For me, one of the most compelling points in Spector and Jones article about Anne Frank and critical literacy was the idea that teachers should unpack what students already know (or think they know) before diving into a lesson. I think this is especially important when teaching about historical events or characters that fall under the realm of “common knowledge.” Spector and Jones suggest that teachers “ask students to discuss their knowledge of Anne Frank – and how they came to that knowledge” and to create posters depicting their idea of Anne Frank’s story. I think similar activities could be created for almost any historical event or character that students would have prior knowledge about. Inviting students to share what they know is important because it allows teachers to better understand what they need to teach, but also because it gives students the opportunity to think about the sources of information that shape their ideas about history.

While reading this article and thinking about student knowledge, I was reminded of a story that my friend told me. She is student teaching in New York City this year, and is currently working in a middle school social studies classroom. She’s been teaching lessons about Colonial America, and one day a student made a comment about Native Americans being “less civilized or less advanced” and that they needed the colonists to help them create a real society. She asked the student where he had come up with that idea, and he said “I don’t know I just heard it”(similar to the students studying Anne Frank!) When my friend asked the rest of the class what they thought, a great majority said they thought that too, they had heard that version of history as well. Knowing that many of her students were approaching the study of Colonial American from that perspective changed the way she thought about teaching them.