Education Week - April 17, 2024 - 17

or bad or efficient or inefficient.
It gives the students a little bit
more power when it comes to
teaching. "
-CATALINA HICKS
Melody El-Amin, left, teaches classmates how to step as part of a presentation on the Iota Phi Theta fraternity during AP African American Studies class
on March 19, 2024.
ing for teachers seeking to teach more Black history,
Cummings said. It all started as a response to
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14
Another challenge in getting the course into more
schools, Cummings said, may be teachers who
may feel they lack the training to properly teach the
course.
El-Amin at Henry Clay, who is Black, said she is
to kn " You have teachers who like
ow if you like what you're
learning about and like the way
that they're teaching it. But
Miss El-Amin really does care
about the feedback that you
give her and she does put that
towards future assignments.
She listens to what we do like,
what we don't like, and what
we struggle with. And she helps
us understand things that we
sometimes don't understand.
And so for her to take
feedback and put it towards
assignments, it makes it easier
for us to understand. I really
liked that aspect of the class. "
-KENNEDY YARBER
as " Miss El-Amin always
racial tension in the state in 2020 over issues such
as police brutality, including the case of Breonna
Taylor, whom Louisville, Ky., police officers shot
and killed in her home on March 13, 2020.
As the association and others work to expand and
improve Black history instruction across the state
outside of the AP course, Cummings sees the AP
course as validating and adding to his group's work.
" It gives credence within spaces that maybe
haven't spent a ton of time figuring out how to effectively
teach Black history, " he said.
Though there were national debates at the pilot's
launch among Black scholars over whether the survey
course truly addressed all necessary topics, Cummings
argues that, " you have to balance the current
political landscape with this opportunity to be able to
introduce lessons and coursework and curriculum in
an area where many schools are lagging.
" And so within that balance, hopefully, this
course feels like something that can address what
is an opportunity area for a lot of districts across
the United States. "
The classroom landscape in Kentucky
Some Kentucky state leaders and educators see
great potential for the course within the state, even
ks questions. She shows us
that she cares a lot. But I think
we don't realize how much
consideration she puts forth
when she's trying to make
assignments and make sure
that we understand the topic
because she's learning with us.
And so when we ask questions,
she also wants to know the
answer to those. So we get
more in-depth than some
teachers who would just gloss
over it and give you just an OK
answer. "
-NIA HENDERSON-LOUIS
under the state's current political context.
" There is no legislation, no bill out there banning
African American history " in the state, said
Thomas S. Tucker, who was hired to be the Kentucky
department of education's deputy commissioner
and chief equity officer. " That's not on the
table. I've not had any conversation with any of our
lawmakers discussing that. "
When asked whether teachers could teach AP African
American Studies in full in Kentucky under state
law, he said: " I don't see any prohibitions with this. "
" [The course] goes deeper than just having Black
history in Kentucky academic standards in social
studies, " Tucker said. " Its goal is really to help American
public school kids, and our private school kids as
well, develop a greater respect for each other. "
Tucker said he isn't aware of any complaints in
the state against the course. He's only gotten one
question from local scholars: Why there aren't
more Black Kentuckians featured in the course
given their contributions to American history?
focusing on developing a course where teachers of
any race feel comfortable navigating hard conversations
in the classroom as she does. Her class this
year was predominantly Black. The cohort of students
already expressing interest in the course next
fall is predominantly white, meaning she may need
to help students make more connections to history
and culture with which they are not as familiar.
Though fellow teachers at Henry Clay-and an
online community of AP African American Studies
teachers-offer El-Amin support and guidance,
navigating an interdisciplinary course that's very
"
[The course] goes deeper
than just having Black
history in Kentucky
academic standards in
social studies.
THOMAS S. TUCKER
Deputy commissioner and chief equity officer,
Kentucky Department of Education
though not without some good-natured teasing.
At the end of presentations on the Divine Nine
historically Black fraternities and sororities, ElAmin
reminded students that the various PowerPoint
slides, dioramas, and other crafts they
put together will serve as examples for future
classes.
When the class was learning about ancient African
kingdoms early in the course, El-Amin had
students make ceremonial masks that now decorate
a wall by her desk. Through that activity, students
learned about how much effort went into
constructing such artifacts and, as a result, gained
a deeper appreciation for the course material.
" You all did a great job at being experts, " ElAmin
said of their Divine Nine presentations. " But
what went right and what went wrong, if I had to
do this assignment again next year? "
Student presentations this school year have covered
a wide range of topics, from government surveillance
of Black civil rights leaders to Black comedians
to white artists whom people think are Black.
Students once watched an episode of the sitcom
" black-ish " and made Black Santas when learning
about Black Christmas to lighten the mood from
covering heavy subject matter.
Parents have also provided El-Amin with feedback.
Nia's parents teach Africana studies, anthropology,
political science, and gender and women's
studies at a local university. They've helped ElAmin
ensure she's on track with her lesson plans
and offered suggestions for resources.
El-Amin recommends that future teachers of
new and covers a lot of material in a short timeframe
has still proved challenging.
That's why she looks to students and families to
guide her.
A class where students are the experts
El-Amin's constantly asking students for their
feedback.
" I am very open about the fact that I'm fumbling
my way through this course, " El-Amin said. " I
learn and they teach me. "
For instance, she was raised Muslim and was not
familiar with the musical tradition of call and response
in Black churches, which one of the course
units covers. Her students quickly filled her in-
the course at her school and beyond " try to have
a bridge between some of the universities and the
schools because these curriculums seem to be
rooted in what you need to know at the next level
for college. "
For El-Amin, the course pushes students to think
critically about the world around them and their
own lived experiences by drawing connections
between the past and present and learning how to
engage with other cultures.
" Thinking is revolutionary in itself, " she said.
At the end of the class period featuring Divine Nine
presentations, students whose presentations had included
step-dance routines led their peers in a ministep
lesson. They even convinced El-Amin to join.
In the hallway just outside the dancing classroom,
a poster advertising the course formally
launching this fall summarized the challenge that
lies ahead: " History is not always pretty. Can you
handle the truth? "
EDUCATION WEEK | April 17, 2024 | www.edweek.org | 17
Jaclyn Borowski/Education Week
http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - April 17, 2024

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