As a teacher, it is not only my job to teach my students to succeed in their future lives, but also to be aware of what helped them get to the point where they are today and how life became so. February was a GREAT month to do this because February is National Black History Month.
In this month, I took it upon myself to teach my students about Black History and how life was much different in the past and not everyone had the same opportunities and privileges. As an educator, I often see our kids in today's generation taking what they have and where they live completely forgranted and I am just as guilty at doing this. So, not only was February a great learning opportunity for my students, but it was also a great reminder to myself that I am so blessed to be where I am today and am blessed to have the privilege to teach young lives and to prepare them for the future.
Many believe that teaching is like an instruction manual...word for word, all laid out for us perfectly and we know exactly what to teach and when to teach it. Yes, it can be like this if you are the "stereotype" teacher and I have to tell you....I haven't met one teacher that is that way. So, in this case, Black History Month was NOT in my curriculum to teach and was not laid out word for word, page by page. I researched, I created, and I explored every opportunity that I could possibly teach my students....and unfortunately, there is not enough time EVER to teach EVERYTHING I want to...so I had to pick and choose for Black History Month, and this is what we did! :) ENJOY! :)
Teaching Black History Month lasted about 2 weeks....
I started my unit on Black History Month with a very important, African American little girl because I thought this was the BEST way to get my students engaged. I thought it was great because they got to hear and see how someone YOUNGER than THEM changed the world.....this famous little girl is named...
RUBY BRIDGES
We researched Ruby Bridges by reading books, researching, and then ending our research with watching the Disney version of Ruby Bridges. After all was said and done, the students got to "make" Ruby and write about what they learned! Their writings were AWESOME and I was so happy they learned so many things about such a famous little girl!
I then moved onto the story of Rosa Parks...and this African American woman they were fairly familiar with! They did well with her story as well by reading books and researching, and then making cute little buses with facts about her :) Again, the information their little "sponge brains" soak up is JUST amazing! :)
And then, to end it off, I had to give the boys someone to talk about...and that African American person was of course....
JACKIE ROBINSON
The boys and girls were SO excited when I told them we were going to be talking about Jackie Robinson, and one of them even went home and watched the movie about Jackie (42: The Movie) with his grandpa!! How sweet :) And of course he filled me in on what he learned! We did a fact sort about Jackie and also read one book and then the students got to make a baseball "trading card" for Jackie Robinson!
Needless to say, the unit on Black History Month was a HIT! The students LOVED It and I couldn't have been more happy with the results on their learning. It was so great to see them learning and appreciating what they have and realizing that not everyone has the opportunities they do.
I know it's been awhile since I've blogged, but thank you for being patient as it has been a few very crazy months!!!
Thank you all for listening, and until next time, stay safe. <3
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