Terry Phebus

PSC-220

February 15, 2022

Case Study Two - Black Lives Matter

Racism in schools. Should we discuss it? Should we teach about it? What can we do about it? I

feel as educators we may be fearful of introducing conversations on racism because we just do not know

what to say. Most often you have a fear of the unknown. If you are not educated on racism or trained

properly to speak about it, you will fear it. I feel school leaders and school systems need to bring racism

to the forefront and teach and train about it. Due to the fact that this is something that is so relevant in

today’s society, there needs to be training for staff and teachers on how and what to teach and speak of

when in the classroom. As an individual educator, I feel I have the obligation to better educate myself on

racism as well. The more you learn the more comfortable you will be teaching and speaking to others

about the subject.

If I was a teacher as East City, I would be having those difficult discussions as Ms. Simmons was

preparing to do in this case study. At this moment I do not know exactly how I would respond to this

movement. If I was the teacher, I feel I would respond as trained to do by the school system. In

researching more into teaching and this movement I came across an article about a teacher’s Black Lives

Matter lesson that divided a small Wisconsin town. I was looking for good tools to possibly teach this

lesson and found this article from October 2020. After reading it, I decided I would mostly teach what I

was told was acceptable and appropriate based on the school system I teach for. Why? Well the teacher in

the story chose a lesson on Black Lives Matter and race and it had a catastrophic negative effect on the

community. The teacher was not disciplined and there was no real wrong done but her trying to teach and

do what she felt best to explain the movement to her students did not sit well with the community. It is
scary, she tried her best and was acting, I feel in the best interest of her students and yet, it pretty much

backfired.

The sad thing is “Our nation is still divided by issues of race.” To address question three from the

questions. I feel I need more training on what would be acceptable to teach and say in this circumstance.

Is there a guideline or set of standards or policies that teachers have to follow in regards to explaining and

discussing these conversations in regards to race and Black Lives Matter movement? I would consult my

superior in the school setting to see what is acceptable for teaching students and explaining to students

about the protests. I think with a properly planned and executed lesson plan we would be able to come up

with an unbiased lesson on the Black Lives Matter movement.

Works Cited

NBCUniversal News Group. (2020, October 24). How one teacher's black lives matter lesson
divided a small Wisconsin town. NBCNews.com. from
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/how-one-teacher-s-black-lives-matter-lesson-divided-sma
ll-n1244566