Tag Archives: Teaching

Precept of the Day

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The precept of the day came from a preacher. My 10 students watched a small video about Charles Spurgeon.

Then they were asked to to explain what he may have meant when he said, “By Perseverance the Sail reached the ark.”

I wasn’t too sure how many of then knew about Noah and the ark. Their response ranged from ordinary to extra ordinary.

This precept, McKenzi wrote, means even if [the] snail [is] slow, he still can reach Noah’s scared chest. For example, she continued, the snail [tries] to catch a boat but he is [too] slow. He believed in himself and got on the boat.

Meanwhile, Carson tapped into his inner reverend. Although out of chronological order, He tried his best to paraphrase the story about Noah and the Ark. I think this quote means, he said, when God struck land with a flood for 40 days and 40 nights…Noah sent the dove and the dove came back…Noah finished building the ark..[He] put the animals in the ark…it started raining…the snail still made it.

Hey, Ms. Hurley?

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This little kid made sure to visit his sister’s class all year long. He sat at the computer learning with her and most times when I would ask his sister a question, he would fight her to answer it himself.

Once, the children had a conversation about what age it was appropriate to make a bed. Right when the class was about to agree that a 4 year old could not make up a bed, he turned on his sister’s camera and told us he made up his own bed. Then, we all sat then in silence.

Forget it when it was time to make projects or have fun. I had to beg him. “please allow your sister to speak” then his parents would come and take him to the next room.

He’s so bold. I thought.

But that was all virtually because when I ran into him and his dad in the train station, he refused to show his face.

Learning (and teaching) the History of Route 66

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TaylorMy curiosity about the history of Route 66 was sparked by my third grade students.

During the lessons,  I could not answer many of their questions; therefore, I conducted a lot of research before and after each lesson.

I was grateful when I came across  Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey which was/is  a great resource….and I want to say, the only one for children covering this topic.

(I find that sometimes when teaching the history of my people, not a lot of material is out there and if it is, it’s not for children. Which most times, is okay with me because I think children should be told the same story adults are told. Especially when these children are black and brown children who are taught to have a double conscience…)

So, for lessons about Route 66, YouTube came in handy. They watched Candancy Taylor’s documentary on Route 66 and I was blown away by what they understood about a time period that came before them (and their parents)!

Are blacks allowed to travel on Route 66 today? What’s redlining? What happened to Route 66? How does a road disappear? So, there are absolutely no businesses there now?? What happened to the black people? Do you think Nat King Cole took Route 66?

Without Taylor’s research I don’t think I would have been able to answer most of their questions so efficiently.

After the year ended, I had forgotten about the videos and Taylor’s research. Then, one day  in January, I received an email from the Schomburg inviting me to Taylor’s book signing.

Of course, I didn’t turn down a chance to meet the author and buy her book.  Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America was finally on the shelves. I told the now fourth graders about her success, to which they were jealous they couldn’t attend ( but couldn’t wait to see that book was signed to them)!!

I called a couple of my friends who I knew would appreciate the topic and we met at the Schomburg to listen to Taylor speak about her research.  IMG_2822

I was already familiar with some information, since I had watched her on YouTube so many times before. Nonetheless, hearing her speak in person meant a lot to me.

One of my favorite stories she tells is the one of her step-father Ron (which is at the beginning of the book) and how the project brought them closer. When she started the project, he opened up to her about what he had been through as a black man traveling through America. After he passed, she found the courage and grace to continue her research.  This story resonates with me for many personal reasons. It makes me think of the sacrifices of my parents and grand-parents and the stories they took to the grave with them (or shared) about what they experienced. Likewise, it also resonates with me because of social reasons. It reminds me of the many historians who dedicated their life to documenting and researching topics that are out of the ordinary.

The night of the book signing we didn’t mind waiting over a hour (Ishita waited till the last minute to pick up a copy) to get our books signed.

When I met Ms. Taylor, she was extremely kind and patient. She listened to my story about my students and told me she is also writing a book for children (thank God!).

Teaching through Questions

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Sometimes I find that the most powerful lessons aren’t the ones I spend hours planning but the simple ones the children spend minutes questioning. This blog post is about how my third grade class learned by asking questions and how I learned to allow them to lead the lessons.

Last year a little girl in my class skipped art to finish up an ELA project. While she was cutting and drawing she started singing,

L- is for the way you look at me, O- is for the only one I see….

-Wow, Hailey, that’s a very old song, where did you hear that one at?

