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Samuel Corum / Getty Images
The 74 Million
Lessons from an Insurrection: A Day After D.C. Rampage
How 15 Educators From Across U.S. Helped Students Make Sense of the Chaos
Teachers across the country faced their students Thursday with a
gut-wrenching task: Talking to them about the violent insurrection that
unfolded at the U.S. Capitol less than a day before.
In D.C., where the breach of the Capitol building by pro-Trump
supporters falsely claiming election fraud was in teachers’ and
students’ own backyards, one educator drew historical parallels to
white aggression at Woolworth lunch counters. A Minnesota teacher’s
class discussed the limitations of the First Amendment. Students in
both a Colorado and New York City educator’s class compared Wednesday’s
police reactions to those of the Black Lives Matter protests last
summer.
“There need to be lessons, [class] discussions about what is happening
right now. What led up to this,” Washington Teachers Union president
Liz Davis told The 74. “Because it didn’t happen in isolation.”
The 74 interviewed teachers nationwide about how they would present
Wednesday’s events and the lessons they’re hoping students take away
from those discussions.
Angelo Parodi, 5th-grade social studies, John Eaton Elementary, Washington, D.C.
Parodi wanted his students to know while these times “can be very
fearful and scary, there are always people who will stand up and speak
to the right thing.”
On Thursday he had them read texts bolstering that message: Robert F.
Kennedy’s speech the night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. ‘For My Young Friends
Who Are Afraid’ by poet William Stafford.
The most recent example they discussed, Parodi added, happened
Wednesday: When Congress, in spite of the insurrection, resumed to
certify Joe Biden’s election win. “They didn’t let anything, not even a
civil war, stop them,” Parodi said. “That is something to be proud
about.”
Kara Cisco, Minnesota 2020 Social Studies Teacher of the Year, ninth-grade civics, St. Louis Park High School
“The use of force — in particular the use of tear gas, rubber
bullets, flashbangs, grenades — was exponentially faster in
Minneapolis,” where many of Cisco’s students experienced police
violence during protests following the killing of George Floyd, than
after the breach of the Capitol. This, she said, “adds an additional
layer of complexity to my job, which is helping students parse that
out, within the context of the Constitution. We’re constantly going
back to, in this case, the First Amendment and what is clear and
present danger, what are the words and what are the limitations of
freedom of speech?”
While some teachers in other districts were directed to “maintain a
position of neutrality,” she instead chose to start conversations
“rooted in criticality,” she said. “The questions that we pose as
teachers are powerful in that they invite students to develop their own
critical consciousness and their critical thinking skills in unique
ways. Our power lies not in telling, but in asking big questions, and
inviting students to engage…. Being a teacher is such a privilege right
now because I have the ability to process this with students in a way
that the average person doesn’t. … Does law enforcement perceive Black
bodies to be dangerous before they perceive white bodies to be
dangerous?”
Christine Montera, 11th-grade U.S. history, East Bronx Academy
New York City
Montera was up all night Wednesday, trying to figure out which “anchor
texts” to use to teach her three classes about the day’s nightmarishly
surreal events, while also worrying about the ways to break through the
barriers of remote learning on such a sensitive topic.
“As a white person and teacher, I always have a lot of concerns about
me not hurting them more,” she said. “I try to get a read on where
they’re at because I can’t — I won’t pretend to know what their
experience of this is.”
The teenagers said they were angry and frustrated — one said they felt
hopeless, she said. All of them asked, “What would have happened, if
this had been Black people?”
Montera addressed the stark differences in the ways law enforcement and
government officials reacted to the Black Lives Matter protests over
the summer, versus yesterday’s white-led insurrection. She’s not sure
what, but plans to come up with an action plan her students can execute
moving forward so they don’t feel so powerless.
“I personally think that it’s my duty as a U.S. history teacher to talk
about these things and address them. I hope that other teachers see it
the same, especially teachers of students who are white, and in
different places, not just the South Bronx where I teach, but in places
where this could make a difference.”
Cosby Hunt, AP U.S. History and D.C. History teacher, Thurgood Marshall Academy
Washington, D.C.
