Article Round Up: Juneteenth Edition

Teachers are reckoning with a multitude of difficult, complex subjects that our world is facing, and how to engage with students about them. Here are just a few resources, opinions, and stories about Juneteenth, in the light of its recognition as a national holiday, and ideas for the larger conversations that it invokes.

So You Want to Learn About Juneteenth?

An introduction to the most recent federally-recognized national holiday: Juneteenth commemorates June 19th, 1865, when enslaved African-Americans in Texas learned of their emancipation. The history of the holiday, though, is still unfolding as legislation and cultural shifts unfold after the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Teachers Say Laws Banning Critical Race Theory are Putting a Chill on Their Lessons

As Juneteenth is commemorated, Asian-American hate crimes are on the rise, the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre passes, and the Black Lives Matter Movement is still burning brightly, teachers are reckoning with the if and how to approach these topics in the classroom. Lawmakers are, too, and “newly adopted and proposed laws are already forcing teachers to second-guess whether they can lead students in conversations about race and structural racism that many feel are critical at a time the nation is navigating an important reckoning on those issues.”

Teaching Juneteenth

Advice on acknowledging the true history of our nation, while empowering students and their cultures to advocate for other narratives of power, freedom, and truth.

Please, offer your thoughts and join the conversation in your own classrooms and breakout rooms, here in the comments, or by reaching out to @drenzi@nebasecamp.org

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NEB Weighs In: Schools Reopening

Schools in Long Beach, Calif., Start Reopening This Week Schools are reopening nationwide, and back here in Rhode Island teachers and students are facing the same safe return roadblocks in the article above. With only part of the staff vaccinated, many teachers are still opting out of in person learning. Parents, who have set up a distance learning schedule, are also tasked now with weighing whether to return or keep what’s working. More arduous than that will be how we address the emotional toll this past year has had on students. Right now, we’re discussing what programming will be most effective for prioritizing SEL in the schools we serve. Teachers and parents are beginning to express concern over how students will adjust to this return, what anxiety will be lingering, or what grief will have to be processed. To join the discussion, or ask about programming for your community next year, reach out to us at nebpd@nebasecamp.org or get involved in ...

Teacher Spotlight: Jessica Tuttle of North Smithfield High School

Who I am… My name is Jessica Tuttle and I am a high school English teacher at North Smithfield High School in North Smithfield, RI. Although I have been teaching in NS for 6 years, I have been an English and Writing Teacher for 21 years. For 15 years, I was a college professor and a member of the English Departments at the University of Rhode Island and Salve Regina University. Although I loved teaching college students, I decided to become certified in Secondary Ed English because I knew my experience at the college level would benefit high school students for the demands of college writing. I also longed to be a part of students’ daily lives, which was a facet that was missing with college students since they were only with me for a short amount of time and only for a couple days during the week. What drives me as an English teacher is allowing students the opportunity to explore themselves through literature, and by reading other writers, giving t...

Mental Health Awareness Post

Are Schools Ready to Tackle the Mental Health Crisis? (Walker, 2018) Revisiting this pre-pandemic article with a post-pandemic lens highlights the urgency of an intentional approach to mental health in schools. The past two years have been full of immeasurable loss, trauma, and grief for students, families, and communities nationwide. What was described as a mental health “crisis” prior to the pandemic can only be considered an emergency as we navigate our new reality. This article’s emphasis on proactive, sustaining support frameworks and partnerships between teachers, mental health providers, community, and family members inspires us to consider the possibilities for schools and districts in the coming months. Now that we have borne witness to the destructive potential of the gaps in our social safety nets, we have a unique chance to re-envision our schools. We envision schools that provide proactive, systematic mental health support for all students, and leverage the collective wis...

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