Corrected: This story has been updated to accurately reflect electives teacher Jessica Rucker鈥檚 quote.
In the days immediately following the assault on the U.S. Capitol, teachers were in crisis mode, scrambling to respond to students鈥� fears, answer their questions, and help classes get the facts straight about what happened. A far-right mob had assaulted a beacon of American democracy in the name of President Donald Trump鈥攁n unparalleled event in modern American history. Five people died.
Now, with a few more days of distance from the events of Jan. 6, and with the House poised to impeach Trump for a second time and threats of armed protests the week of President-elect Joe Biden鈥檚 inauguration looming, teachers are faced with the next daunting challenge: Helping students analyze how the country got to this point, and what it means about how we tell the American story.
鈥淭eachers have to teach this, whether they鈥檙e social studies teachers, math teachers, English teachers,鈥� said Amanda E. Vickery, an assistant professor of social studies education and race in education at the University of North Texas. 鈥淜ids are seeing these images. They鈥檙e violent. They鈥檙e disturbing.鈥�
The insurrection has implications for teachers across subjects and grade levels, who are connecting it to current and historical events, analyzing it through art and literature, and examining it as a consequence of our current information landscape.
Here are six ways teachers are teaching the Capitol riots and their implications in class.
Combating Misinformation in Class
Media literacy has been a key component of these class discussions, since rampant misinformation both helped spur and has come out of the riot. Teaching students how to do reverse image searches, check the author鈥檚 credentials, and read different articles on the same subject is critical, teachers say鈥攅specially because many students had initially only heard about the Capitol riots on TikTok.
Mary Kate Lonergan, an 8th grade social studies teacher at Eagle Hill Middle School in Manlius, N.Y., showed her students different media messages. They discussed: Who created this message? How might people interpret it differently, depending on their beliefs?
For example, they analyzed , with a crowd of Trump supporters behind him, aggressively confronting a single police officer. Lonergan asked students to think about how this image might be different if it was taken by a police officer or a Trump supporter. Would the scene in the image change if the photographer鈥檚 physical location changed? And does this fluidity mean that photographs are fact, opinion, or a little bit of both?
Class time has been spent 鈥済etting into that gray area where I think it鈥檚 important for young people to wade,鈥� Lonergan said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the heart of media literacy that we have to understand鈥攖here is no completely unbiased piece of information.鈥�
Teachers can also look at what different news outlets choose to call the events of Jan. 6, said Renee Hobbs, a professor of communication studies and the director of the Media Education Lab at the University of Rhode Island. Is it a protest, a riot, a siege, an insurrection?
鈥淚t turns out that any choice you make has an ideological nuance to it,鈥� Hobbs said. 鈥淭his is a great moment to talk about how public opinion is shaped by things as simple as language choice.鈥�
In addition to teaching students how to fact-check information, John Silva, the senior director of education and training at the News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, said teachers need to show students how to 鈥渓ogic-check,鈥� since some misinformation includes 鈥渓eaps of logic or logical fallacies that are being used to share beliefs that do have factual information at their core.鈥�
For example, Silva said, a conspiracy theorist might present two maps: one of COVID-19 cases in an area and one of 5G towers. Both maps might be factual, but trying to connect the two maps to argue that 5G towers cause the coronavirus is a logical breakdown.
Students have to learn what it means to be critical thinkers, which is more important than ever, Silva said: 鈥淭hose people at the Capitol, they were once upon a time taught to be a critical thinker. 鈥� How many of them have been manipulated into believing things that aren鈥檛 true?鈥�
Breaking Down Traumatic Events for Young Learners
In Jami Witherell鈥檚 virtual 2nd grade class at the Newton School in Greenfield, Mass., students began the day after the riots singing 鈥淚f I Had a Hammer,鈥� one of the anthems of the Civil Rights movement. That was already the class song for January as students are learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. and civil rights, but it was especially poignant the day after the assault on the U.S. Capitol.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really important that even as a 7- or 8-year-old, you understand that [fighting for] justice is a part of our nation鈥檚 history, and 鈥� why justice for all matters, and why freedom for all matters,鈥� Witherell said. 鈥淵ou use your voice for good.鈥�
Witherell said she didn鈥檛 want to spend too much time talking about the details of the Capitol riots in class, especially given that the discussion would be broadcast into 24 different homes. She didn鈥檛 know what parents wanted to share with their children and was cognizant of the fact that younger siblings could be listening nearby.