Hunt was still processing Wednesday’s events later that night. “I’m
mad, really mad,” he wrote in an email. But he already had plans for
Thursday’s classes: “In D.C History, we’ll talk about the parallels
between the ‘mutiny’ of Rev[olutionary] War veterans in 1783 and what
happened today,” he said.
“In [A.P. U.S. History], I think I’m just going to open up the floor to
students sharing what they’re thinking and wondering. I may do free
write with sentence starters like: ‘I saw… I heard… I’m feeling… I
wonder about …’”
Dale Fraza, social studies, 360 High School
Providence, Rhode Island
Fraza opted to begin his lesson today by underscoring the gravity of Wednesday’s events.
“I’m going to start by addressing that January 6th, 2021, will be a
date that we study 15, 20, 50 years down the line,” he told The 74
Wednesday night.
Fraza said he would invite questions and concerns then would use
disturbing photos and video clips of the mob overrunning the Capitol to
prompt student discussion in breakout rooms online. He plans to close
by examining statements from public figures, such as former President
Barack Obama and President Donald Trump, who now faces the prospect of
a second impeachment or being removed from office via the 25th
Amendment.
His 360 colleague, Kelly McGahan, who said she quickly “chucked my
other lesson plan in favor of covering this current event,” used those
same photos to prepare her own “See, Think, Wonder” exercise for her
classes.
Providence high school civics teacher Kelly McGahan prepared a “See,
Think, Wonder” exercise for her classes based on photos taken of the
rioters and Capitol police. (Courtesy of Kelly McGahan)
Maya Chavez, a civics teacher in the city’s Jorge Alvarez High School,
planned an optional afterschool Google Meet session for students
wanting to talk and also revised her lesson plan, titling it simply:
Crisis in Democracy.
Laura Tavares, program director for Facing History and Ourselves
Boston, Massachusetts
Students need to process their emotions about Wednesday’s events to
understand the political ramifications of them, said Tavares, who
helped create a lesson teachers anywhere can use that already has
100,000 views online. The lesson, “Responding to the Insurrection in
the U.S. Capitol” suggests questions teachers can ask to draw students
out, like:
How do you feel about the insurrection and what is happening in the aftermath?
What questions about right and wrong, fairness or injustice, did insurrection raise for you?
How should individuals or politicians act in order to protect our democratic institutions?
“It’s good practice to make a reflective space before we dive more
deeply into other questions,” she said. “We feel a need to balance the
head and the heart and also ask questions about ethics and behavior.”
Cassandra Garcia, Spanish, Central High School
Rapid City, South Dakota
As a high school Spanish teacher in rural South Dakota, Garcia lost
sleep wondering how to address the news in a community where more than
60 percent of residents voted to reelect President Trump. Ultimately,
she decided that the lessons were too pertinent to skip.
“I couldn’t ignore it and I had to provide an opportunity for these
young minds to process and express their reactions,” said Garcia, whose
own community was subjected to social unrest last summer when Trump
delivered remarks at nearby Mount Rushmore in July. To address
Thursday’s violence, Garcia highlighted how the mayhem was covered by
newspapers in Spain, Mexico and Colombia, giving students an
opportunity to learn new Spanish vocabulary, including violenta
(violent) and revuelta (revolt).
“I definitely sent the message that responding with anger in the way
that these people did is not appropriate,” she said. “It’s OK to have
different opinions and it’s OK to be in two separate political parties,
but the more important thing is that we know how to communicate and
that you listen to each other.”
But in addressing the incident, she also felt a need to tread lightly.
“I don’t want parents to think that I’m influencing how their children
are thinking in terms of one side versus the other — but more just on
how to be a good person,” she said.
Rob Manuel, World History teacher at KIPP DC College Preparatory
Washington, D.C.
Manuel said while he “can appreciate” pundits’ and reporters’ “disgust
in the hypocrisy in the [Metropolitan Police Department], National
Guard, and Capitol Police responses” Wednesday as opposed to last
year’s Black Lives Matter protests, he’s decided to draw alternative
comparisons when he resumes classes on Friday. (KIPP DC cancelled
virtual class for Thursday).
