Facing History and Ourselves

By: Jenessa Schwartz

Over the summer, I had the privilege of attending a workshop with Facing History and Ourselves, an amazing organization that provides resources for teachers interested in creating social justice-leaning curricula. This year, I will be using new Facing History resources across the middle school. In the 6th grade, I will be adding to my Giver unit, exploring more deeply the idea of being a witness to history and how society's common memory shapes our present lives and the future. In the 7th grade, we will be utilizing Facing History's vast Holocaust resources, including survivor testimonials, primary source documents (letters, poems, art, and journals all recovered from the ghettos and camps), and classroom activities focusing on human behavior during times of crisis like the Shoah. In 8th grade, we will be reading Warriors Don't Cry, Melba Beals' memoir recounting her experience being one of the Little Rock Nine, the brave teenagers who integrated Little Rock's Central High School. Facing History's resources provide an all-encompassing look at American culture during the turbulent time of Jim Crow, mandated integration, and the civil rights movement. 

Attending Facing History workshops never fails to inspire me to engage the students in deep study and discussion of the tough subjects: race, identity, social justice, and the more trying and sometimes ugly moments in human history. I strive to give the students a sense of agency and to encourage them to take action; what can we learn from the study of these topics and what can we do as members of this community to make the world a better, more just place? I have this amazing privilege of sharing incredible literature and moving primary sources with my middle school students, and I want them to leave Yavneh  having used these texts as inspiration to be informed, contributing members of society.