Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1426376
events," says Helaina Saka, a senior. "He connected the dots about what really happened. It was my favorite class last year." "Mr. Dumas is a great teacher," says Tabari Taper Rodriguez, currently in Dumas' AP history class. "He likes students to share their ideas and debate, because it shows we are actu- ally learning. Nobody is disrespected, and everybody is heard in his classroom." While growing up in nearby Imperial Beach, Dumas seldom felt heard in school. As a biracial child of a Black father and white mother, he felt like an outsider. He could not relate to the curriculum. He became rebellious. "I made mistakes, went to juvenile hall, and was not on the college track. A lot of it had to do with the fact that I felt invisible." After high school, he worked as a mailroom clerk. A co-worker let him borrow A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, which presents alternative views of historical events. And the rest, as they say, is history. He enrolled in community college, transferred to San Diego State and became a history teacher. " That book told the history of marginalized groups," says Dumas, a child of two dropouts who was raised in poverty. "It validated what I had been unable to verbalize: The political and economic systems that operate in this country are exploitive. I was completely enthralled. My friend never got his book back." Dumas' animated in-person teaching style may be a little different on Zoom, but classroom debates are still happening. Students have compared recent protests to the Boston Tea Party, whose participants took to the streets and destroyed property. On Sept. 23, the day that police officers were charged with "wanton endangerment" for the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, students learned about what occurred on Sept. 23 over six decades ago: Two white men were acquitted in a Missis- sippi courtroom for the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black child who was accused of flirting with a white woman. Students are learning history, but also experiencing history — and should be excited about that, says Dumas. He tells them that hundreds of years from now, people may read their social media posts to better understand about living in a pandemic accompanied by racial unrest. Parents occasionally complain that showcasing the dirty truths of American history is unpatriotic. Dumas takes that in stride and is supported by his district. "I am challenging the dominant historical narrative. Many of my colleagues would also like to also do that, but they are afraid of getting complaints. I encourage history teachers to be courageous. We are always telling our students to do what's right and be truthful. We must do the same when teaching about America's past, so students can better under- stand the present." Bridging the Gap Jennifer Hines' videos teach her Deaf and hard of hearing students — and their parents I T W A S C H A L L E N G I N G for students and their parents to transition to online learning when schools shut down in March. For Deaf and hard of hearing students — and their families — it was even more challenging. That's because parents are usually not as fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) as their children, which presents difficulties when they 're trying to help with schoolwork. Jennifer Hines, a sixth grade Deaf/hard of hearing teacher at Henry Eissler Elementary School in Bakersfield, is helping bridge the communication gap. She creates ASL videos for her students, which she also interprets for their parents so they can improve their ASL. Jennifer Hines CHAPTER Bakersfield Elementary Teachers Association POSITION Sixth grade Deaf/hard of hearing teacher Jennifer Hines " I want students to know they can make things happen, like other people have done throughout history. That's why I teach the way I do." 19 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0 / J A N U A R Y 2 0 21