But not addressing what happened at all didn鈥檛 feel right, Witherell said. She talked to students about how Jan. 6 was a scary day for a lot of people in the country, and that some people have said and done unkind things to those they don鈥檛 agree with. That led to conversations about good behavior and bad behavior, and how people can make the choice to be kind to others, even if they don鈥檛 agree with them, she said.
鈥淎s an educator, what I can give you is tools to share kindness, and a willingness to listen to each other, and a willingness to hear each other, even if you don鈥檛 like each other,鈥� Witherell said. 鈥淚 want to continue to empower them to see themselves as little people [capable] of actionable change, and not cower in fear with the anger and violence that has set in throughout the country.鈥�
It鈥檚 important for teachers of young learners to have these tough conversations and be honest about what鈥檚 going on, said Akiea Gross, a former kindergarten teacher and instructional coach who founded Woke Kindergarten, a learning community that focuses on anti-racist early education. Anchoring the conversation in some form of art鈥攍ike music or pictures鈥攃an help.
Gross which puts photos taken at Black Lives Matter protests next to photos taken during the Capitol riots. Some of the photos of the Black Lives Matter protests featured police officers arresting or pointing weapons at protesters, while some of the photos taken Jan. 6 showed officers stepping aside for the rioters.
鈥淥ne thing I don鈥檛 do is sugarcoat the truth from children,鈥� Gross said, adding that the racism depicted in those pictures is the reality for students of color. However, such a lesson could be upsetting for children of color, so Gross said it鈥檚 critical for a teacher to check in with students beforehand and make sure they鈥檙e feeling up for a tough conversation鈥攁nd then give students a break afterwards.
It鈥檚 essential for teachers to give children space to heal, Gross said, and to remind them that they have power, too, and they can imagine a better world. The lesson should end with talking about solutions.
鈥淚t鈥檚 our job to challenge children to think beyond the confines of this,鈥� Gross said. 鈥淲e need to make sure that despite all of the violence, we still prioritize the joy, and affirm children in who they are, and make them feel protected in whatever ways we can.鈥�
Analyzing the Symbols of the Riot
The day after the attack on the Capitol, Adina Goldstein, a 7th grade teacher at Vare-Washington Elementary School in Philadelphia, dedicated her entire 90-minute English block to covering the riot. There was so much engagement from students that she continued the lesson the following day in her 45-minute social studies block.
After all, she said, she was able to make connections to both subjects. Students were evaluating sources and claims, but also citing arguments in their discussions and analyzing imagery.
Goldstein started her lesson by sharing the facts of what happened at the Capitol. She explained to them what voter fraud is, and why Trump and his supporters believe he won the election. Then, she had students , and showed students pictures of the riot.
Goldstein then broke up students into small groups so they could analyze different symbols present during the riot鈥攍ike a Confederate flag, a noose, and the OK hand sign that has been co-opted as a white power symbol鈥攁nd watch videos or do readings that explained those histories.
When the class came back together, Goldstein asked, 鈥淎fter looking at the symbols that were present and understanding their history, do you think this riot was really about voter fraud?鈥�
Students mostly agreed that no, it was meant to intimidate people of color or immigrants. Some said that even if it was about voter fraud, the messages they were using had deeper meanings.
Then, Goldstein showed her students Childish Gambino鈥檚 , which is full of metaphors about race and gun violence. The class discussed the imagery present in the video, and students were asked to write their own poems about the America they see, and the America they want to see.
This is America,
where people get stereotyped because of how light or dark you are.
This is a state where everyone want to come to,
Because we are free here,
But for black people and other race we don鈥檛 feel free,
We still are not equal.
This is America,
A place where people can have their own opinion,
This is also a place where it can be a shooting at any moment,
But this is my place,
My home,
This is American.
鈥擬ercedes Bowie, 7th grade
This is America
They try to find opportunities
They take anything we can get
It doesn鈥檛 matter how much work for how little a get paid
And then...they just take it away.
This is America
They want to send us back
They don鈥檛 understand how little opportunities there are
They don鈥檛 know or care what is left back in Mexico
They crossed the border risking their lives
Our parents left their parents and haven鈥檛 seen them since just for a better life for us.
鈥擮scar Perez Rojas, 7th grade
(This is an excerpt, .)
