The Facing History School Newsletter

Dear Friends:

I can’t believe that the year is already done! In our second year of operation, the staff and students of FHS have accomplished and grown so much, and it was all packed into an incredibly short amount of time. We are well on our way to getting the school ready for the start of year 3 in September, but I want to take this opportunity to reflect on the successes of last year first.

This year, FHS was able to cement a number of exciting traditions that continue to strengthen our community and highlight the values we all share. These included our 2nd annual ice skating trip to Chelsea Piers, the continuation of our fabulous speaker series (with planning and support from Facing History and Ourselves), and two step-up trips for students who have completed the requirements to pass to the next grade. Once again, our 9th graders traveled to Washington, D. C., where they visited a number of U.S. monuments and memorials, and also stayed at American University, where they experienced a glimpse of college life. For the first time, 10th graders took a trip to Boston, MA. They explored some museums and historical sights in Boston, visited some area colleges, and also came to visit the Facing History and Ourselves Headquarters and meet the excited staff there.
The students visited the Boston Holocaust Memorial:

The opportunity for rising Juniors to see a variety of different colleges in the Boston area helped them to understand better what they want in a college, and to continue to set their sights on college as a goal.

A group of students at Northeastern University:

The students really loved the Facing History and Ourselves office, where they were made to feel so special—and I felt like a proud mother introducing the kids to the staff there.

This year also marked many firsts: members of the 10th grade took the math regents exam in January (and achieved an amazing 70% pass rate!), the school held it's first GLBTQ Awareness Day, and we held our 1st annual Ubuntu, a closing celebration and art exhibit that showcased the hard work and talents of all the students in a way that highlighted the themes of FHS. The celebration was built on the themes of the Facing History and Ourselves class for 10th grade, which focused on the transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa. I would like to send out a very special thank you to Working Playground and our artist-in-residence Fabian Saucedo, whose partnership enabled this celebration to be a true success. Working Playground continues to bring professional artists into our classrooms, offering courses that expand their art skills (in poetry, graphic arts, dance, drama, drumming, and photography) as well as incorporating art into humanities and Facing History classes. The kids were so excited and proud of themselves as they presented the fantastic work to the staff, parents, and other visitors. The celebration also highlighted something else for me: at FHS, our staff and students are really happy. They feel proud of the school and their part in shaping it, and they want to be a part of the community.

Another milestone for FHS was our first School Quality Review, one of the evaluation mechanisms the school district uses to track school performance and progress. In a result exceptional for new schools, FHS was rated proficient. In addition to being delighted with the result, the evaluation process gave the staff a chance to reflect on our practice and focus once again on our goals for the school.

In terms of student assessment, we held our fourth semester-end portfolio review session last month, where students assess and present their own work, describing their achievements, growth areas, and challenges to a panel of teachers and visitors—including a number of parents. This year we were delighted to see real growth in the skills of our 10th graders, and were able to refine the process in order to make the experience more effective for 9th graders. The students were clearly proud of their accomplishments, and finished the year able to clearly articulate their strengths and weaknesses, and to describe what they had learned over the course of the year. I am so proud of how much they have progressed!

Finally, we ended the year with a community service day, where groups of students went to different sights around the city to take part in community service activities.
Students cleaning up a park:

Everyone—students and staff alike—came back excited to have shared the experience. The activity introduced a number of the students to what community service really means. One 9th grade student, Nicholas M., told me, “I never realized what it really meant to give back to the community—what community service meant.” He’s now getting more involved, and started by volunteering at FHS’s Summerbridge program for incoming students. He wants to help next year’s 9th graders get ready for high school and adjust to the new environment. Other students are also doing exciting projects this summer. A number of our students are participating in a competitive summer RAPP program for girls, which educates teens about relationships and develops teen leaders who can educate others about this issue, and two FHS students are part of Sadie Nash, a program that helps young women value their experience and turn it into leadership skills that they can use to make change.

This is a great segue into the coming year. We started hiring staff for year three in April. All of our positions are filled except for a science and special education position, and we are very excited about the incoming class of teachers. In addition to the new teaching staff, FHS also hired a parent coordinator and business manager to help coordinate an increasingly complex administrative office.

