SOE alum Ryan Hughes guides future teachers to talk to kids about racism through partnership with International Civil Rights Center and Museum
SOE alumnus and UNC-Greensboro education professor Ryan Hughes organized a project in partnership with International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro to give future teachers the opportunity to develop the confidence to tackle topics of racism and oppression, especially with students who have different backgrounds than their own.
Through story hours led by UNC-Greensboro education students at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, young visitors investigate various themes about race and representing different minority communities each month.
Ryan Hughes will use observations from these story hours as a research project to inform how he teaches the next generation of educators. "If we don't teach and talk about race, that's a move that just holds white supremacy in place," Hughes said. "If we don't continue to have those conversations and puzzle through and muddle through how we might do it, we're not going to see any change."
As reported by North Carolina Public Radio, one student said after her first try, she feels more prepared—and more likely—to plan a lesson like this for another class. She learned specific techniques from Hughes about teaching critical reading, by asking students about an author's bias or about what might be problematic in a story.