“Instead of comparing what WOULD have happened if the rioters were
black,” he wrote in an email, “I plan to …. compare [Wednesday’s
events] to every other instance in which a group of people (especially
white people) feel themselves losing the grips of power. Instead, I
will push my students to compare this moment with the futile anger,
aggression, and hatred seen at the Woolworth Lunch Counters, the
destruction of Black Wall Street, and the actual secession of southern
states to protect their right to own human beings.”
Anton Schulzki, teaches “History of the Americas,” William J. Palmer High School
Colorado Springs, Colorado
A veteran social studies teacher, Anton Schulzki has had to face his
students after multiple crises and rough points in the nation’s history
— the Challenger disaster, school shootings, impeachments and wars. But
Wednesday’s breach of the U.S. Capitol was different. “I could see
their faces, but it’s hard to gauge reactions in a virtual room,” said
Schulzki. Republican Doug Lamborn, who represents that part of the
state, is one of the House members who objected to the election results.
Several students pointed out differences between police reaction to the
men and women storming the Capitol and those participating in Black
Lives Matter protests over the summer. “They said, ‘No one is getting
beaten up,’” Schulzki said. One student, troubled by the “entirety of
the chaos,” had to excuse himself from the class, Schulzki said. He
checked on him later in the day, when the student told him, “I don’t do
well in those situations.”
Cody Norton, 3rd-grade English language arts, Marie Reed Elementary School
Washington, D.C.
“Students were very angry, they were very uncomfortable and very sad,”
said Norton, who let part of Thursday’s class be a place for students
to talk about their emotions. And “they wanted to have questions
answered about why the riots were taking place, the motivation of why
the police response was different from racial justice protests they’ve
seen. … Just clarification on what was happening in their city, very
close to their homes and their neighborhoods.”
Norton also guided class discussion toward “definitions of power.
Thinking about power as a mechanism of control, where power is a
limited resource and it’s used to dominate, and wanting to move our
thinking to power as a means of liberation, where we’re trying to build
a collective community that’s working toward the freedom of all. … [In
that vein,] Students talked about reducing gun violence. One student in
particular mentioned that one way to build power and to keep people
safe is thinking about the ways communities are policed.”
Larry Ferlazzo, social studies teacher, Luther Burbank High School
Sacramento, California
In the Sacramento Unified School District in California, Larry
Ferlazzo’s English learner students were preparing to give
presentations Thursday on civil wars in their home countries. “Before
this afternoon I certainly would not have anticipated beginning the
class showing Confederate flags being waved in the U.S. Capitol,”
tweeted the English and social studies teacher at Luther Burbank High
School.
Elizabeth Clay Roy, CEO of Generation Citizen
New York City
While Roy isn’t a teacher, the civics education nonprofit she heads is
“developing resources for our educators by Friday morning,” she wrote
in an email. One critical tip for teachers in wake of Wednesday’s
events, Roy said, is that they “connect with families so that students
feel supported by all of the adults in their life. Especially in the
context of remote learning, it is important that parents know how this
moment is being discussed in the classroom so they can invite their
children to continue the conversation.”
Nikki Bartlett, English teacher, Newcastle Middle School
Newcastle, Wyoming
In the state where voters handed Trump’s reelection bid the nation’s
largest margin of victory against President-elect Joe Biden, Bartlett
largely avoided teaching about Wednesday’s insurrection — in part
because it was being discussed in social studies class. But also
because she was nervous.
“It interrupts my curriculum and I was worried about where it would
go,” said Barlett, who acknowledged the topic did wind up in
conversations during several classes on Thursday. “I was a little
nervous to even field all of the questions.”
While some students mentioned voter fraud and Biden’s potential effects
on firearm laws, discussions remained civil and most students were
confused by what had transpired. One student’s inquisition gave her
goosebumps, she said.
“She goes, ‘I don’t get why they can’t just accept it, numbers are
facts,’” she said. “I wanted to hug her, but COVID, and I wanted to
applaud her, but I couldn’t. I just had to remain pretty neutral, which
was the hardest part through it all. I said, ‘Absolutely, you are dead
on.’”
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