Education Week - January 13, 2021 - 16

Insurgency at the U.S. Capitol: A Dreaded,
Real-Life Lesson Facing Teachers
Teachers have
the difficult task
of helping their
students make
sense of events
By Madeline Will

Ideally, he said, teachers would
have a few days to process the events
themselves and put together a structured lesson. But at the same time,
" not giving it any recognition is dismissive of the magnitude of what
we're seeing right now, " Dyche said.
" This is an emotional event-more
than anything I've been a part of
since probably 9/11. "
Congress resumed the electoral
college certification the evening of
the Capitol assault and affirmed
Biden's victory. In a statement, Betsy
DeVos, who resigned as education
secretary the day after the riots, condemned those who attempted to impede the electoral vote, saying that
the law must be upheld.
" The eyes of America's children
and students-the rising generation
who will inherit the republic we leave
them-are watching what is unfolding in Washington today, " she said.
" We must set a better example for
them, and we must teach them the
solemn obligations and duties that
come with the title 'American.' "
The National Education Association
called for Trump's immediate removal
from office, saying students " are witnessing the promise of American Democracy unravel before their eyes. "

Challenges in Civics Study
The events of the past few years
and the political polarization that's
divided the nation have made what's
always been the difficult, delicate job
of the civics teacher infinitely more
challenging. From Trump's impeachment in late 2019 to the civil unrest of
this summer, social studies teachers
have had to tear up their lesson plans

16 | EDUCATION WEEK | January 13, 2021 | www.edweek.org

and start from scratch, with few resources to support them, and all
under the shadow of potential blowback from parents and their communities for discussing " divisive " issues.
This has been overwhelming, tiring work-but it has also accustomed
teachers to navigating difficult conversations with students, in which
there are no clear answers. Dyche
planned to start class the next day
by asking students if they had any
questions or thoughts about what
happened at the Capitol. " Our responsibility is both to inform but
also to admit when we don't have the
answer, " he said. " I need to process
this as a teacher, as an American, as a
citizen, as a voter, in the same way a
student would. "
Dyche said he would reach out
to the social studies teachers in his
school and encourage them to make
space for students to discuss the
events-but to also be careful not to
feed misinformation. Still, he didn't
want teachers to feel " paralyzed by
being unbiased " and avoid the conversation altogether.
" An armed occupation of our Capitol, that's wrong, " Dyche said. But he
was less decided on whether to call it
an attempted coup with his students.
" It's a careful phrase to use, " he said.
In a statement, Rep. Jahana Hayes,
a Democrat who was the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, said: " In
my nearly 15 years of teaching American history, I could have never found
the words to explain this act of sedition to my students. "
Many teachers agreed with Dyche
that it was imperative to allow students to ask questions, in part to
gauge how students are processing

A flag that reads " Treason " is
visible on the ground in the
early morning hours after
pro-Trump rioters stormed
the Capitol in Washington.

I need to process
this as a teacher,
as an American,
as a citizen,
as a voter, in the
same way a student
would. "
ADAM DYCHE
Social studies department chair,
Waubonsie Valley High School,
Aurora, Ill.

Andrew Harnik/AP

As social studies teachers watched
a violent, far-right mob breach the
U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the
formal certification of the election of
President-elect Joe Biden, a daunting
question loomed: How would they
address this with their students the
next day?
Thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed Washington, D.C., last week, with some
forcing their way into the Capitol
building and interrupting the certification of the Electoral College votes,
a key part of the nation's presidential
elections process. Lawmakers were
barricaded in their offices and told to
wear gas masks, several staffers told
Education Week. A woman was shot
inside the Capitol and later died.
Teachers watching the unprecedented events unfolding on their
TV screens met them with the same
emotions as many other Americans-
bewilderment, exhaustion, horror-
but also a desire to do right by their
students and a determination to address what happened on Capitol Hill
in their classes.
" Students across America are watching [and] tomorrow teachers will
have to address what is happening in
DC today, " American Federation of
Teachers President Randi Weingarten tweeted that night. " Good luck to
every educator, whether in person or
remote. "
Teachers are always, in a sense, the
nation's first responders to world historical developments.
This time, social studies teachers
from coast to coast were confronted
with the task of helping their students
make sense of what happened at
the Capitol-in many cases, through
a computer screen-even as the initial implications of the riots remained
unclear.
Among the difficult subtexts: the
unsubtle implication of scenes of a
violent, mostly white crowd rampaging through the Capitol practically
unchecked, compared with often
forceful put downs of last summer's
Black Lives Matter protests.
" It's that fine line whenever we're
in these situations of teachable moments-we always want to be informative and not just reactionary, " said
Adam Dyche, the social studies department chair at Waubonsie Valley
High School in Aurora, Ill.

credit

& Stephen Sawchuk

the events emotionally.
In the District of Columbia, just a
few miles from the Capitol, teacher
Rob Geremia said he planned to
allow his Advanced Placement U.S.
History and AP Comparative Government students simply to write
their feelings and reactions down
right after the riot.
" There is a race component here,
and we are going to raise it. No way
would protesters of Black Lives Matter be anywhere near allowed to go
into the Capitol, so what does that
say about our police systems and our
system at large that white nationalists were allowed to go in? " said Geremia, who teaches at the diverse
Woodrow Wilson High School.
Karen Lee, a U.S. Government
teacher at Thurgood Marshall Academy in D.C., said she knew her students might be experiencing " emotional fatigue " and might not want to
discuss the events in depth.
" I teach all Black children, so this
is not new news to them that white
people are treated differently than
Black people, " she said.
The contrast in the images from
the Capitol, where police at least initially appeared to use a light touch
with the rioters, and from the Black
Lives Matter protests over the summer, where police in riot gear often
sprayed tear gas and pepper bullets
into the crowds, is jarring, she said.
Some of her students participated in
the Black Lives Matter protests, so
this is personal to them.
" Providing space for discussion and
conversation in a classroom rooted in
civics skills and dispositions provides
them with a sense of empowerment,
so their own emotions and lived expe-

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Education Week - January 13, 2021

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