Chapter 2 - Why Use a Community-in-the-Classroom Approach?

One of the major conclusions of the Education Department Report, Knowledge for a Nation of Learners: A Framework for Education Research 1997, is that "...families and communities must be more involved in education. Public schools should become, in spirit and in practice, more public."  The  Community-in- 
the-Classroom (CIC) program can provide you, the teacher, with a powerful tool for involving community members, parents, and students in a rich learning experience that encourages depth of understanding and breadth of insight. By bringing well-informed guest speakers from the community into the classroom, you are encouraging students to assess multiple points of view and to think more creatively and critically about their coursework. It is an approach that fosters active learning by having community members join your classroom to share their personal experiences and perspectives on more difficult subjects or units of study. 

History Becomes an Experience That Calls on Critical and Creative Thinking

In the Community-in-the-Classroom program, the readings, visual examples, shared emotions, and discussions with classroom speakers who "were there" make the study of U.S. History more like an intellectual Outward Bound experience! Guest speakers are frequently capable of helping the student and the teacher to find "blind spots" or oversights in our thinking and challenge us to be more open-minded in interpreting complex historical events for which there is "no right answer".  By having several community members "team teach"  the Vietnam Era, for example, students are given more than one view of this controversial war and are able to adopt a more balanced perspective. They are challenged to critically examine historic decisions such as President Johnson's rationale for dramatically escalating the number of American troops in Vietnam between 1965 and 1968. The focus is not so much on whether this was right or wrong, but rather to get students to directly confront the effects of Johnson's monumental decision. 

The opportunity for students to hear guest speakers discuss alternate views contributes to a richer understanding of the real context of Johnson's decision to escalate the war, and contributes to an authentic interest in the "bigger ideas" that drive America's foreign policy, then and now. This part of our American story "comes to life" for Millbrook High School student, Heather Hudson, and her class, when she asks Lee Wilson (Figure 2. 1), an army aerial photographer who served in 1967-1968, "Why did you fight this war in Vietnam if it was so unpopular?" After some thought, Lee answers, "...because we were told to go there by our government; it was as simple as that." 
 

Figure 2.1. Lee Wilson presents her personal perspectives on the war, and challenges each student to consider the human side of the war experience. Lee is able to create student "buy-in" because she was there and they know she is telling the truth!

…Or was it so simple? Other guests are invited to the classroom, and the students raise more questions about this historical era.Another "guest teacher", an Army General expresses his belief that the United States should never have committed our troops without committing our country first." 

As previously stated, one of the main goals of the Community-in-the-Classroom program is to help students focus on the "big ideas", and not fragments of historical information that are easily forgotten after a quiz or test. The readings, shared emotions, and discussions with the guest speakers lead to the student having a more personal comprehension, or idea, of the true costs of war. Students who enter your classroom holding the view that history is "boring and useless" will be disarmed by the emotional experience of having a Vietnam Veteran, like Carl Bimbo (Figure 2.2) share pictures with the class of his "lost buddies". 
 

Figure 2.2.Veteran Carl Bimbo discusses the sacrifices of war (left). From these classroom visits, students become more interested in our nation's bitter debate over Vietnam – under President Lyndon B. Johnson the war widened from 16,300 military advisors in 1965 to more than 500,000 U.S. troops in South Vietnam by 1968! 

The Bradley Commission on the Teaching of History reports that a primary aim of history is to help students "escape their ethnocentric and present-centered views" (Gagnon, 1989). In essence, the Community-in-the-Classroom speakers help students to see and feel the war experience from someone else's point of view, and this naturally combines the lessons of history with real life. 

This past spring, Brigadier General George B. Price traveled all the way from Columbia, Maryland to spend a full day with my students at Millbrook High School (Figure 2.3). He helped us understand that we can discuss the Vietnam Era with respect and dignity. He made us realize how vital it is for each of us to participate in the democratic process. A veteran of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, General Price delivered the message that we live in a peaceful and prosperous land because of the ultimate sacrifice that so many American men and women made to preserve our liberty and freedom. 

General Price brought us into his world, and he told us why he was willing to risk his life, and the lives of his soldiers, for his country. He introduced new perspectives and concepts, and he really challenged us to rethink our previous stereotypes and simplistic generalizations relating to Vietnam. The students and I were particularly moved when he stopped for a moment, looked at all of us in the room, and said, "Your challenge as Americans is to find the profits of peace." 
 

