Like Homer begins his epics with an invocation of the muses, Jesmyn Ward invokes the dead when she commands the unburied to sing in the title of her novel: Sing, Unburied, Sing. It is a story of both a journey, like in The Odyssey, and of rage, like in The Iliad, yet it also swells with strength and hope in the face of inherited trauma within the Black Community. In the wake of the tragedy of George Floyd's death as a result of police brutality and the recent momentum in the Black Lives Matter movement, diverse curriculum in the secondary classroom is not only important, but it is imperative.
The stories we choose to emphasize in our schools are what will shape our students' worldviews. Like the Ancient Greeks immortalize their heroes through storytelling, Jesmyn Ward immortalizes Black Lives lost to slavery and racism, processing the historical violence and white oppression an African American inherits, as a way to honor and to heal. In teaching Sing, Unburied, Sing, my aim is to prompt students to consider the role of history in shaping our contemporary experience, through the lens of a teenage protagonist.
My philosophy of teaching can be boiled down to a single sentiment: I don't teach English - I teach people. My students are the most important part of my classroom, and so I want the texts I choose to teach to both reflect their perspectives and interests AND to challenge their thinking outside their own experiences. Through teaching Sing, Unburied, Sing, I hope to extend my school's curriculum beyond the canon so that it includes more diverse, contemporary voices - voices that echo those of our students and our future.
About my class
Like Homer begins his epics with an invocation of the muses, Jesmyn Ward invokes the dead when she commands the unburied to sing in the title of her novel: Sing, Unburied, Sing. It is a story of both a journey, like in The Odyssey, and of rage, like in The Iliad, yet it also swells with strength and hope in the face of inherited trauma within the Black Community. In the wake of the tragedy of George Floyd's death as a result of police brutality and the recent momentum in the Black Lives Matter movement, diverse curriculum in the secondary classroom is not only important, but it is imperative.
The stories we choose to emphasize in our schools are what will shape our students' worldviews. Like the Ancient Greeks immortalize their heroes through storytelling, Jesmyn Ward immortalizes Black Lives lost to slavery and racism, processing the historical violence and white oppression an African American inherits, as a way to honor and to heal. In teaching Sing, Unburied, Sing, my aim is to prompt students to consider the role of history in shaping our contemporary experience, through the lens of a teenage protagonist.
My philosophy of teaching can be boiled down to a single sentiment: I don't teach English - I teach people. My students are the most important part of my classroom, and so I want the texts I choose to teach to both reflect their perspectives and interests AND to challenge their thinking outside their own experiences. Through teaching Sing, Unburied, Sing, I hope to extend my school's curriculum beyond the canon so that it includes more diverse, contemporary voices - voices that echo those of our students and our future.
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