This is America
The place where people aren鈥檛 happy and feel hurt, betrayed and upset
The place where people think one section of population is greater than the other sections
This is America
Stop judging people
Stop talking
Stop making assumptions
Stop making excuses
Stop and listen
Stop and observe
Stop, just stop
This is America
It鈥檚 our turn to feel appreciated
It鈥檚 our turn to talk
It鈥檚 our turn to be listened to
It鈥檚 our turn to stop this nonsense
It鈥檚 our turn to have a chance
It鈥檚 our turn to step up and take control
It鈥檚 our turn to fix our world
鈥擡liyanah Flores, 7th grade
(This is an excerpt, .)
鈥淲e need to provide spaces to heal in our classroom,鈥� Goldstein said. 鈥淗ow can we find hope? How can we look forward to the future? Poems were able to do that.鈥�
Putting the Riots Into Historical Context
For Noah Zeichner, a high school social studies and Spanish teacher in Seattle public schools, having already taught about the history of white supremacy and anti-democratic movements in the United States helped his students put last week鈥檚 events in context.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what could have fully prepared me or them for Wednesday,鈥� Zeichner said. 鈥淏ut what we鈥檝e learned this year, and the discussions we鈥檝e had, I think allowed them to access what was happening in the news.鈥�
Zeichner, who is teaching online, situated the Jan. 6 riots within the long history of white backlash to Black political enfranchisement in his virtual classes on Friday.
He brought up the election of 1876, during which three states put forth competing slates of electors, one from each political party. Both sides claimed election fraud, but there was also widespread voter intimidation, as Democrats tried to prevent newly enfranchised African Americans from casting ballots.
鈥淭here鈥檚 this narrative that what happened on Wednesday [Jan. 6] was episodic, when it鈥檚 not. It鈥檚 thematic.鈥�
A Congressional election commission was called to review the vote, and two parties brokered the Compromise of 1877: The Democrats wouldn鈥檛 contest the Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes, becoming president in exchange for an end to Reconstruction.
鈥淚 explained to them that 鈥� the compromise ended Reconstruction and established 90 years of single-party rule and white supremacist government and Jim Crow laws in the South, but really all over this country, until the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s,鈥� Zeichner said.
鈥淧eople are shocked, and students are shocked, when they see people with KKK tattoos and anti-Semitic messages on their clothing, touting 鈥楥amp Auschwitz鈥� and 鈥�6 million wasn鈥檛 enough,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淎ll of these racist and terrible messages, people are surprised. But they鈥檝e always been here.鈥�
And it鈥檚 not just history that鈥檚 relevant, teachers say. It鈥檚 also important to discuss Jan. 6 as part of our current political moment. 鈥淭here鈥檚 this narrative that what happened on Wednesday was episodic, when it鈥檚 not,鈥� said Jessica Rucker, an electives teacher at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. 鈥淚t鈥檚 thematic.鈥�
She and a colleague, Tyler Jackson, explained to students that the riots were a response to the Georgia recount, and discussed who was falsely claiming that the vote was 鈥渟tolen鈥� and why. They also talked about claims that President Trump had incited violence before.
Teachers can only bring this kind of historical and political context to bear if they know it themselves, said Peta Lindsay, a U.S. history and African American studies teacher at Venice High School in Los Angeles, and the executive director of the Ida B. Wells Education Project, an organization that advocates for anti-racist education and creates Black-centered curricula. 鈥淎 lot of teachers who want to teach in a more anti-racist way or center voices of color, they鈥檙e missing the content.鈥�
Students and teachers also need the language to talk about these events, Lindsay said. In her class, 鈥溾�榳hite supremacy鈥� is a Unit 1 term,鈥� she said. It鈥檚 impossible to talk about lynching, mob violence, and Black codes without it.
鈥淚f you didn鈥檛 introduce it before, you can introduce it now,鈥� Lindsay said.
Understanding Free Speech and Censorship
The next question that many teachers are addressing: What constitutes free speech?
Twitter permanently suspended Trump鈥檚 account, and Facebook banned him indefinitely. Parler, a social media site popular with conservatives and far-right extremists, went offline after it was dropped by Apple, Google, and Amazon.
These developments can open up a conversation about media regulation, said Hobbs, the communication studies professor. 鈥淥n Fox News, they鈥檙e using the word 鈥榗ensorship.鈥� And they鈥檙e using it in a very cavalier way to talk about the platform companies鈥� decision to restrict harmful speech.鈥�
Teachers, librarians, and media specialists can use this moment to explain what the law allows and doesn鈥檛, she said: That freedom of speech as outlined in the First Amendment prevents the government from censoring speech, but not private companies. That Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act prevents social media platforms from being held responsible as the publisher of content on their sites, but also gives these sites permission to moderate content as they see fit.