Figure 2.3. General George B. Price and Millbrook High School student. 

Did General Price make an impact? You be the judge! Millbrook High School Senior Scott Gill, wrote after Price's visit: 

"General Price inspired me to believe we can do anything we put our minds to by being an example of a person who grew up in a segregated Mississippi and rose to become one of the nation's outstanding Brigadier Generals through a lot of hard work and perseverance. He is a man who the entire world could benefit to hear."

But, other guest speakers in my classroom have generated similarly powerful letters. After visits from these veterans, students begin to realize that there is much more to the Vietnam Era than what they've read in their American History book. Kerry Neppel, another Millbrook Senior, wrote:

"Learning about these personal experiences made me realize what courage, responsibility and character it took for hundreds of thousands of young men and women to survive the Vietnam War."

Teaching Subjects in American History That are Difficult to Understand

Few units are more difficult to teach, nor more important for our students to understand, than the U.S. Constitution! Rather than totally relying on myself to help 120 American History students grasp the complexity of the Bill of Rights, I will invite a public lawyer, such as Assistant District Attorney Shelley Desvousges (Figure 2.4), and then a private lawyer, such as Mr. David Kirby into my classes to "team teach". After brief introductions, the legal experts entertain a myriad of questions that have been carefully and critically developed by each student. Exciting discussions inevitably evolve, and as a result, the Bill of Rights is no longer a document written for the 1790's, but rather one that can be applied to the 1990's.


 
Figure 2.4. Assistant D.A., Shelley Desvousges continues the discussion on the Fourth Amendment with interested Millbrook High School students at the end of the class.


Affirming the Importance of Good Character and Good Citizenship

 The 1999 New Millennium Project (Horwitt, 1999) sponsored by the National Association of Secretaries of State concludes, "Our educators should make every effort not only to encourage students, but also to teach them how to be effective citizens." Having parents and community speakers come into the classroom is not only a powerful tool for bringing history to life, but it is also effective in affirming the importance of good character and good citizenship.  I firmly believe that a key dynamic by which students acquire important intellectual values and character traits is through exposure to attractive models of behavior. The Community-in-the-Classroom "guest teachers" challenge students to ask inquiring questions about their lessons, and they often become more interested in thinking about their own values and goals in life. After a visit by State Senator Eric Reeves (Figure 2.5), a Millbrook Junior wrote:

"You have definitely made an impact on the way I feel about politics and law. I believe this may be my new direction as I enter college in the next couple of years."

Another student commented:

"You captured my interest when you discussed why you chose politics. I remember you stating it was something you always had an interest in, and you enjoyed getting involved through various projects in high school and college, such as the soup kitchen and being the Chaplain's assistant. You confirmed my thoughts that it was important to get involved."
 

Figure 2.5. State Senator Eric Reeves

Connecting With Difficult-To-Reach Students

I find that the Community-in-the-Classroom approach with its emphasis on oral history and firsthand experience is powerful enough to invite the interest and successful participation of the most unmotivated and difficult-to-reach students, the ones who may have "fallen through the cracks" . This past year (1998-1999), the cumulative effect of classroom visits by State Senator Eric Reeves, Assistant DA Shelley Desvousges, City Councilman John Odom (Figure 2.6), and School Resource Officer David McCollum (Fig.2.7), inspired one of my students to dramatically improve his academic performance in social studies and earn a nomination to North Carolina Boys' State where he went on to be elected Lieutenant Governor! 
 

Figure 2.6. City Councilman John Odom (left), Bud Gross (middle),  L.  Poling, James Sarayiotes 

 

Figure 2.7. School Resource Officer, David McCollum, answers student questions regarding the Second Amendment (right to bear arms).

In my twenty-three year teaching experience, I have found the Community-in-the-Classroom approach to be particularly effective with students who are "bored by history". I find that the difficult to reach history student harbors the view that, "One cannot possibly understand without having been there". The implication would be that insight from experience is necessary for understanding (Wiggins and McTighe, 1998). So, what better way to engage the interest of our students than to have someone like George Dyer (Figure 2.8), an Army helicopter pilot, who constantly put his life on the line, come in to speak and answer student questions about the Vietnam War? 
 

Figure 2.8. George Dyer brings history to life!