Tacoma teachers talk about how they’re addressing U.S. Capitol breach with students
As a mob of rioters encouraged by President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday during the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, Lincoln High School teacher Megan Holyoke and other Pierce County educators prepared for afternoon classes.
She said she made space for students in her Advanced Placement Government and student council classes to ask questions, have a dialogue with each other and process what was happening.
She remembered one saying: “Quite honestly, this just makes me sick.”
When President-elect Joe Biden gave his remarks, they watched.
Holyoke said as events were unfolding, students spoke about disparities in racial justice and wanted to know why law enforcement didn’t seem to be ready and waiting, why there wasn’t more preparation and a plan, such as during the Black Lives Matters protests in D.C.
“How is that person able to sit in the chair on the Senate floor?” one student asked. “Isn’t that the vice president’s chair? Why isn’t anybody stopping them?”
Students juxtaposed those images with photos of the National Guard in D.C. during Black Lives Matter protests, Holyoke said.
“I didn’t have the answer,” she said.
Having those discussions virtually during the coronavirus pandemic is especially difficult, she said.
“How do I appropriately facilitate this conversation that for many of them is so much bigger than just politics? Holyoke said.
She noted that she teaches at a school whose student body is predominantly made up of students of color.
She said she expects the next couple days will continue to be about giving students space to process and to ask questions about what exactly happened.
Her students are on a unit about Congress at the moment. Next will be the executive branch.
Holyoke said it’s not only civics teachers trying to figure out how to address what happened. A friend who teaches middle school math is wondering how to debrief what happened with her students.
“In my teacher world it’s kind of this idea of this really big historical event happening,” she said. “You can’t just go on business as usual. You have to address this as a teacher, and you have to acknowledge you’re aware that this major event happened, and acknowledge the reality that we’re living in.”
Jeanne Hanigan said her virtual journalism class at Bellarmine Preparatory School, a Catholic high school in Tacoma, started with A Responsive Prayer for Justice Wednesday afternoon.
Pray for those who are hungry.
Pray harder for those who will not feed them.
Pray for those who struggle each week to pay their bills.
Pray harder for the wealthy who do not care.
Pray for those who are homeless.
Pray harder for those who deny them shelter.
Pray for the sick and lonely.
Pray harder for those who will not give them comfort.
Pray for those who cry out for dignity.
Pray harder for those who will not listen.
Pray for those oppressed by unjust wages.
Pray harder for those who exploit them.
Pray for those who bear the yoke of prejudice.
Pray harder for those who discriminate against them.
Pray for those whose basic needs are denied.
Pray harder for public officials who cater to the greedy
and ignore those bound unjustly. Amen.
They would have pitched stories Wednesday but spoke about what was happening in D.C., instead. An English teacher and a history teacher also adapted their lesson plans, Hanigan said.
“I thought it was really important as journalists for us to talk about,” she said. “... We are talking about something that is so historic, so unprecedented, so tragic, but so important, too.”
One student piped up during the conversation that Jon Ossoff had won his Georgia runoff election, giving Democrats control of the Senate.
“They’re politically savvy, and they’re watching,” Hanigan said. “... It’s my job to make sure that they’re consuming news in a just, factual and unbiased way.”
She had asked, prior to Wednesday, if anyone in the class wanted to write about the certification of the election.
Hanigan and News Tribune reporter Abbie Shull, who was helping in class, spoke with the students about what was happening and answered questions.
“I think what’s challenging right now is that we’re not together,” Hanigan said, sounding on the verge of tears. “We’re not physically together. And I think today would have been one of those days where we probably would have hugged one another. ... These kids have been through the ringer in so many things, and this is just another thing that they’re being forced to deal with. From a pandemic to a riot, I can’t imagine.”
