Originally published in TEACH Magazine, January/February 2016 Issue
By Andre Benito Mountain
Educators teaching history may find guidance in the genius of Miles Davis’ advice to musicians, “Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.” In 2011, while I was working as a curriculum coordinator for the Richmond County School System, our student achievement data revealed a steady decline in student performance in U.S. History. This course was a requirement for graduation in Georgia so we urgently needed to reignite students’ interest and empower teachers.
One of the challenges we faced centred on the lack of diversity in the U.S. History curriculum. The American story is a mélange of triumph and tragedy of people from across the globe seeking to create. Yet, the curriculum in the United States comprised mostly of a monolith of Eurocentrism, negating the significant cultural impact of Native Americans, Africans, and Asians whose lives provided the canvas upon which the American portrait would be depicted. This inspired us to develop a project called Taking Notes: Jazz and the American Story, to help those students struggling with history.
Andre Benito Mountain is a school administrator with Tacoma Public Schools in Tacoma, WA. He was previously the K–12 Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator for the Richmond County School System in Augusta, GA. He is currently a doctoral student in Curriculum Studies in the College of Education at Georgia Southern University.
