In fall of 2020, most educators are meeting their students online, with a few braving an entirely new version of in-person education: physical barriers, six feet of distance, face masks, and shields. No matter what the particulars of each school district’s hybrid, remote, or haltingly in-person model, many are lamenting, “We’re all first-year teachers again.”
But however we teach our lessons this year, let’s keep our focus fixed on our pedagogical and curricular values. To teach people’s history we need a people’s pedagogy, an approach to the classroom — online or in person — that recognizes the power of students to read the world, make meaning, and act with intention and efficacy. This “people’s pedagogy” is the yardstick by which we urge educators to measure the tech tools flooding their inboxes.
