{"id":10589,"date":"2016-02-04T22:27:13","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T06:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/?p=10589"},"modified":"2017-05-17T14:04:02","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T21:04:02","slug":"by-learning-from-history-teachers-help-nurture-upstanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/by-learning-from-history-teachers-help-nurture-upstanders\/","title":{"rendered":"By Learning From History, Teachers Help Nurture \u201cUpstanders\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the onslaught of news about the 2016 presidential election, it\u2019s easy to feel powerless amid so much disagreement over the complex problems facing a country of 318 million people.<\/p>\n

Multiply that feeling by about a million if you’re a\u00a0young person witnessing the first election you’re old enough to understand.<\/p>\n

But Mary Hendra, associate program director for Facing History and Ourselves in Los Angeles, says that for educators, the election is an opportunity to remind young people that change doesn\u2019t happen only in a voting booth. It can happen in one\u2019s neighborhood or school, or when young people become what Hendra calls \u201cupstanders\u201d\u2014those who speak on behalf of others and stand up to injustices small or large.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe candidates are putting forward their vision for the country,\u201d Hendra said. \u201cBut it\u2019s a really nice time for students to think: \u2018What\u2019s my vision for my own community? How I can take steps now to start making this society the kind I want to live in?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Educator Innovator<\/em> partner\u00a0Facing History and Ourselves<\/a> is an educational nonprofit whose mission is to help teachers use history to combat racism, anti-Semitism, and bigotry. Its headquarters are in Massachusetts, though it has 10 offices around the country that partner with local schools. Upstanders can be found throughout history and the concept is central to Facing History\u2019s work and mission.<\/p>\n

The notion of upstanders\u00a0is woven through much of Facing History’s work and curriculum. And last August Hendra and Facing History hosted four webinars<\/a>\u00a0at Connected Learning TV to help teachers inspire upstanders in their own classrooms.\u00a0Though the webinars varied in topics, they had a shared goal of helping students understand how their own decisions and actions can make a difference in the world around them.<\/p>\n

In one of the webinars,<\/a> Annie Brown, a middle and high school teacher in Los Angeles, talked about how her students responded to a Facing History curriculum called the Holocaust and Human Behavior<\/a>. The lessons brought to light the small, everyday choices German citizens made long before World War II, including staying silent when they saw injustices committed against their Jewish neighbors, coworkers, and friends. In a school with a high population of undocumented students, she said, class members were able to make connections between German anti-Semitism in the 1930s and the hurtful words they hear spoken about their own communities, like \u201calien\u201d or \u201cillegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a touchy word comes out, are you the person who says something about it? Or do you just let it slide, because it\u2019s easier?\u201d Brown said. \u201cStudents can connect to this, and make choices in their own lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/a>

Members of the LGBTQIA+ Club at the Humanitas Academy of Art and Technology in Los Angeles won an Upstander award for organizing a day of silence to protest homophobia.<\/p><\/div>\n

Another webinar<\/a> focused on teaching the novel \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird\u201d as a way to understand the intersection of race, class, and gender today. Steven Becton, associate program director for urban education at Facing History and Ourselves, has worked with educators for many years in Memphis, Tennessee. He stressed the importance of bringing students safely in and out of conversations about race in the classroom, which can be complex and sensitive, and said To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em> is a great tool because it brings with it some identity and historical distance, and its narration is the voice of a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I love about this book is that even though it\u2019s safe, it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not courageous,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s complex, and it deals with the hard parts in talking about race, but in a way that people can safely come to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

The webinars helped teachers think about how to foster tolerance and be agents of change\u2014something many students in Los Angeles are already doing. Last spring, Facing History and Ourselves wanted to recognize such students and started an annual Upstanders Award in Los Angeles<\/a>. The nine winning students and student groups included a team that planted a community garden and a young woman who organized a student walkout against police brutality.<\/p>\n

But Rosemary Tecun, a 10th<\/sup> grader at Social Justice Humanitas Academy in Los Angeles, was nominated for aiding others in a manner so obvious it is usually overlooked. Tecun started helping struggling students in her classes keep track of their assignments.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe started really looking out for students who were struggling academically,\u201d Hendra said, adding that Tecun would go along with fellow classmates to visit teachers for extra help and follow up about certain projects. Hendra said that was exactly the kind of upstanding the Facing History curriculum is working to cultivate in students\u2014to see themselves as members of a community who are\u00a0responsible for each other in a myriad of ways.<\/p>\n

Building that kind of empathy in young citizens, Hendra hopes, will have a great impact on society in the future. \u201cThese weren\u2019t her friends, they were just other people in her class. She\u2019s a 10th<\/sup> grader\u2014you can just imagine where she will go, and how much wider she will think in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top Photo\/ Graduating seniors at the\u00a0Academy of Medical Arts at Carson High School in Los Angeles organize a school-wide event to mentor and support underclassmen<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This election year, Facing History and Ourselves reminds us that young people can make a difference outside the voting booth by standing up and voicing their concerns about the injustices around them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":10629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[345],"tags":[580,486,657],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10628,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10589\/revisions\/10628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}