As I mentioned above, we are in the midst of a Summerbridge program, led by FHS teachers and ably supported by seven pre-service teachers from the Department of Education, plus other volunteers. Twenty of our incoming 9th graders have opted to participate. Their summer task is to design their “dream school,” and it includes three academic components, plus a complementary art course. In the English portion, students are tackling issues of individual and group identity through writing. Through a humanities course, they are learning about the history of schooling, and are focusing in particular on the issue of segregated schools in the South through Facing History’s Choices in Little Rock curriculum. The Math project is to create a blueprint of a dream school. The students will present final portfolios on July 27. Following the end of this program, we will be running a summer session for upperclassmen who need additional credits in order to complete their credit requirements, and new teachers will be participating in a seminar led by Facing History and Ourselves. It is a busy summer indeed!

Next year, I will be focused on a few key elements of the school’s curriculum: building up a robust, progressive community service program, introducing a new Facing History and Ourselves course on Race and Membership in the 9th grade, continuing to refine the advisory class that is at the center of our positive school culture, and starting the official college application process with our 11th graders. All of these are major pieces of the FHS experience, and will help us to make our students’ experiences truly unique, and will help them prepare for a bright future after graduation. In addition to these projects, we will also begin the year focused on welcoming our new staff and students to the school community.

Before I go, I want to thank you all for your continued support of FHS through funding, school visits, and tireless volunteer support. The resources, expertise, and time you have given the school make it what it is, and remind the staff, students and me that we have an amazing network of people who share our dream for education. Thank you so much.

-- Gillian

Posted by Newsletter at 02:39 PM | Permalink

by Shelby Mitchell

With spring in the air, the Facing History School’s advisory groups focused on Healthy Relationships. Students in the ninth grade learned about healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, while students in the 10th grade focused on gender roles, stereotypes and homophobia.

As the Relationship Abuse Prevention Program coordinator working with Facing History High School, I took the opportunity to visit each ninth grade advisory during the month of March. The Relationship Abuse Prevention Program (RAPP) is a school-based program in several high schools and junior high schools throughout the five boroughs of New York City. RAPP’s primary purpose is to help prevent teen relationship abuse by providing classroom workshops on healthy vs unhealthy relationships. We also provide supportive services to students who are involved in abusive relationships, have witnessed or experienced domestic violence or who simply want to learn ways to have healthy relationships. I have worked with the Facing History School for about two years now and have always thought that the school stands out among all the schools that I work with for its commitment to dealing with social issues and how they affect students’ lives.

I was able to spend some time with each advisory and provide a series of workshops designed to help them look closely at the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships. The first workshop helped students define abuse and identify the five types of abuse: emotional, verbal, sexual, physical, and financial. Students were also able to explore ways in which our personal experiences as well as our families, friends and the media contribute to our ideas about relationships. In the workshops, pairs of students were asked to look at various relationship scenarios and discuss whether they thought the scenarios were healthy, unhealthy or abusive. As a class they discussed the scenarios and shared their views about why people are abusive and why people stay in abusive relationships. We then talked about ways to help friends in abusive relationships, and ways to get help if in an abusive situation. Three students were given a chance to share their personal definitions of love and as a class talk about how complex and confusing love can be. The workshop concluded by looking at what qualities and behaviors are needed to have healthy relationships.

I enjoyed stepping into the advisories and getting a chance to talk firsthand with FHS students about a very important issue that many teens face. For the most part students were refreshingly empathic and understanding of the struggles that their peers in abusive relationships face. Students were able to relate the discussions to things they see in their everyday lives and talk openly with each other about the subject. I hope that the workshops helped open a discussion that will continue for these students so that they know the difference between abusive and healthy relationships.

Posted by Newsletter at 01:57 PM | Permalink

by Crystal Gifford

Our second annual step up trip to Washington D.C. in early June was another memorable experience for both students and teachers. Ninth grade students who were promoted to tenth grade earned the trip, and thirty chose to attend. Students were able to both experience the history of our country visiting the nation’s capital and also visit college campuses to get a glimpse of what their future can bring.

The group on the Mall in Washington.

The two-day trip began with a visit to Howard University, where students toured the campus and learned what they need to achieve in high school to gain access to higher education: good grades, volunteer work and a Facing History staple: “choosing to participate” in their school community. Students also spent the night at the American University dormitories and spent the next day experiencing college life hands-on with visits to classrooms, a chance to eat in the school cafeteria, and some time soaking up the sun and playing football on the university’s grassy quad. This experience opened many of the students’ eyes to the goal of attending college.

