{"id":11197,"date":"2015-12-07T11:24:27","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T17:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/?p=11197"},"modified":"2018-11-06T15:21:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T21:21:00","slug":"npt-reports-teaching-tough-topics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/2015\/12\/07\/npt-reports-teaching-tough-topics\/","title":{"rendered":"NPT Reports: Teaching Tough Topics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"580\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aXSOOaTu-B0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>When it comes to teaching difficult or sensitive topics, teachers can use a variety of strategies as long as they follow the mandated curriculum. That curriculum and textbooks are determined far outside the classroom.<\/p>\n<p>In Tennessee, curriculum is set by the Standards Recommendation Committee of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/sbe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tennessee State Board of Education<\/a>. A meeting in November one of the final steps in reviewing standards for math and English language arts, which is the current subject under scrutiny. The review team includes several classroom teachers from across the state, part of a new process in Tennessee to be more transparent and receive more public input. For the first time, the public can comment about curriculum standards on a new <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.tn.gov\/tcas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think this process is honestly designed to take that input and really use it in a constructive way. So I hope this process will allow people who have strong feelings to be heard and to have comments made and the standards to be adjusted,\u201d says Dr. Sara Heyburn, executive director of the Tennessee Board of Education.<\/p>\n<p>That new process might be tested as never before when the Committee begins its review of social studies standards in January 2016. That review was bumped up by 2 years, in large part due to parent complaints in some districts that the curriculum and textbooks are pro-Islam. Local boards, like the one for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rcschools.net\/education\/staff\/staff.php?sectiondetailid=8075&amp;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rutherford County Schools<\/a>, have been facing parent and community complaints about the standards and some textbooks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy son was force to read the Koran during the TCAPS social studies test,\u201d says Scott Kozimor, a parent of three children in RCS. \u201cWe need to eliminate religion entirely out of the schools, or if we\u2019re going to teach about Islam about Christianity, that they get equal weight and a complete narrative of each one&#8211; not just picking parts and pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable indoctrination of Islam\u2014not history,\u201d said Jackie Archer of Murfreesboro. \u201cThe teachers are still teaching the five pillars Islam and requiring students to recite and write the Shadah, which says there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet. No such personal professions of faith are required in other sections on religions, including Christianity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In response, the superintendent of Rutherford County Schools encouraged the group to utilize the state\u2019s new online process to register their concerns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat you\u2019re wanting to accomplish and the things that you\u2019re wanting to include has got to be directed at those standards,\u201d said Odom. \u201cThis board doesn\u2019t set the state standards\u2026 We don\u2019t set the test that\u2019s based on those standards that our children have to take.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heyburn, who was not with the state board when the current curriculum was set the last time, acknowledges the need to quickly take another look at some requirements in balance with all concerns, complaints and opinions about what students are taught.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSocial studies is more challenging and there\u2019s a lot of material to cover. That\u2019s one of the pieces of feedback at the state that we\u2019ve been getting&#8211; that there\u2019s a lot of standards in these current social studies standards,\u201d says Heyburn. \u201cSo not only has there been some attention to some of the specific world religions but it\u2019s also the structure and the content. We want to get some of our best teachers to and higher ed faculty to help us wrestle with those tensions between breadth and depth and come out on the right place on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Odom points out that tough topics that are relevant to history and social studies can not be simply omitted because they are sensitive to some.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s most likely that religion in some way will be embedded in social studies from elementary school through college,\u201d says Odom. \u201cThe key is that it\u2019s presented in a historic manner that is not trying to proselytize or bring students to one religion or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCertainly at the state level we can\u2019t control every micro-decision that every teacher in the state is making,\u201d adds Heyburn. \u201cWhat we can do is create a solid bedrock for the standards which are the basis of their instructional decisions. That\u2019s ultimately what you want is for students to think deeply, wrestle with topics and make their own decisions about how they feel about the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to teaching difficult or sensitive topics, teachers can use a variety of strategies as long as they follow the mandated curriculum. That curriculum and textbooks&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-npt-reports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>NPT Reports: Teaching Tough Topics - Nashville PBS Media Update<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/2015\/12\/07\/npt-reports-teaching-tough-topics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NPT Reports: Teaching Tough Topics - Nashville PBS Media Update\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When it comes to teaching difficult or sensitive topics, teachers can use a variety of strategies as long as they follow the mandated curriculum. 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