temporary building. Parents hold a banner in Spanish stating Rich and Poor Have the Same Rights.

Background on parent organizing at Bruce Monroe in this 2009 Rethinking Schools article.

The Alameda County Office of Education’s History Day theme is Celebrating Everyday Heroes in History and includes an event to honor Claudette Colvin. Claudette Colvin will be in conversation with Beyond Heroes and Holidays co-editor Enid Lee. There will be an introduction by Dr. Clayborne Carson, a special performance by Awele Makeba, and more. Friday, March 19, 5:30 - 7:30pm at the Oakland School for the Arts, 530 18th Street, Oakland, CA. More information on this flier (PDF). Other partners include National History Day, Art is Education, and the UC-Berkeley Graduate School of Education Principal Leadership Institute.

From March 10-13, 2010, the Split This Rock Poetry Festival will feature readings, workshops, panel discussions, youth programming, and film. The 2010 featured poets are Chris Abani, Lillian Allen, Sinan Antoon, Francisco Aragón, Jan Beatty, Martha Collins, Cornelius Eady, Martín Espada, Andrea Gibson, Allison Hedge Coke, Natalie Illum, Fady Joudah, Toni Asante Lightfoot, Richard McCann, Jeffrey McDaniel, Lenelle Moïse, Nancy Morejón, Mark Nowak, Wang Ping, Patricia Smith, A.B. Spellman, Arthur Sze, Quincy Troupe, and Bruce Weigl. Teaching for Change's Busboys and Poets Bookstore is proud to partner with Split This Rock as the offical bookseller. Bios. Festival program and schedule.

"It was almost eleven years ago when I happened on Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. I was 24 at the time and had just finished my first year of teaching. My life hasn’t been the same since." This is part of Gettysburg, Pennylvania teacher Michael Swogger's story. To demonstrate the lasting impact Howard Zinn and A People’s History of the United States have had on elementary and secondary school educators and students, we are collecting teachers’ stories. We have posted them on the Zinn Education Project website and they will be linked to HowardZinn.org. These stories can provide ideas and inspiration to other school staff and parents who are looking for ways to deepen the teaching of US history in their schools.  Read Michael's full story and many more and even more important: tell us your story.

Teaching About Haiti has been posted online as a free, downloadable resource, along with a list of over 40 recommended books for books, films, and organizations for classrooms.

The Teaching for Change board and staff believe that while students should be encouraged to contribute to relief efforts, it is also important to gain a deeper understanding of the history and the roots of the poverty in Haiti. The US has been involved with Haiti for centuries, yet it has received little attention in textbooks or the curriculum. Part of our commitment to the people of Haiti at this time can be to not only increase our support but also our awareness. As informed citizens, we can advocate for respectful and constructive relations with Haiti in the months and years ahead.