Looking forward, teachers can use these events as a jumping off point to teach about the movements to break up big tech and minimize the influence of Silicon Valley, Hobbs said, discussing 鈥渂oth the law and the institutional power relationships.鈥�
Jenifer Hitchcock, an Advanced Placement Government teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., said she overheard students discussing free speech and Trump during a weekend swim meet. 鈥淚 have work to do,鈥� she thought. Luckily, her next unit is on civil rights and civil liberties.
She plans to teach students the overview of what the First Amendment protects and related key court cases, like New York Times Co. v. United States and Tinker v. Des Moines. That will provide her class a baseline for more in-depth conversations. Hitchcock will also discuss the rights of the accused, which will open the door for interesting discussions about how law enforcement uses artificial intelligence to identify suspects.
鈥淚 know there鈥檚 going to be a ton of questions coming out of the events of Jan. 6 that can spiral through the content,鈥� Hitchcock said. 鈥淚 do worry that 鈥� at some point, there鈥檚 saturation of a topic. [But] I don鈥檛 like teaching my content in a vacuum. I want them to apply it, I want them to think critically.鈥�
Preparing for What鈥檚 Ahead
Soon, though, putting last week鈥檚 events in context may be eclipsed by the need to respond to more violence. Reuters has reported , in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitols, during inauguration week.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important that people recognize how much we celebrate free speech and free expression in this country, but we also clearly draw the line and denounce when that speech and expression becomes violent,鈥� said Christopher R. Riano, the executive director of the Center for Civic Education.
Teachers, he said, can 鈥済ive students the tools and understanding to make judgments and have the ability to understand where those lines are.鈥�
Typically, Hitchcock鈥檚 students would be attending the presidential inauguration. But between the coronavirus pandemic and the fear of violence, 鈥渋t breaks my heart I have to tell them it鈥檚 not in their best interest,鈥� she said.
Even so, Hitchcock said she is encouraging students to 鈥渞ecommit to鈥� democracy by participating in community organizations and staying civically engaged beyond just voting. 鈥淚 want to impress upon them that [democracy] only works if they鈥檙e involved,鈥� she said.
鈥淚t is through understanding the strengths of American democracy, the weaknesses of American democracy, and the ways to address those weaknesses, that we all ... can better grapple with difficult moments in our history like this one.鈥�
Teaching about resistance movements can also encourage students, said Lindsay, the Los Angeles teacher : 鈥淪tudents are going to be like, 鈥榃hat is the solution?鈥� [Make] sure that you鈥檙e plugged into what, historically, has been the solution.鈥�
In her history courses, for example, Lindsay teaches about lynching in connection with the activists and journalists who fought against it鈥攍ike Walter White and Ida B. Wells鈥攁nd the mass organizing, protests, and legislation that helped end it. The knowledge empowers her students with the understanding that they could fight injustices, too, she said.
Zeichner, the Seattle high school teacher, plans to keep drawing connections to 19th-century politics in the coming weeks: His class is starting on their Reconstruction unit. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to embrace the dive deep into what was accomplished in Reconstruction then how it was torn apart,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think there will be many opportunities to connect our current moment to the 1870s.鈥�
Honestly examining the darkest times in our nation鈥檚 history can prepare students to face a civic crisis, Riano said. 鈥淚t is through understanding the strengths of American democracy, the weaknesses of American democracy, and the ways to address those weaknesses, that we all鈥攕tudents and others alike鈥攃an better grapple with difficult moments in our history like this one.鈥�
Zeichner knows that there are students at his school who support Trump, but he said that he had to talk about the events on Jan. 6, and clearly explain that the actions of those who stormed the Capitol were wrong. 鈥淭hat can鈥檛 stop me from my responsibility in guiding my students in understanding what鈥檚 happening around them,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no room for being neutral鈥� in situations like this one.
Zeichner doesn鈥檛 think that the deep political divisions in this country are going away any time soon. But he wonders whether some communities may eventually feel more comfortable drawing a line here鈥攖aking a strong stance against the siege of the Capitol. 鈥淭opics in history become not so controversial. We don鈥檛 teach both sides of Japanese internment today, for example,鈥� he said.
Hobbs also thinks last week鈥檚 events might lessen the 鈥渇ear factor鈥� associated with analyzing news media in a politically polarized climate. 鈥淚 wonder if this is a tipping-point moment for educations who now can clearly see the relationship between speech and social action, and the devastating consequences of irresponsible public expression,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 hope it鈥檚 a tipping-point moment.鈥�
