All Content Can Be Made Relevant Content

I was talking with my sister the other day about the fact that the Common Core Curriculum rarely connects with our community members.  I talked about how one family had recently had their water shut off.  Now, a child arrives at school, and they may not have had a chance to take care of basic needs.  They are not in the mindset to learn something that is completely foreign to their life and the very real and pressing issues they face.   

When talking to my sister, she agreed and said, I don't know why they have to learn about George Washington when that is not relevant to them.  But no, in fact they should learn about Washington.  It is not that George Washington or the founding of this country are irrelevant, it is just that the way in which they are being taught is completely disconnected from their lives.  There are many ways in which the American Revolution already and naturally resonates with their own diffulties and experiences.  We can talk about the real challenges Washington and the rest of the Revolutionaries faced during those critical years in the formation of our country.  In fact, the hardship they faced with basic necessities and the oppression of the King of Great Britian will resonate deeply with some of our older students.

We do not need to create content that is only about pressing personal issues or present day circumstances.  In fact, if we were to have those issues brought up, they could further traumatize and alienate these vulnerable students.  We would lose the opportunity to give them the hope of overcoming their current situation.  There are many beautiful examples throughout history that would better serve the spirit of overcoming and facing challenges.  Otherwise we can pervert this incredible spirit of resiliency into a feeling of victimhood and entitlement.  This is the problem with some of the Critical Race Theory.  It teaches victimhood and creates division and entitlement.

In interviewing scientists and teachers on the cutting edge of creating a curriculum aligned with development and the brain, the consensus was that specific content was not as relevant as how it was delivered.  When thinking of content, it was not whether to include George Washington, or George Bush, but to make the content as deep as possible.  So that if we were to discuss one of the Georges we would talk deeply about their character, who they were and the context of their lives.  In this way our students engage more of their emotional brain, and deepen their experience.  To make content deep, we help them connect it to their own lives, we spend more time on the subject, and make it come to life through artistic activities, role playing and the like.
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We can deliver the curriculum of history, science, and even math in ways that will engage and activate the individual spirit of each of the kids in our classroom.  We simply need to know who they are, connect with them on a personal level, and the tailor our conversations in nuanced ways so as to reach them where they are in their lives.