“Don’t Bother Teaching Facts”

Posted on December 23, 2019 by Mackowiecki

I recently attended a workshop in which the keynote speaker pointed out that in this current age of information, teaching content is largely irrelevant. Information is at our fingertips, he suggested, so there’s no point in dwelling on it in class. He advocated teaching skills such as coding, collaboration, and even gaming instead, relying on the natural interests of the students to guide them.

While his presentation did have merit, I disagree with the premise that content is no longer relevant. Some things, I believe, still need to be taught explicitly.

The speaker suggested people will seek information when they need it. Often times, though, we don’t know what we need to know until it’s presented to us. How, for example, does a person realize he or she needs to know about Claudette Colvin, a figure in the Civil Rights Movement? Will they wake up some morning and say, “I wonder if Rosa Parks really was the first African-America to be arrested for refusing to give up a seat on the bus.” How does anyone know to ask such a question unless the facts have already been introduced? For that matter, what would compel someone to go looking for information about Rosa Parks, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, or any history event if they hadn’t already heard something about it?

While “natural interests” may motivate children, without accurate information, they’ll be rudderless in their journey. Consequently, it’s essential that certain subjects—history especially—be taught explicitly. While exact dates and capital cities may be good questions to pose Alexa or Siri, the how and why of important events is still of significance in the classroom. Simply put, there are some things everyone must know and understand for our society to survive.

January and February are traditionally the months in which we teach content related to the Civil Rights Movement and our African-American heritage. These are important events and ideas that we all need to understand. Don’t let the opportunity to be explicit slip by. Rather than let their Facebook friends teach them this history, introduce your students to it by using some of my reader’s theater scripts. Many of my plays are told from the perspective of young people—actual heroes from the movement—such as Ruby Bridges, Sheyann Webb, and a young Martin Luther King—and Claudette, too.

My plays are inexpensive, they include teacher-created comprehension activities, they align with standards, and the majority of them were originally published in Scholastic classroom magazines, so you can rest assured they’ve been thoroughly fact-checked. Access them on my storefront at TeachesrPayTeachers. You can even download a free Civil Right RT Preview.

We really need to start viewing this as the Age of Disinformation, which means the facts matter more than ever. The great work you do to teach those facts has never been more important.

Happy directing!

New Play for MLK Day

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Mackowiecki

Celebrate Martin Luther King’s legacy and teach his core values with any of a number of plays available on my storefront at TpT. “Martin’s Big Dream,” which is about MLK’s childhood, is one of the most highly-regarded plays ever to appear in Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine. “In the Jailhouse” offers a unique perspective on the events in Montgomery, “Gonna Let it Shine” covers the Selma march, and “We Shall Overcome”—my most popular civil rights play—depicts the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. But allow me to add a new one to the fold. Though not specifically about MLK, “A Simple Act of Courage” will give your students unique insights into everything Dr. King stood for.

Ruby Bridges was headline news in 1960 as she naively trudged into the all-white William Frantz School. Her compelling story, that of a first grader—a mere first grader!—integrating New Orleans Public Schools is indelible. Famed American author John Steinbeck wrote about it. Norman Rockwell painted it. And Ruby herself, nearly forty years later, revisited it in her stunning book, Through My Eyes. Ruby’s book is likely in your school library if not on your classroom bookshelf. By pairing it with this lovely reader’s theater script, you’ll have MLK curriculum that’ll stay with your students for years to come.

All of my MLK plays are emotional retellings based on carefully-researched real events. Your students will enjoy enacting them on stage or simply reading them in class, and the comprehension activities and support material will ensure your kids will meet the standards, too.

Happy directing!

Why this Play is Important

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Mackowiecki

Students will quickly connect with eight-year old Sheyann Webb. When African-Americans were being denied the right to vote, she became Martin Luther King’s “Smallest Freedom Fighter” by joining marches on the local courthouse. As the events in 1965 Selma, Alabama, escalated, Sheyann began sneaking out of the house to attend meetings at Brown Chapel. She was there, too, on the Edmund Pettus Bridge when Selma exploded with tear gas and Billy clubs. The event became known as Bloody Sunday, and it directly led to the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But what makes this story compelling is the perspective. We’re used to hearing about the Civil Rights struggle from the viewpoint of adults, yet here is the true story of a little girl who not only saw it, but was there on the front lines risking the same dangers as her adult counterparts. What better way to engage your students in the Civil Rights Movement!

My new play, “Gonna Let it Shine,” shares Sheyann Webb’s emotional, often frightening childhood experience. Carefully researched, it improves upon an earlier version that appeared in Storyworks in 2012. It’s important to your students because it’s a kid’s story. Your students will relate to Sheyann. They’ll admire her courage. They’ll wander if they’d have been as strong. And they’ll root for her, regardless of their own race. Most of all, they’ll be inspired by her. Sheyann will show your students that one doesn’t have to be a grown-up to have a grown-up influence on the world.

“Gonna Let it Shine” is available on my storefront at TeachersPayTeachers for preview or purchase. As with all my plays, the original purchaser is licensed to reproduce one class set per year for use in his or her own classroom.

Along with the play, I also created a free vocab and comprehension activity that aligns the play to specific Common Core standards. Be sure to share with your students the Disney movie, Selma, Lord, Selma. It depicts Sheyann’s story with typical Disney flare. There’s also an accurate and intriguing YouTube video detailing Sheyann’s contribution to Civil Rights that can be found here. Consider comparing and contrasting all three.

Finally, the Sheyann Webb of today has remained an advocate for children and civil rights. Find out more about her work by visiting the Sheyann Webb Group.

Happy Directing!

Black Students Denied Service

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Mackowiecki

Imagine seeing the words “Whites Only” at your favorite restaurant! We can be thankful that it’s unthinkable today. But when so much time has passed, how do we help today’s kids truly make sense of such attitudes and events?

On February 1^st, 1960, four African-American college students walked into a Woolworth’s Store, sat down at the lunch counter, ordered and were refused coffee. They vowed to stay until the store desegregated its lunch counter. Five months later, Woolworth’s finally relented and began serving blacks and whites alike. It was an important moment in the history of American. The event is portrayed in my original Storyworks play, “Sitting Down for Doctor King.”

What better way to honor his legacy, meet the Common Core, and give your students an authentic Civil Rights experience than by re-enacting events such as Greensboro? Read aloud plays put your students in the action, allowing them to understand the motivations and feelings of the participants firsthand. Read Aloud Plays also help satisfy many of the Literature and Information Text standards in grades 3 through 7. But students can also utilize Read Aloud Plays to “adapt speech to a variety of contexts”, “evaluate a speaker’s point of view”, and “integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media…,” which are all Speaking and Listening standards.

And there’s no limit as to how you use them. Pair plays with discussion, history videos (there are a ton of them on the Web), chapters from your History text book, works of literature, picture books, and more. Read a play once, or divvy up parts and practice for three or four weeks. Read Aloud Plays can be fit into almost any schedule and almost any curriculum.

For starters, check out my original Read Aloud Plays about the Greensboro Sit-ins, the Birmingham Children’s Crusade, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and The March on Washington, where Dr. King presented his I Have a Dream speech. Or explore some of my other Black History plays. Nearly all my plays were commissioned by and originally published by Scholastic, so you know they’re of the highest quality, and all of them come with reproduction and performance rights. If you’re new to using drama, also be sure to download my free guide.

Satisfy the CCSs and bring MLK Day to life for your students. Download some Read Aloud Plays today. Happy Directing!