The Power in Their Own Story

Last year, I sought out ways to create an English course that utilizes solely African American authors and characters in the curriculum. After a petition and some paper work the course was finally approved by my school. Excited to teach "Ourstory" and celebrate Black culture, I set the standards and expectations high for both the students and myself, the instructor. I marketed the course and before I knew it I had 35 high school sophomores sitting in front of me anxious to partake in a course that focuses on the culture of Blacks. 

Although the course was primarily African American students, there were several Latinos, a few Caucasian, and one Asian student on the roster. We began the course with The Other Wes Moore, followed by Frederick Douglass: The Slave Narratove, next Fences, then Autobiography of an Ex Colored Man, Bluest Eye, and lastly The Color Purple. In each book the main character and protagonist were Black. This was something new, unchartered territory for the students, Black and the other races. 

I began to see a change. Black students suddenly became more vocal. Leaders in the discussions, role models for exemplar work, they had transformed from the student I knew the year before. Several of the students were my students the previous year in a traditional English course where they read Shakespeare and Clan of the Cave Bear. I could not resist asking them "Why they had changed, although I loved the change, I need to know why?" A student put it so eloquently when she responded with "these characters remind me of me and because of that I like it more." How simple, I thought to myself, nevertheless, as educators we are not making strides in adapting our curriculum to our population. Students are engaged when they can relate to the characters. The moment we create homogenous curriculum that focuses on telling "HIStory" we lose our Minority students who have so often been left out of the text books. We are not only doing them a disservice but also ourselves as teachers. I have enjoyed this class more than any other course in my career. Their engagement pushes me to be a better teacher, I want to continue to challenge them to while helping them unlock the beauty in their own culture and story.