The trip also helped students make a connection with the readings, lectures and activities that students experienced in the classroom throughout the year. FHS teacher Gio Anchundia recalled, “the trip was a great experience for the kids, some of the kids that initially did not want to attend said that they were glad that they went on the trip.” Students were able to visit some of the monuments that honor past wars and presidents. Two favorites were the Lincoln memorial and the World War II memorial.

The highlight of this part of the trip was a visit to the Holocaust Museum and Memorial. Students all take a semester-long “We and They” course based on Facing History and Ourselves’ primary case study, Holocaust and Human Behavior. In this course, students learn about themselves as individuals and as a community by studying the same themes during the rise of the Nazis in Germany and the Holocaust. Students walked through the museum investigating each piece, reflecting and asking questions. Student Cristina Roman reflected on the experience saying, “Being here is a connection to what we have learned in ‘We and They,’ I could spend the whole day learning about the Holocaust here.” All students agreed that they were proud to be able to attend this trip and felt that it was a once in a lifetime memory.

Posted by Newsletter at 01:55 PM | Permalink

The following excerpts from student work illustrate the themes and skills that students in 10th grade humanities worked on throughout the year. As part of the portfolio assessment process at the end of the year, the students each wrote letters describing what they had learned. The first set of excerpts are from those letters. Following that are longer excerpts from essays students wrote about the book Buckingham Palace: District Six and monologues based on the movie "Bopha!".

Excerpts from students’ end-of-semester cover letters:

This semester of Rebellion and Reconciliation I learned that as much as someone has hurt you it’s always good to forgive them. I also learned to not let the government over power the people and to always rebel if needed. The only connection I can make to apartheid and the world today is that we may not see it but the government still controls the people but in a silent way like the war. I connect myself mostly to Zoot because he is the voice of the people and that is what I am. I always tried to help my friends and make my community as good as I can. – Michael E.

I made a connection with Nelson Mandela when he was away from his friends and family while in prison. I felt his pain when I was sent away to a detention center for action not of my own. I felt isolated and alone always having to stay in the basements not being allowed to enjoy the school. Being the only girl in a classroom full of boys always being mean trying to touch you and no one hears or sees any wrong doing. I have learned to become more focused and learned how to concentrate on myself in order to be able to grow. To be open to new ideas and experiences. –Sigourney S-W.

One of the themes that we studied was forgiveness. In each of these books and plays there is a certain point when one of the main characters argues and then reconciles with another. We’ve learned that even if a close family member dies you should forgive because it is not good to hold a grudge against people and you should be able to forgive people for their mistakes. Another theme we discussed was to get your point of view across. This is important because it can make a change in the world. If you are the first person to speak up and speak your mind others who are afraid will soon speak up… I can compare myself to Zwelakhe from the play “Bopha!” because he knew what was going on and tried to speak up about it just how even though it is not the same way I speak up about things that are going on but through text and I just do not sit around and let things happen. We both refuse to be bystanders. -Bibiana A.

What I have learned about the themes of rebellion and reconciliation is standing up for what is right. I have learned about how Mandela made a difference and how he didn’t care what got in his way and kept fighting for what he wanted. Apartheid was a disaster in South Africa. It made a big change with the white people, black people, and colored people. Now people go back and see how it happened so it won’t happen again. Nelson Mandela was a guy with a good heart and appreciated every little thing that he had. I connect with him because I appreciate what I have as well. What I have learned in this class that I will take for next year is all the keys to a good piece of writing and how each leader made a change throughout the world. –Viviana R.

This year we have learned about forgiveness, moving on and putting the differences aside, making peace, recovering and rebuilding.–Olga V.

I have learned many important lessons about Rebellion and Reconciliation throughout the year. I learned that it is important to forgive those who commit mistakes in order to move on. In addition, it is important to reconcile with those people and set aside your differences. We must look back at apartheid and make change. Today, I see myself as Chino from Bodega Dreams, a kid that just wants to please everyone. Hopefully, in the future I become more like Katzen from Buckingham Palace: District Six, and start helping people who are in need of it. I have learned the importance of forgiving. It is easier to live without resentment. –Arturo A.

