Join educators across the country for #TeachCentralAmerica week October 7 - 13, 2019. “How many Central Americans of note can you name? They can be in any walk of life (literature, sports, politics, etc.) and they can be from history or today?” When this question is asked to educators in a Teaching for Change workshop on Central America, only a few hands go up to respond. The question surfaces the realization that most of us know very little about Central American history or people. Workshop participants often guess “Cesar Chavez” or “Che Guevara” who are well known Latino/Latin Americans, but not from Central America. "Even in schools with large numbers of students with Central American heritage, at best the staff can name one person, usually Rigoberta Menchú who won a Nobel Peace Prize or Archbishop Oscar Romero who was in the news because of his beatification." Test your OWN knowledge with this “learn as you go” quiz: http://quiz.teachingforchange.org/central-america/ “More than four million Central Americans reside in the United States and migration from the region is headline news. However, most schools teach very little about Central America, including the long history of U.S. involvement in the region.” One reason for this is the lack of resources on Central American heritage in most schools make the rich history and literature of the region invisible. Central America is too-often portrayed as simply a strip of land on a map connecting North and South America. Students are left to imagine that their Central American heritage, or that of their peers, is insignificant. Teachers have learned little of the history themselves and there is a scarcity of literature in the school libraries. Teaching for Change has launched a campaign to help fill that gap with resources for teaching about Central America.” -Students are left to imagine that their Central American heritage, or that of their peers, is insignificant.- Not sure where to begin? You're in luck! Teaching for Change includes FREE resources for learning and teaching about Afro-Latinos, Central America, Puerto Rico, immigration, and more: www.teachingcentralamerica.org/teach-central-america-week Under the “Lessons” tab found on this link you’ll find a variety of lessons (like the two images below) In addition, there are tabs that will take you to resources for teaching about Central America specific to poetry/prose, music, book, film, history and more. “There are FREE downloadable lessons, bios, and poetry and prose from Central American writers such as Roque Dalton, Rigoberta Menchú, Claribel Alegría, and Ernesto Cardenal. These authors used literature to shine a light on key issues such as: the need for land “reform, recognition of indigenous and women’s rights, exploitative labor practices, environmental destruction, political repression and violence, and U.S. intervention. -One more idea for your classroom- The 1993 documentary If the Mango Tree Could Speak featured ten adolescents from El Salvador and Guatemala, telling their stories of growing up in the midst of war. The website When We Were Young / There Was A War continues the story of those same people today, who are now adults. This site has these lessons for your classroom: www.centralamericanstories.com/ If you are teaching or will be about Central America or Central American migration to the United States in your classroom and use lessons or other resources from TeachingCentralAmerica.org, share your teaching stories with them and in appreciation for your time, they will send you a free copy of your choice of books, A Promise to Keep by Mario Bencastro or Caribbean Connections: Moving North. (p.s. This GoogleForm is super simple to complete) Of course, any time of the year you can teach about Central America, but I wanted to be sure share that #TeachCentralAmerica week is set aside for October 7-13. Use that week, if you’re able, to set aside some time so that students can learn about Central America, which has many ties to the United States through foreign policy, immigration, commerce, and culture.
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Getting involved in social justice work can be overwhelming. There are so many causes you can get behind, varieties of movements, new vocabulary words/terms, and the feelings that arise when thinking about “what if I say the wrong thing” — all of that, and more, can make it difficult to know where to start. However, none of that should prevent you from being a part of a movement or group that revolves around an issue you're passionate about. The article, “Eight Ways to Meaningfully Support Social Justice Movements” tells us the first step for joining a movement or group is simply showing up! As we start another week of school, I want to remind you all our first Equity Core Team (ECT) meeting of the year on Tuesday morning (and every Tuesday morning). We will be spending time initially looking at our vision for the team, but then deciding on some action steps for our team to take for Hoyt. We will also doing some digging into our own beliefs and changes we can make that benefit our students and community. "If an injustice moves you, just do something to acknowledge that feeling." -Jenn Li It's always a great idea to build connections with other like-minded people. Local activist groups, and organizers often hold open meetings and are excited to have new people involved (like Des Moines' SURJ, Showing Up for Racial Justice, https://dsmsurj.org/ ) *More info on SURJ on the Community Events page. Becoming part of a community, like Hoyt's ECT, will help you learn new things, and have others hold you accountable. "After all, each of us must make sure we’re doing our best not to contribute to the problem at hand. For example, it doesn’t make sense to ask others to help you combat racism if you abuse white privilege or silence people of color. We have to first unlearn bad habits and behavior ourselves before we encourage others to be mindful of social justice." In the article, 23 Simple Ways to Contribute to Social Justice Movements, the author suggests self-reflection when beginning (and continuing) any social justice work: What are your attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in relation to gender, race, sexual identity, immigration? What’s your personal history? How do you define yourself? Can you change to support equity, respect, and nonviolence? How?
As suggested in the list above, one great place to start with social justice is to read books with more in-depth analysis of a particular social movement and the issues with which it grapples. This link has 24 fantastic suggestions. I have eight of the books on this list in my office, and I know others in our building who own some of these on this list too. I’d be happy to lend any of you a copy of mine and I’m quite sure others will be more than willing to let you borrow a book too. Don't forget, Hoyt purchased five copies of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, which happens to be one of the books on this suggested reading list. "In addition to diving into a good social justice book, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr are incredibly popular in social justice communities. On Facebook, you can either join or create a group dedicated to discussing and organizing around a movement. On Twitter, you can find other people who tweet about the cause you're interested in, and even start a discussion with them." ( If you don’t know where to begin or want some new contacts, I have a list of “Podcasts and People to Follow” here) Jenn Li, a Washington, D.C.-based activist says, "There are probably things you do or say but don't even think about, and people on Tumblr will have a post explaining what the problem is, how it's oppressive, who it affects and the ways you can be better.” The Tumblr community also encourages the sharing of personal experiences, and acts as a safe space to talk through issues you might not discuss in your everyday life. Social media is good place to practice your activism. Posting articles, sharing videos and writing updates about organizing meetings or information about your movement are all simple ways to share messages about your movement with a wide audience. "Those closest to the problem are also closest to the solution." As we think about our Equity Core Team this year, Li reminds us, “There's no one-size-fits-all approach to social justice movements. Some people have a grassroots approaches, while others create organizations. Both approaches — and everything in between — are essential to the success of any movement. The common denominator, however, is a drive to create change.” *For what it's worth, the ECT last year was a group of about 10- 15 of us that met and we for sure fell into the category of "everything in between". ;) Riley, Echo and I will be co-facilitating the meetings. We are open to ideas that will help move our building forward in all equity work. We hope to see you at one, two or all of the meetings this year! |
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