A Unit from a Middle School Classroom

When he taught middle school social studies in North Philadelphia, Trey Smith's students analyzed texts depicting Christopher Columbus (including local monuments) and the Taíno. Students then proposed new monuments as part of a classroom project that would (re)tell stories of the Taíno and/or Columbus. 

In this video, Mr. Smith explained how he supported students in unpacking narratives about Columbus, uncovering the need for more sources about the Taíno, and proposing new monuments for their final project. He also discussed some of the tensions that arose in doing this work, including how to better include perspectives from Italian Americans both past and present. 

Primary Source Analysis Tool

Use the Primary Source Analysis Tool from the Library of Congress to support students in analyzing prints and other texts related to Columbus. Encourage students to reflect:

• What’s happening in the print?

• When do you think it was made?

• Who do you think was the audience for this print? 

• Why do you think this print was made? 

In a more recent version of a unit on monuments, Mr. Smith's seventh graders analyzed a print showing colonists in New York pulling down a statue of King George III. Students' wonderings helped kickstart a discussion about (1) whether or not we should remove monuments and (2) practices for conducting further investigations with internet searches.

Culturally & Historically Relevant Literacies: 5 Pursuits

While Mr. Smith planned and taught this unit prior to the publication of Gholdy Muhammad's Cultivating Genius (2020) and Unearthing Joy (2023), many of the five pursuits are present in the unit design:

• Identities: Students discussed the ways that monuments may be reflections of what communities value and who they say they are. A number of students identified as descendants of the Taíno and were able to share their own understandings and community ideas about Columbus with our class.

• Skills:  Students used historical thinking skills to analyze and construct narratives with primary and secondary sources. A revision of this unit would involve students crafting Op-Eds or other persuasive texts that make a public case for reading and/or (re)writing a particular monument.

• Intellectualism: Students learned about early Europeans colonization and conflict with peoples indigenous to the Americas. A revision of this unit would emphasize the histories and cultures of Indigenous peoples prior to European contact.

• Criticality: Students identified which texts were told from a Eurocentric perspective and recognized that there were often silences in the curated historical record regarding the Taíno.

• Joy: Students reflected on how monuments and stories about our past can bring joy—but also some pain. A revision of this unit would involve featuring more texts and sources that depict the lives of the Taíno past and present so that students would better be able to recognize the beauty of the culture and integrate these understandings into their designs for public memory.

In a more recent version of this unit, Mr. Smith asked seventh graders to use digital manufacturing tools like a 3D printer and a CNC router that carves in wood and plastic to create prototype monument and memorial designs. As they were learning skills to use these tools, students designed artifacts that highlighted something about themselves, about their own identities as young people.

Considering Multiple Perspectives Across Texts

Throughout Mr. Smith's original unit, students engaged with texts—including monuments, prints, and cartoons—that were embedded with arguments about what we should remember about Columbus and the Taíno. Together, these texts offered multiple perspectives on what Columbus did and how others chose to remember him.

Responding to Texts with "They Say" / "I Say"

In a more recent version of this unit, Mr. Smith asked seventh graders to read/listen and respond to recent news stories about Christopher Columbus monuments in Philadelphia. After the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed, there was increased community concern locally and globally over who was memorialized and why. Students engaged in inquiries into the public monuments in Philadelphia and will be proposing additions to the city's built environment.

To emphasize that public conversations are ongoing and that we can contribute to them, Mr. Smith used a "They Say / I Say" routine. Students wrote something they heard or read and then responded.

Monument Design Proposals

Students contributed to this conversation by offering their own monument designs at the end of the unit as arguments for what we should remember as a community.

Students imagined symbolic features that would be part of their monuments to Columbus, the Taíno, or both Columbus and the Taíno. They explained what the symbolic features represented.