February is Black History Month, and, at UC Davis, Black Futures Month, which represents the “campus community’s commitment to remembering, celebrating, and learning from the proud history of Black Americans and the promising future of all scholars who continue to bring innovation and excellence to our society.”
Did you know that the California Education Code stipulates that all students should have access to standards-based arts education in dance, music, theatre, visual, and media arts, and yet only eleven percent of California schools meet this requirement? In fact, twenty-one percent of California schools do not offer any form of formal arts instruction.
Happy holidays to all who celebrate — and happy holiday break to all the teachers in our network! We hope you can all take the break you deserve and spend some downtime relaxing or enjoying the company of family and friends.
In the spirit of spending time with loved ones, we’ve chosen to focus this month’s newsletter on community history. Listed below are some teaching resources and reading recommendations that center family and community stories. Click on any of the links to learn more!
Last year, in 2023, California passed Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 58, officially recognizing April as Arab American Heritage Month. This resolution recognizes California’s role in Arab American history as the state with the largest Arab American population - numbering upwards of 700,000 people. Dr.
The History-Social Science Project at the University of California, Berkeley seeks applications for a Director/Coordinator of Public Programs.
The UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project is part of the California History-Social Science Project, headquartered at the University of California, Davis, and one of dozens of discipline-based programs in the California Subject Matter Projects, administered by the University of California, Office of the President.
by Brianna Tafolla Rivière, edited by Vanessa Madrigal-Lauchland
This month, the California History-Social Science Project invited Brianna Tafolla Rivière to write a guest post about bringing indigenous history into your classroom. Brianna is a historian and PhD candidate specializing in Native American History at UC Davis. Her research focuses on the Red Power Movement and activism in Hollywood during the twentieth century. We are grateful that she agreed to share her expertise along with a few resources that have helped her in the classroom.
Latinx students make up nearly 55% of all K-12 students across California, and every year students are asking for more lessons that reflect their experiences. We educators and people of color hear the need to show students the diversity of people who lived and shaped our history–people that students relate to and we know how important it is for students to see themselves reflected in their educational experience.
Multiple studies have documented the benefits of picture books for young children. Researchers have determined that when adults read picture books, it promotes children’s “language comprehension and literacy,” according to Rutgers’ University’s Vanessa LoBue.