In Jill Stein’s class, kids learn about Black History Month each year not by simply writing a report on an important African-American, but by becoming that person for a day.
Robert Fulton Annex, a public K-8 bilingual school, planned the third annual “wax museum” event last week, where third, fourth, and fifth grade students pretended to be a notable African-American person and would only come alive when their peers asked them questions.
“[My peers] don’t know a lot about history,” said fifth grader Tatiana Blanco. “I think if I tell them a little bit about their story, they’re going to learn and they will get interested too.”
Jill Stein, a former English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and the current language arts instructor, said she has always believed children learn more by doing, rather than one teacher reading their report.
“I think if I tell them a little bit about their story, they’re going to learn and they will get interested too.” — Tatiana Blanco
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Learning about courage
Blanco completed her project on Sojourner Truth, the famous African-American abolitionist and women’s right activist.
“When she was 9 years old, she was sold for $100 to John Neely,” said Blanco, remarking how she couldn’t imagine what the girl’s parents went through.
Fifth grade student Sherly Tapia undertook a project on Ruby Bridges, who became the first African-American child to attend an all-white elementary school when she enrolled in New Orleans, La.
“People outside of the building were yelling at her and an old lad shouted at her that she was going to kill Ruby,” said Tapia. “It is important because she had the courage to go to school instead of leaving school.”
Another student, third grader Karen Gomez, choose Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American U.S. Congresswoman. She said when Chisholm was elected, women were still very much not part of the legislative process.
Entrepreneurs, inventors, and athletes
“He invented a lot of things, like the gas mask and the traffic signal,” said third grader Fernando Flores on his subject, Garrett A. Morgan.
Flores said that without the traffic signal, people would not be safe.
Third grader Georgina Garcia thought it was cool that Mae Jemison, the person she completed her assignment on, became the first African-American person to go to space.
Louis Amengual, a fifth grade student, chose boxer Muhammad Ali because “He is the best and he won more than other players.”
“My person [Dr. Charles Drew] was the first African-American to become a doctor,” said fourth grade student David Guzman. “He invented the blood bank because that’s where the doctors can get blood.”
Stein thought her students would learn a lot not only from their own projects, but from each other.
“These kids learned not only a lot of information about their special person, but their friend’s special person,” she said.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.