One of the skills that students of any age struggle with is making connections. In today’s world of standardized testing, students’ brains have been trained to fixate on what is in front of them and no further. Whatever passage or problem lies in front of them is the object of their focus, and everything else is secondary.
Of course, as teachers, we know that getting students to think critically and expansively about the topics in our classes is one of the most important skills we can encourage. We want students to learn something new and consider how it connects to everything else they know. We want them to read about a historical event and think, “Isn’t that like…?” We want them to consider a variety of perspectives, views, and events in order to contextualize new information.
To do that, we first have to think that way ourselves. We also cannot live and learn in the silos of our subject–we must consider how we can introduce the stepping stone for students to walk from one idea to the next, one connection to another. And although you are not an English teacher, you can do this through art, poetry, and story.
Art
Art tends to be the least intimidating of the three options, and it can come in many forms that you see every day, regardless of your content: sculpture, graffiti, murals, paintings, architecture, photography, and more. If you live in a big city, you may be aware of a lot of amazing local art, but no matter where you are, you can find pictures online for use in your classroom.
One way to introduce art into your classroom is through a Museum Day. Print images of art about the subject you are currently focusing on and have students conduct a gallery walk. As they explore the artistic renderings, have them consider what is similar or different, and how varying perspectives of the subject might account for those differences. For example, you might consider the image of the sculpture of Thomas Jefferson at the National Museum of African American History where he stands in front of stacks of bricks that bear the names of his slaves alongside Titus Kaphar’s breath-taking rendering alongside some more “traditional” portraits of Jefferson. What might students take away about the various lenses through which we can view historical figures?
Art allows students to consider symbolism in a way that feels less intimidating than with a text. Consider a building with highly intentional symbolism, such as the Jewish Museum in Berlin or the West Facade Pediment of the Supreme Court. What does this symbolism tell us about the purpose and function of the building, but also about the people who constructed it and what they valued?
Poetry
Poetry can be intimidating for both teachers and students, but it doesn’t have to be. One of the ways I encourage students to “find their way through poetry” is via GPS:
- Gist: What is the poem mostly about?
- Perspective: Who is the speaker in the poem and how do they feel about the subject?
- Style: What images or figurative language do you notice and how do they reflect the speaker’s feelings?
In my American Literature class this year, we are reading Arthur Miller’s classic play about the Salem witch trials, The Crucible. Just last week we explored a poem called “Half-Hanged Mary” by Margaret Atwood. Though it is a modern poem, it is based on a woman in the 1600s who was hanged for being a witch and then survived, still alive when they came to cut her down the following morning. She lived another 10+ years. Glimpses into lives via poetry can add additional depth to historical conversations, even if they are not first-person accounts.
You might also consider having students compose their own poetry. Two Voices poetry is a type of writing that is intended to be performed by two people, each delivering a perspective or a point of view. Some lines are read by one person, some are read by the other, and some are read by both. This is a creative way for students to explore complex issues.
Another type of poetry students can try is found poetry. Found poetry is constructed from words and phrases found in an existing text. Tracy K. Smith’s found poem Declaration is a powerful piece cobbled together from parts of the Declaration of Independence and molded into an incredible testament to what it can mean to be Black in America.
Story
Stories are how we explore the world around us, reflect on what we believe to be true, and consider how the world might be changed. You can find amazing classroom resources in short stories, flash fiction (essentially the shortest of short stories), graphic novels, short films, and excerpts from longer texts.
In my current unit, we are pairing The Crucible with George Takei’s graphic novel They Called Us Enemy. Students are making connections between characters, accusations, and outcomes in these two events. This is leading to richer and more productive conversations, and students are making connections across these events (as well as the Red Scare, which prompted Miller to write in the first place) and considering how they affect our world today.
Short films are a wonderful way to introduce cultures and themes. Many countries have short film festivals that are a wealth of resources. We can learn a lot about people and what they value by the art that they put into the world, and short films like Bao, The Box, Tinder, and I Am From Palestine are beautiful examples of this.
Consider pairing up with your local English teacher to find short stories that could work either directly (same time period, for example) or thematically. The Key Game is a short story published in the Palestine-Israel Journal about a father training his son on what to do when the Nazis arrive. Short and gut-wrenching, this quick read is broadly applicable to both the time period it is about as well as other time periods where persecution has reared its ugly head.
Through expanding your bank of texts and resources to include things like art, poetry, and short stories, you are increasing students’ opportunities to practice making important connections between what you are teaching them and what they are seeing in the world around them, as well as seeing the throughlines of history. When we build these skills in students, we are ensuring that when they leave us, they can see beyond a test and construct meaning for themselves.
Sarah A. Honore began her career in education as a high school English teacher in Houston, Texas. She has since worked as a teacher, an instructional coach, a curriculum writer, and a director of English Language Arts at the district level. Her passions include literacy across content areas, diverse books, and supporting teachers and leaders. While not a social studies teacher by trade, Sarah loves exploring the connections between these two contents in order to enrich the classroom experience for both teachers and students.