U.S. History Framework in Mississippi
The Department has engaged various partners to assist with teacher training and curriculum development for this new framework, including the Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy at Jackson State University, the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi, and Teaching for Change, a national non-profit organization specializing in K-12 educational resources based in Washington, D.C. The role of Teaching for Change in this partnership is to offer one-day teacher training workshops to teachers in Mississippi school districts when requested by the Mississippi Department of Education. In addition, Teaching for Change is sharing U.S. history lessons -- particularly those focused on civil rights and labor history -- that it has developed in collaboration with teachers in McComb, Mississippi.
Teaching for Change’s work in McComb began in 2005 as part of a larger effort by the city, under Mayor Tommy Walman, and the school district to build bridges across racial lines, to promote dialogue, and to advance community relations. The school Superintendent, Dr. Pat Cooper, asserted that part of the foundation for moving forward was an understanding of the city’s civil rights and labor history.
The school district contracted with Teaching for Change to help weave lessons about civil rights and labor history into the curriculum, subject to final review and approval by the Mississippi Department of Education. Teaching for Change began by holding meetings with teachers, community members, and ministers. Each of these included people of all ages and races. Out of these sessions came the recommendation to focus on the three areas listed below and to be sure that students had the opportunity to develop mutual understanding and respect and that they develop skills in critical thinking, reading, writing, and problem-solving. The three focus areas are:
(1) Students as historians – engaging high school students in the 
collection of local civil rights and labor oral history. The oral histories of elders, taped by McComb High School students, make a valuable contribution to the preservation and understanding of local history. They also promote intergenerational dialogue and provide 
students with a range of invaluable career skills such as filming, transcribing, researching, web design, public speaking, and documentation. The interviews will become part of a growing archive at the University of Southern Mississippi Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage and excerpts can be used as teaching resources in various classes. 
Although the program is only in its second year, students in McComb have already conducted a number of formal taped interviews with McComb elders, which can be viewed online. The students have consistently expressed their amazement at how much history they learned from the elders in their own home town. In turn, 
the elders have remarked on the professionalism and commitment of the young people. As the number of collected oral histories increases each year, students and elders will strengthen their community ties and continue to share important knowledge and resources.
advocated for not just the addition of lessons on labor and civil rights history – but instead a full revision of the U.S. history course so that it would cover a wider span of history – from pre-Columbian to the 1970s with an emphasis on the role of ordinary women and men of all ages, races, and ethnicities in shaping history. Teaching for Change worked with the junior high school teachers to find and develop lessons that are interactive and hands-on, giving students a chance to practice skills of critical thinking, research, debate, and democratic engagement (course description).
This approach allows students to see how major events 
and movements in history have affected ordinary people, shaping their values and their understanding of others. What factors, for instance, explain why a certain group believed and behaved as they did? What does this approach teach students about the need to understand, rather than rush to judge, their contemporaries?
While the course adds some lessons on the modern Civil Rights Movement 
(1954 – 1968), the entire context of the yearlong course is on the movements of all peoples for democracy and civil rights throughout the history of the United States, pre-Columbian through 1977. The course emphasizes the experiences of all the peoples of North America: people of color, women, and working-class whites, especially as told through the stories of their labor.
Teachers report that students are playing an active role in this second year of the pilot of the course, developing skills in reading, writing, speaking, debate, and analysis that will serve them well on tests and as citizens.
(3) Individual lessons for K – 7 teachers which can be woven in the 
curriculum. These are discrete, age appropriate lessons which are aligned to the grade level themes and standards. For example, in Kindergarten there are recommended children’s books on skin color and hair, in 2nd grade there is a lesson on the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and for 3rd grade there are lessons on how people have worked to protect the environment.
* * * * *
The lessons will be reviewed each year to determine which practices work best and what modifications are needed. Lessons developed in McComb will be available for other districts to use or adapt to address the new U.S. history framework.
Teaching for Change has received support for this work from the Kellogg Foundation and from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
* * * * *
For more information, contact Chauncey Spears, Office of Curriculum and Instruction, Mississippi Department of Education.See October 4, 2009 news article in the Christian Science Monitor.
