On the one hand, the holiday generally delights me. It's secular. It's focused on those most important 3 F's: family, friends, and food (my three favorite things, really). We're supposed to be with our loved ones and think about gratitude. Nothing wrong so far. Oh, and we get a little time off. Always nice.
On the other hand, the prospect of teaching about Thanksgiving and its history worries me. I'm not one to buy into the whole Earnest Pilgrims and Helpful Indians thing. Not without mentioning the smallpox or the complex and pervasive societies that predated said pilgrims. Not without mentioning Europeans' treachery and general ignorance. Not without some sort of caveats.
And these are kindergarten students, so most of that would be frankly inappropriate and difficult to understand.
And the district apparently has an official Teach Thanksgiving policy, though how specific this policy may be I don't yet know.
And a significant portion of my students are Native Americans. And I'm not. And this is a politically conservative community. And I'm not. AAAAArrrrggh.
We made hand print turkeys, though. Can we call it good?
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