How I Resist...

I am a part of the new Instagram group edureadingclub. For June, the book is How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation. This is a great book, composed of essays, interviews, and prose by "resisters" that are celebrities, artists, writers, and more. The book is geared towards students and is very easy to read, but adults would definitely benefit from reading it.

I am, admittedly, not far into the book but I'm already in love with it. The way Maureen Johnson edited these pieces together gives them a flow that keeps your attention, which is especially good for the target age group. So far, my favorite part of the book is in a list of how teens can get engaged in politics prior to voting age, written by Carolyn Dewitt, CEO of Rock the Vote:

"Figure out what issues you care about and learn who the key decision-makers are: Your history and social studies or civics classes in school are great places to start. Learn how local government functions and who decides the policies that impact your life or your community. For example, do you want to fight climate change? Go to usa.gov/ local-governments and call or email your mayor or city council member. Let them know that you support stronger environmental policies and urge them to take action. If criminal justice reform is important to you, tell your local sheriff or district attorney to take action."

Johnson, Maureen. How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation (Kindle Locations 403-407). St. Martin's Press. Kindle Edition. 

I almost cried with happiness when I read this! So many people think that history/social studies/civics are useless classes. So many of my students (and their parents...) tell me they will never need this information in the future. I have heard countless elementary teachers tell me that social studies get thrown to the curb next to the heavily tested subjects like math and language arts. Students have told me that their elementary teachers used social studies lessons as a class punishment. In the education world, social studies is a subject that is underappreciated.

I argue that social studies classes are the ONLY classes that every piece of information, every skill, every concept is used in your daily life. You have to know your history in order to detect current patterns and predict how the tides might turn, you have to know how the government works, you have to know how it used to work (or even not work), you have to know geography, you have to know how to read a primary source, you have to know how to read a secondary source, you have to be able to detect the subtle cues in the speeches of politicians and other important figures, YOU NEED TO KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.......the list goes on...

Even though I have discussed only this one part in detail, the whole book has been wonderful so far. The message of this book is so important for our students. It is crucial that social studies teachers show our students the way of resistance. Resistance is vital to the growth of any democratic nation. Without resistance the government and its policing bodies go unchecked. Students need to be taught the way through learning America's history of resistance. The very founding of this nation was an act of resistance.

I am going to work on finding a grant, or just coughing up the dough myself, to get a class set of this book for my Civics classes. I believe that the students will enjoy the book and it will help them figure out their own path of resistance.

Finally, I think it is not only important to educate my students about resistance, I demonstrate it. On May 16th, along with tens of thousands of other teachers in North Carolina, I marched on the State Capitol to fight for my students' rights. We marched for the very future of public education in North Carolina.

If you are interested in purchasing this fabulous book, you can do so on Amazon.