InClass

Every February, teachers scramble to find a series of lessons, music, and regalia to celebrate Black History Month and educate students about its importance. But the number of societal contributions by black individuals to United States history would require a lifetime of dedicated study. There is simply no way a teacher can do real justice to this topic in the span of February’s roughly 20 school days.

• Incorporating Black history year-round, and using February as an opportunity to highlight specific topics and dig deeper into individual stories

• Using a wide range of resources, as limiting yourself to books is sure to leave your class underserved

• Making it a point to teach students that Black history is American history and, as such, is important for all students

• Connecting past issues and historical figures with current cultural happenings

• Stopping your regular curriculum entirely, as this sends the message that Black history lessons are of lesser importance than, or should be separate from, previous ones

• Separating black history icons from their larger historical and societal context

• Shying away from controversial topics, as highlighting only feel-good civil rights victories fails to give credence to issues that continue today

• Break the article into chunks that are manageable for your students to become “experts” on

• Thoughtfully separate your class into groups, with each group responsible for one chunk

• Have each group read and prepare a short presentation on their portion of the article

• Ask students to present their groups’ information, so that the class understands the article in its entirety

• Facilitate discussion by posing questions you’ve formulated ahead of time