Codesigning Culturally Responsive Social Studies Curriculum
Dece 25, 2022 | 6 min read
Beyond the Textbook: Codesigning Content with Students
Written by Stephane Manuel | Illustration by João Marcus Felix
Partnering with Abigail Henry, a History Teacher at Mastery Charter School, we're breaking free from traditional textbooks. Together, we're co-designing culturally responsive resources, reimagining how history is taught.
How did you become interested in TrueFiktion?
I’ve always had my own interest in comic books. I read them a little while growing up and took a comic book class in college. I learned about TrueFiktion through an assistant principal who reached out to me because I was the [school’s] African-American history content lead at the time. As a history teacher, I was very interested in seeing what [TrueFiktion] had to offer.
So you came recommended through an Assistant Principal at another campus who reached out to me because I was the African American history content lead at the time. And I've always had my own interest in comic books. I read them a little while growing up and took a comic book class in college. As a history teacher, I was very interested in seeing what you had to offer.
What was your first experience working with the company's resources?
Jude’s War was a great addition to my typical five-day mini-unit on African Americans in the U.S. military. It means a lot to me that African Americans would risk their lives for a country that treats them as half-American. Although the subject isn’t part of our curriculum, I teach a lesson on it every year. We started the unit looking at the Buffalo Soldiers, the Harlem Hellfighters, and the Tuskegee Airmen. Then we looked at the way soldiers were treated when they came home. We ended the unit with Jude's War, and students responded by saying that it did an excellent job reflecting the complexity of the black experience when soldiers returned home.
I've always been interested in African American service in the military because it just means a lot to me that African Americans can risk their lives for a country that treats them as half-American. Pittsburgh Courier Quote of, "I sacrifice myself to be half American." And so even though African Americans in the military are not included in our curriculum, I always do a five-day mini-unit on it. I know if I find something deeply interesting. I know there is more opportunity for me to get students engaged. We did a thematic unit that looked at Buffalo Soldiers, Harlem Hellfighters, and the Tuskegee Airmen. Then we looked at the way soldiers were treated when they came home. We ended the unit with Jude's War, and students responded by saying that it did an excellent job reflecting the complexity of the black experience when soldiers returned home.
We ended the unit with Jude's War, and students responded by saying that it did an excellent job reflecting the complexity of the black experience when soldiers returned home.”
In early 2022, TrueFiktion began partnering with schools to co-create locally relevant, culturally responsive comics. You and your students were part of one of our first pilots. How was the experience creating a comic?
My absolute favorite part was working with the writer and the artists [and getting]the opportunity to sketch out the plot in sequence. I pulled up all the notes I had taken from lessons I did with students and from my own planning. To be able to pull details from that and suggest them for the comic book was just so rewarding. My second favorite part was the opportunity to bring out my inner nerd. I only knew some of the details about the Philadelphia Transit Strike, so being able to dive deeply into it was an intellectual high. That's one of the things I love about being an educator: the learning never stops. I felt like I learned a critical part of Philadelphia's Blackhistory. I'm more knowledgeable on that. And as long as I'm an African American history teacher, I'll pass on that knowledge to my students every year..
When we first discussed the pilot, we had to pick a story to focus on. There are so many stories to tell about Philadelphia. What made the Transit Strike the winner?
I originally wanted to do the Black Panther Party of Philly because my former principal, his dad, was a member of the Black Panther Party. There is a famous photograph when they get stripped naked. Then I was thinking about the Gerard student protests. Philadelphia student protests are unknown. We considered the Negro Improvement Association in Philly, which I would still like to do because I feel like there are probably members of the Black community that have probably had parents that were a part of the organization. People don't know about the Philadelphia transit strike. And then and then wasn't there one like there's like the activities of women-led Ku Klux Klan activities in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia transit strike because it had that military piece, which you and I are both interested in. It felt like the natural fit.
“My absolute favorite part was working with the writer and the artists [and getting]the opportunity to sketch out the plot in sequence.”
We conducted design thinking workshops with you and your students during the design process. How’d you and your students like that process?
I wish we had more time for that because it’s something they hadn’t done before. Anytime you do something with kids for the first time, it never goes 100% the way you want it to [go]. But the students immediately got into it and stayed on task. Still, it was challenging to come up with key characters and key moments of the strike that they wanted to see. It just required a part of our brain that they weren't used to using.
I wish we had more time for that because it's not something they've experienced before. Anytime you do something for the first time with kids, it never goes 100% the way you want it to. But I remember taking the brainstorming activity shown to me on the whiteboard and making chart paper since my classes are bigger. The students immediately got into it. They were all on task. They got less put down on the chart paper because it was challenging to come up with key characters and key moments of the strike that they wanted to see. It just required a part of our brain that they weren't used to using. If it were something we were doing more regularly, it would have been more successful.
How was it teaching students about the Philadelphia Transit Strike?
It was fun. The students were appalled to discover that the city shut down because eight men didn’t like that a Black man got promoted. Their strong reactions show that they were paying attention. it came with the same challenges as any other unit.