Excerpts from students’ essays on Richard Rive's Buckingham Palace: District Six

From the time we are born on this earth we learn and capture characteristics and actions from our society. This makes a big impact on us because what we learn most of the time not only becomes a habit but a lifestyle. Buckingham Palace by Richard Rive shows how a small community is affected by their society but mostly by their government. People become unjust when an unjust government rules them; however they can overcome this lifestyle when they see the truth, making it possible to confront the situation…In every point of Buckingham Palace: District Six you see the negative movements of the people when they have a government that shows a destructive policy. It relates to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” Men were raised in a society that showed them images of how life is, using shapes of animals and objects shown to them through shadows on a wall. These object explained reality. But when one decides to leave out of the cave to see and taste what life really is then his mind is changed when seeing the truth. He sees the condition he was brought up in and realizes that he needs to go back to tell the truth about life. Our lives are just like that: we are given news about a situation and it becomes up to us to find the truth and change our state of mind to think, “If one voice can make a change, imagine what many voices can create.” –Raquel M.

In this world one must learn to be there for one another even during disagreement or tough times. We must learn to look at the big picture instead of focusing at the little pieces of the photo. The novel Buckingham Palace, written by Richard Rive, was about apartheid in South Africa and it included different characters who were unique in their own special ways. Through the development of unique characters, Richard Rive demonstrates that in this world there are things worth coming together to fight for and things that are not worth fighting for, we just have to figure out what they are.
Risking a bond of friendship is not worth fighting for if the bond of friendship will be broken. In Buckingham Palace Zoot and Pretty Boy got into an argument, but reconciled… Zoot saw that what was happening was not worth fighting for and reconciled with Pretty Boy. -Michael M.

Having a community is important in the world because other than having a biological family, being in a community is like having another family. A book that really showed the definition of community was a book called Buckingham Palace by Richard Rive. The book took place in South Africa in District Six. The main characters in the book were Mary who they considered a “whore,” Zoot the tap dancer/poetic guy, the Jungle Boys who fought a lot, Pretty-Boy who had sticky fingers and used to always steal, Mrs. Knight who is Mr. Knight’s wife and doesn’t really like Mary because she doesn’t agree with her lifestyle, Knight-Before-Last who is Mary’s ex-husband which abandon her, and Katzen who owns all the houses that are in Buckingham Palace. Through the characters Richard Rive shows that the community can still stick together no matter what they go through. -Janina A.

Sometimes in life people make decisions that aren’t always the best choice. These decisions can sometimes be helpful to us because we can learn from them. The book Buckingham Palace: District Six, by Richard Rive, is about a community in Cape Town, South Africa that experiences many obstacles during apartheid with each other, with outsiders and especially with the all-white ruling government. This book proves that you should always be there and forgive the people who are important to you even if they are doing something that you may not agree with.
Reconciliation was a major part of life for the people living in District Six. Faith, one of the characters from the book, was harassed. She went right to her good friend Mary for some support. Mrs. Knight, Faith’s mother, was mad at Mary because Faith didn’t go to her before she went to Mary. Mrs. Knight’s aggravation resulted in an argument with Mary. The following morning, Mrs. Knight realized that her actions against Mary were wrong so she decided to apologize. On page 125 Mrs. Knight says to Mary, “I want to tell you and the Butterfly and all the girls how ashamed I am about last night.” This shows how Mrs. Knight learned from her mistake and decided to try and make things better. –Arturo A.

The following excerpts from student monologues on “Bopha!” imagine the thoughts of a perpetrator who was jailed for his crimes.

I was trained so hard that my black skin turned white on me making me think that I was white. After Naledi got fired I remember how that night I couldn’t sleep because nightmares of slideshows with picture of all the faces that I saw die. I realized it was really me killing all these people. Now I find myself here pleading for amnesty. I was really forced to train my people to kill my people. The government was running like this. That’s why I did it. I did it only out of fear. I was scared to be killed by another white guy. I find myself caged like an animal, in a cell that if you were taller than the average, you wouldn’t be able to sleep because your neck would be bent. Trapped with steel bars that mock you every time you look past them because, you are inside this out of fear. This just goes to show that no man, woman, fish or whatever should have fear in their mind. Fear will get you locked up. I know this room where I’m at doesn’t and never will it hold all the mothers of the kids’ fathers I have killed. This room can hold all the chairs in Africa and I wouldn’t have at least ten people sitting down to hear my plea. Throughout this experience I learned that you never know if you can win a fight until you fight. That’s why I say that I truly am sorry for killing the fathers of sons who would maybe be a well known king in Africa and rule so well that the scars that apartheid left would just disappear. –Mac J., “The Kings of Africa”

