Learning About Civil Rights

Martin Luther King Day is such an important day in our country, and in our class, it kicked off our informal unit about Civil Rights.  On the Friday before Martin Luther King Day, we read the first half of a wonderful book called As Good As Anybody.  This book tells the story of Martin Luther King Jr., starting from his life as a young boy.  It gave us a wonderful opportunity to talk about the concepts of discrimination, segregation, separate-but-equal (and the inherent flaw in that idea) and more.  I’m always glad to see how confused kids are by this – The idea of treating someone unkindly because of their skin color was totally alien to the kids, and they couldn’t fathom how someone would do this to another person.  This launched us into our continuing study of diversity and civil rights.

Leaders of the protest, holding flags, from left Bishop James Shannon, Rabbi Abraham Heschel, Dr. Martin Luther King and Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath.” Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Arlington Cemetery, February 6, 1968. Published February 7, 1968. (Photo by Charles Del Vecchio/Washington Post/Getty Images)

This past Friday, we finished reading As Good As Anybody.  The second half of the book taught us about Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Jewish man who fought for the rights of Jews who were being persecuted, much as Dr. King did for African Americans.  The two men teamed up and worked together to accomplish their shared goal of earning equal civil rights and fair treatment for ALL.

While the kids were, of course, familiar with Dr. King, Abraham Joshua Heschel was a new name to them.  The book hints at how Jews were treated unjustly in Europe during World War II, and it lets us add to our previous understanding of discrimination by race or gender by understanding the idea of discrimination by religion.  This transitions perfectly to an activity we’re starting this Monday.

On Monday, fourth graders at PGS will start a unit of study about an incredible novel called Number the Stars.  Throughout the week, theater educators from the Hartford Stage will join our class to teach the kids about the novel Number the Stars, which tells the story of a fictional family in Denmark that helps to hide a Jewish family that tries to escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust.  Following the Hartford Stage residency, we will begin reading this novel as a class.

This will be an advanced unit that touches on mature content matter.  Fourth graders at PGS have had this unit for many years, and I’m always impressed by how maturely students are able to participate in the lessons.

When we teach this unit, our focus is more on characters and situations in the novel, with general background information provided to students.  We do NOT discuss any of the graphic or gory details of the Holocaust, and we always work very hard to make the unit “kid-friendly” and age-appropriate for fourth graders.  We focus more on challenges that characters faced and understanding the feelings they had, rather than the facts of what took place during the time period (although some general ideas are introduced during the unit).  Think of it as a book that takes place during the Holocaust, not a book about the Holocaust itself.

As the unit progresses, I will be in contact with you to keep you informed about class discussions and content so that you can be prepared for follow-up discussions at home.  And as always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me.

Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss