Issues Now & Tomorrow

The speaker discusses the importance of discussing controversial issues in the classroom and ensuring a more inclusive curriculum. They mention the limitations of state standards and textbooks in providing a comprehensive view of history, particularly from diverse perspectives. The speaker emphasizes the need for unbiased teaching and allowing students to form their own opinions. They also mention the challenges of addressing sensitive topics such as slavery and the Holocaust in a classroom setting. The speaker acknowledges their own shortcomings in handling discussions around controversial issues but highlights the importance of creating a safe space for students to express their opinions. Overall, the speaker believes that addressing important issues in the curriculum is crucial for students to be aware of current events and understand how democracy works. So there are many issues in today's world that can be deemed controversial or controversial issue But those issues at the same time No matter who deems them controversial do need to be discussed and brought up because they are relevant to the time and current events So within the classroom students need to be able to be able to assess and learn the facts of these issues And be able to debate and come up with their own opinions more so than anything else When looking at curriculum, there are definitely issues that I've seen when I was teaching art and teaching Like the biggest question Really is like what's not there? Like what are we not adding in to have a more multicultural Discussion or curriculum and Allowing discussion about others than just the plant put old white males perspective And even bringing in those controversial issues and how they can fit within the curriculum that we're teaching The state standards Are definitely helpful, but they are also definitely harmful They're helpful because they give you a guide and where you need to go and what you know the students need to be able to master but they're also very broad and Makes you have to pick and choose and what you're going to teach or who you're going to teach Regarding And what you're teaching in the curriculum So if you're like in social studies you're talking about the revolution or the founding You're going to bring up the founders because those are the main people who? Were a part of everything but in doing so You're leaving out the female perspective the african-american perspective the Native American perspective in That time frame and really Like using the standards you don't if you just go off of The history standards you don't really bring in women and or real women Contributions until the reform movement when you start talking about The women's suffrage movement or the abolition or the temperance movement because most of them were led by females So you start talking about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman and Then at that point is when you start you can but even then you're only using The big names you're not bringing in the everyday female and Their perspective And so that's where the standards can be harmful because You have to pick it from where you end up having to pick and choose and what you're teaching And textbooks are also the same way most of them are aligned with the standards either within the state or the national standards And they is definitely a bias within those as well because they could be pushing a certain thought or a certain way of thinking And not bringing in certain things or people With that needs to be taught or they're out of date and they haven't been updated in a couple years Like I know for US history They hadn't adopted a new textbook since I was in school, so I was actually using the Textbook as a guy that I had used in eighth grade, which was over ten years ago So there's definitely an issue there and you're having to find your own things To bring in as well And You think bringing in important issues into curriculum there's definitely Definitely an important to that and a purpose because again you need the students need to be aware of current events or Things going on that Need to be allowed to be discussed and making sure that students are able to discuss them in a Safe way I Know when I was teaching in 2020 it was during the 2020 election so I was always very careful of making sure my personal opinions of and political views were not put into why I was teaching and Make not allowing the students to really know my stance in Politics or Who I was for even though they would definitely try to guess and I just always made sure that I was completely unbiased in that because I Wanted students to have their own opinions with just giving the facts giving Letting them have their own opinion now, I definitely had no teachers Who I was working with who had their political opinion was known but in doing that I also saw that the students would fight back because they didn't agree with said political opinion and It definitely caused more behaviors with those students because of the disagreements and they didn't agree with them My mentor teacher when I stood up taught was He was very much don't let them know Let them guess just don't get don't let them know because I'm never gonna tell you Even though and they would try to grasp they'd have them back and forth and who he supported But it was he was very much unbiased and when he was teaching it And And in doing so it allows the students to have the freedom to able to discuss without feeling That they're pressured into thinking one way or another because that's what you're thinking It was like watching the inauguration I was like, well we would have watched it with whoever had ever won the election because it's an important event that you only see once every four years and It's an event in social like in history that we've discussed and It's one we're going to watch no matter who's the president As a social studies teacher In curriculum, it definitely I think needs to be more inclusive and I hope As I move forward that I will be more inclusive and more aware of Pulling in others than just the white male perspective And then also definitely in the classroom needs to be open communication and Having a say in what they do and having a little more having a more democratic classroom because that allows students to have more say in what they do and maybe even being able to Use that as a way of showing how How they can be more inclusive and how they can be more aware of what's going on in the classroom And being able to Use that as a way of showing how democracy works within the classroom like within our country And teaching the important issues It's always very hard or controversial issues that someone claims because you always want to make sure You're not stepping on anyone's toes or Overstepping and I know when I first started teaching that was something I tried very hard not to do mainly because I was very much in over my head But in doing so you have to make sure that you still touch on them because they are important like teaching slavery It's a very delicate balance that you have to use Much like Teaching the Holocaust, it's a very delicate balance because it's such a Important issue and in the way it can be controversial especially with all that's going on and That yes, you need to bring it in, but it's very hard to do and very Something that you need to be very careful with because you don't want to start any fights out in the classroom, but Find a way to have a good debate or good debates about it and being allowing kids to share their opinions without Feeling like they're going to be attacked for that opinion or If it's an opinion you definitely don't agree with or I know with a lot of my students With the way they were it was very hard because There was a very Good chance that They just they would You know they were the kids who would simply say something like that's racist or something Even though it really wasn't and at the time I really didn't know how to balance and handle that Very well, and it's something that I know definitely needs I needed to work on and I think going in and knowing that You know we have to be able to have a safe place to discuss these things and Have to be able to bring them up even if it's something they don't agree with I know at the end of some of my classes when we have extra time we would watch CNN 10, which is Something CNN puts out as A student version to get News and There was one time where they were talking about black lives matter and this one girl came up to me and I was Asking to leave even though at that point. I think the club was pretty much over because it was something she didn't believe in and I told her no and then After that I knew she Had texted her I had texted her Parents at that point so I had prepped my next period so I went and asked another teacher. I was like was this okay? um did I and he was he assured me that it was the right thing and then later that day one of the assistant principals came to talk to talk to me about and I explained the same thing and It was just one of those moments. That's like, uh, did I do the right thing or um What was I to do at that point um when I later talked to the parents here in conferences, um I thought that it was like the reasoning behind it and I understood that but at the same time it was a very short clip um that Eat its current events and it's something that whether they like it or not. I'm gonna need to hear about I need to hear about um, even if they do have a differing opinion um but Um, I think that's with a lot of these like controversial issues that Um Need to be brought up and need to be connected to the curriculum and obviously that's something I know I need to work on and I think it's something a lot of teachers need to work on and be able to um use going forward to have a better inclusive curriculum that students will take interest in and be made aware of Things going on in the world, but also using it especially like in social studies how we connect to the mechanism of the past and how We can use that going forward