Since I was younger my heart cried out for equality. Being a policeman gave me a sense of superiority. For the first time I had control over my life, and over others’ lives even. In one case a man had really only committed the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had to use the bathroom and used a Whites Only bathroom. I was outraged his bold rebellion, if I couldn’t use a Whites Only bathroom, this swine damn sure couldn’t. I dragged him out the bathroom while he was still half naked. I didn’t even let him explain the situation, or at least pull up his pants. I remember laughing hysterically as I watched him struggle, and there was shame in his eyes from the embarrassment I caused him. Now I see that it could have easily been me being dragged mercilessly out the bathroom, in front of my son, just as he was in front of his wife my manhood exposed for all to see. I imagine my heartbeat would have been so frantic it was audible. But back then I felt that if you couldn’t beat the system, the only other option was to join them. It was as if being a policeman blindfolded me, from the true oppression and pain apartheid caused. –Zanetta K., “Through the Eyes of a Misguided Soul”

Posted by Newsletter at 01:47 PM | Permalink

by Caroline Cooper Torres, School Social Worker

FHS’s commitment to social justice can be seen on a daily basis in our mission, the convictions of our staff and much of our curriculum. The conversations in our classrooms and among faculty routinely look at the intersections of power with race, religion, gender and immigration status. However, we as a school had not united to formally highlight our commitment to work against homophobia and heterosexism until this semester. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Awareness Day (GLBTQ Day) on March 22nd, was organized to coincide with a new unit for 10th grade advisory which focuses on homophobia. The social work team worked with teachers and outside organizations to create a day that included a panel discussion for the whole community in the morning, followed by two hour-long workshops in the afternoon. The goal of the day was two-fold: to begin chipping away at the homophobia in our community, and to expose GLBTQ youth to individuals and organizations that might help them to feel hopeful and connected to others.

The morning of the 22nd kicked off with one panelist/moderator and four panelists sharing their “coming out” stories. There was an audience of roughly 225 students and faculty members. Rachel Maddow, of Air America Radio, broke the ice by first sharing her story. She was followed by Lance Dronkers, a trainer for The Gay and Lesbian Center; Christian Burgess, director of school programs at Safe Horizons (a social service agency that works with families around issues of abuse); Emily Haines, a humanities teacher at FHS; and Brenda R., a 10th grade student at Facing History. Student leaders addressed the panel with questions from earlier advisory conversations. The response from the general audience was so mature and inquisitive that our moderator opted to open the floor for general questions before closing the event.

The afternoon workshops began after lunch. Organizations from around the city participated, including Generation Q (a youth group from Queens Pride House), GLSEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network), and Urban Justice Center, a working group committed to collaborating with students, educators and activists to address the problems of queer-phobia within the public educational system. The topics covered in the workshops ranged from starting a gay-straight alliance in your school to examining the impact of slurs and stereotypes. Again, the students impressed us with their patience and willingness to take on new and complicated ideas. We look forward to our 2nd annual GLBTQ day when we will utilize what we learned this year.

Posted by Newsletter at 01:43 PM | Permalink

In March, members of the 10th grade class reach the novel Buckingham Palace by Richard Rive. Set in apartheid South Africa, the novel addresses many of the core principles of FHS. Humanities teacher Emily Hanes led a far-reaching discussion of the book that she described this way:

“The last two days we had AWESOME discussions about the themes of the novel we are reading and here are some of the things the students came up with. When we talked about the characters prioritizing the community and how that's what we've been telling the students since they started school here, Johanna said, ‘but you didn't say it like THAT. We didn't read this book before.’”

The students in her class answered the question, “What are the themes of the novel?” with the following introspective comments:

Judging and discriminating are worse crimes than petty thievery and prostitution.

Poverty and oppression cannot keep people from forming a community in which people have fun and support each other unless they are forcibly separated from one another.

Posted by Newsletter at 01:41 PM | Permalink