Today, RCMS hosted a newscast and media crew from “CBS This Morning” New York. As part of a story on education for Black History Month, the national TV news show is featuring some of the excellent teaching here at Clemente. They are highlighting our eighth grade U.S. History program’s commitment to teaching the revised U.S. History curriculum, specifically focusing on how we teach topics of slavery and our deep analysis of how the experiences of free and enslaved persons living in the United States have been taught in schools throughout our history.
The CBS crew videotaped classes and interviewed students, along with Mr. Assenza (Humanities and History 8 teacher) and Ms. Ani from the Social Studies curriculum office, regarding how they are approaching these topics, how the curriculum has changed in recent years, and other topics related to the curriculum. Among other topics, students explored the perspectives of visual artists, compared different regional publishings of “identical” textbooks, and analyzed how regional and temporal culture changes can affect the lenses through which we view history.
We commend Mr. Assenza and the members of the RCMS Social Studies Department for their commitment to and engagement with the new curriculum, and for creating an environment where focusing a critical lens on America’s past is connected with the hope for a brighter future. The full news story is tentatively slated to air on February 19th.
Image credit: “National Portrait Gallery: Titus Kaphar and Ken Gonzales-Day Explore ‘UnSeen’ Narratives in Historic Portraiture.” Culture Type, www.culturetype.com/2018/03/28/titus-kaphar-and-ken-gonzales-day-explore-unseen-narratives-in-historic-portraiture-in-new-national-portrait-gallery-exhibition/.
Did they interview students? Where can we watch the interviews?