Overview and Rationale

For young students studying history, concepts can often seem

abstract and removed from daily experiences. When history is
studied1, it is often taught as a set of battles, heroes and laws as
we see in many fourth grade classrooms attempting to prepare
for the intense SOL test in Virginia History. In third grade, we
study ancient cultures. While there is clear value in
understanding global cultures and it is important for students to
move beyond their physical space, it does not allow for students
to have tangible connections to what they are studying. This is
especially true when students move to study ancient faraway
cultures before studying the current and historical cultures of
their own community.
Students are naturally fascinated by stories. From our youngest
students who stare wide-eyed at their teacher reading aloud a
beloved picture book to our older children listening in fascination
to guest speakers for career day. Young students are also drawn
to the environment around them - people, animals, plants,
buildings and more. They love to explore every nook and cranny
of the playground or chase butterflies. They love to hear stories
of the class from last year or what school was like for their own
family members. How do we capitalize on this love of story and
connection - a love that has crossed cultures and times for as long
as human history has been recorded - in order to support students
as they understand their local school community from both
historical and current perspectives?
This unit attempts to answer that question by emphasizing placebased learning and focusing on the community as the center of
our study. It positions students as historians and researchers who
are part of a youth participatory action research project. Because
1 There is a current trend in Virginia of ignoring the Social Studies in elementary school grades with no
SOL tests.

we are focused on our school and the surrounding community, we

have more access to people and places. We can easily walk
around and examine different locations around the school and
beyond. Additionally, it helps to frame our research and study.
Instead of the vast history of school integration, we will focus on
the students that integrated our school. Of course, as something
is illuminated, something is also left in the shadows. We thus
must be careful to identify this as ONE story of school integration
or schooling during a certain era or neighborhood life.
The unit consists of two main components:
a) A historical project rooted in oral history that seeks to
understand the local school community. We will conduct oral
histories of students, school faculty and staff and families of
the Patrick Henry community.2 Oral history, with those who
lived in the same spaces as students, allows them to get an
insiders perspective of what school was like and of how
people experienced this. In addition to oral histories,
students will examine the history of the school through
photographs, historical newspapers and other archival
records that are part of our librarys new Center for Local
History at Arlington County Library.
b) A youth participatory action research project that uses
community mapping to research and understand the assets
and challenges in our community. Students will build on the
history they have unearthed and connect the observations
they make today with the experiences of past students in the
community. They will select issues they would like to
advocate for and plan community campaigns that help to
address the changes in which they believe.
2 This unit was designed for the Patrick Henry school community in Arlington, VA. Of course, it may be
used to help design a project for your own school. However, please note that contextual factors and
resources used are rooted in our school and community.

Both components will be imbued with making sense of the people

who live in our school community but also understanding how the
different spaces that make up the school community impact that
experience. By focusing inwards and getting to know ourselves
and our communities, our hope is that the students, teachers and
families will see how the story of our community has been shaped
by a plethora of factors and perspectives and disciplines. And
perhaps this will allow us to see ourselves as having power and
agency to shape the current and future story of both own lives as
well as that of our local and global communities through multifaceted research and advocacy.
Possible Challenges
This type of learning is messy and dynamic in the most beautiful
way.. While I have provided a proposal for a multi-week mini-unit,
in reality, it will shift as students interact with the materials and
construct their own ideas and learning. No matter how much we
anticipate for different interests and needs, a student will say
something that surprises us, causes us to investigate a different
topic, make changes to the content or pacing and more. Thus,
please take this unit as a possibility from which to build your own
plans.
Other challenges in conducting this work arise from bringing
intense research work that has typically been conducted by adults
to an elementary classroom. While children are capable of so
much more than we give them credit for and usually rise to any
occasion when they are supported, there are developmental
realities such as:
a) During oral history interviews, students may be nervous
and so focused on the next topic or question in their mind
that they do not listen carefully and ask follow-up questions.
We have built in time for analyzing different questions and
practicing as well as having interviews be conducted in small

groups. This will allow students to not feel pressured to be

the only one who has to keep the interview moving.
b) There are many adults who are uncomfortable around
children and may not understand how to speak more slowly,
in shorter sentences or using vocabulary that makes sense.
We will support the adults with whom we work but we will
also have one teacher who sits in on interviews to help guide
in this area or make notes for possible follow-ups.
c) Topics may arise that are difficult for students. We will
be interviewing adults who were the first Black children to
integrate our school. Their memories may have moments of
sadness or trauma that may be difficult for students to hear.
However, we can prepare students during the research
phase as well as having time for processing emotions that
are triggered throughout the project.
Benefits
While challenges exist, the benefits of engaging students in this
type of work outweigh these challenges. Not only will students
have an increased understanding of the history and current
happenings in their community but they will also feel connected
to resources, activists and scholars that exist. This moves the
benefit beyond their own learning and supports their families in
accessing the community as well. Our school community has a
large number of immigrant families as well as migrants from other
states. Our students can serve as a resource to their families in
understanding the physical layout of the community as well as
where various assets are located.
As students will present their findings and conduct their
campaigns within and for the community, our work will support
others. The resources (exhibits, documentaries, PSAs and more)
will be shared with everyone through the public library and

events, thus allowing residents to have a better connection to

local history and current happenings.