I don’t know…. maybe a movie. But I really like it. Ms. Hurley, who sings that song anyway?

-I am not sure. I think Frank Sinatra.

Who is that? 

-A white man who sings really good.

What? He’s not black.

-No. Hailey. Maybe a black person does sing it but I think Frank Sinatra sang it first.

-You should look it up.  

I got up from my desk and went to the computer.

-Wow Hailey, a black person did sing it as well. It looks like Nat King Cole was the first to sing it. 

Who is Nat King Cole?

-That’s a great question. I am not sure who he is outside of being a singer. 

I clicked the video and we listened to the song.

-Wow Ms. Hurley. He sounds really good! I would want my boyfriend to sing like that!

-We should find out more about him.

–Yes, we should.

The conversation changed the entire school year for us. I couldn’t answer Hailey’s question by reading the class a picture book on Nat King Cole because there isn’t any (that I know of) so we had to do our own research.

When the class returned to the classroom, Hailey asked if she could sing the song and tell the class where it came from. We played the song and that was just the beginning… The class agreed that they should know who he was.

We stared with his music. We listened to some of his songs which meant more questions. This allowed me to teach them how to conduct research.

I sat and watched as they spoke in groups and was very impressed when they jotted down their questions. Since the Black History Show was approaching, I picked a Nat King Cole song and worked his life into the  lessons. They went home and watched YouTube clips about his life and the sad life of his daughter. Some of their parents shared that they danced to his music at their weddings. One little girl watched an entire documentary by Candacy Taylor on Route 66. Needless to say, the lessons got deep. Real Deep.

One night I stayed up pondering if teaching them about Route 66 was too much. They wanted to know more about it and Gabby was telling the class about the documentary. I didn’t think they would sit there and be interested in it.

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I was still pondering the thought when I went to Massachusetts during Dr. King’s birthday weekend. I met African American Storyteller, Onawumi Jean Moss at the Eric Carle Museum. Initially, I had a desire to meet her because I was interested in hearing stories about the south but it’s true that story tellers don’t just tell stories. They teach! And that’s what happened when I was in her presence. She spent over two hours mentoring me! (I felt so much love)!

During the conversation, she spoke on how to teach terminology to children, and I shared with her that a little boy had asked me the meaning of kicks, while I was teaching them the song, Route 66.

Route 66, she replied, in our history is over two thousand miles long. It is a sun down strip. If black folks were caught on that strip… after sun down anything could happen to them. Don’t teach [them that song], unless you teach that history. 

Her comment said two things to me. If I knew my class was ready for this, then don’t hold back. But, if there was any doubt, then don’t teach it to them. I thought about them asking questions and fining out answers before me. Not waiting for my validation.

The next week, we spent the entire week learning about Route 66.

They sat through the entire documentary and jotted down questions to ask Candacy Taylor. They watched the Nat King Cole documentary and discussed why they thought  he sang Route 66 even though according to history it wasn’t a friendly highway for blacks.

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They wrote their own stories about Nat King Cole’s life. Drew pictures. Wrote plays. They learned to listen to jazz and swing. When I played the Nat King Cole station from Pandora, whenever they heard his voice, they would say, That’s Nat King Cole! When we went on trips to enhance understanding of history and art, they compared Bobby Troupe to Jacque-Luis David and Nat King Cole to Kehinde Wiley.

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“Nat King Cole made the song, Route 66, popular, even though Bobby Troupe wrote it. Just like this painting of Napoleon…for me, Kehinde Wiley makes it more…better….”

They immersed themselves in the content entirely, drawing me in as well. I didn’t know when the lesson would end and found myself hoping it wouldn’t. They built on each touching conversation about segregation in the south and about the hypocrisy of America.

When it was time for their show in February, they performed with power and exuberance. It was a honor to hear our  principal tell me that their skit brought tears to her eyes ( I need the school permission to post the video of their show).

At the end of the school year, they performed their own play titled, Nat King Cole and the Green Book and had great reviews from the teachers and children alike.

While I taught many lesson with this class, this by far was one of my favorite and it wasn’t even a lesson first thought of by me. It was taught because they were asking questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bag Lady in Flight

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Art by David Hammons

I saw this abstract art at the Brooklyn Museum. While Hammons first presented his art  in the 70’s for many reasons outside of environment awareness, I think  abstract art using any type of bag now is needful.

I got a text from my sister instructing me to start a project with my students using just plastic bags.