NHA Points Way For State On Black Studies

As public schools statewide prepare to institute African-American studies courses, New Haven Academy’s Kelly K. Hope and her students are already on the case.

Hope and the students in her African-American Literature class at New Haven Academy were exploring Toni Morrison’s Sula the other day.

The state has passed a new mandate that all public schools offer African-American and Latin American studies classes. Districts can opt to pilot the new classes next year; mandatory curricula will roll out to all schools after that. (New Haven students advocated for the new mandate.)

New Haven Academy (NHA) is ahead of the curve. This is the second year that Hope has taught African-American Literature. The Latin American history class at the school is concluding its first year. And the school, which has implemented a social justice curriculum since its first days, is reexamining its English and history curricula as a whole. In the process, students and teachers have figured out tips for other schools just adding the courses.

Hope began class with a question the other day: How was everyone feeling?

“I’m at a ​‘one’ today. I don’t know why. I woke up feeling good,” Hope shared.

Most of the students were between a five and a seven, meaning something was bothering them but they were still able to focus on class. One student, eleventh-grader Troy Wylie, was so tired and distracted that he was at the 10 end of the scale.

New Haven Public Schools has been trying to implement this kind of check-in more and more throughout the district. It’s part a group of techniques called social-emotional learning (SEL) that teach students to understand their emotions and respect their peers.

Student emotions and relationships are particularly important in a class as personal as African-American Literature, according to 17-year-old Jocelyn Williams.

“If Dr. Hope notices a student isn’t comfortable, she tries to make them comfortable. She jokes a little bit, and she asks us how we are doing. She lets us get stuff off our chest,” she said.

Hope has helped form the plans for how the new African-American and Latino studies will roll out.

One of her suggestions is to allow the requirement to be interdisciplinary. At the moment, the future curricula seem focused on history. Hope pointed out that her class touches history too; Sula features a World War I veteran, for example.

Thursday’s class showed what happens when a skilled educator like Hope teaches students what they really want to know.

Her students were on the edge of their seats.

The eleventh and twelfth graders spent much of the class looking closely at one of the passages from Sula. They pulled out evidence of the social identity of the character Shadrack — he was 20 or a little younger, and he was a soldier.

Senior Sam Crumlish pointed out the phrase ​“his head full of nothing and his mouth recalling the taste of lipstick.” This sets up the character as someone with lot of sexual experiences and not many other plans.

Hope narrowed in on the word choice in the sentence.

“Morrison could have said that his head was full of the things he did the night before. That was a deliberate word choice. That is diction,” Hope said.

Another student’s voice sounded out from Hope’s laptop screen. One laptop showed Hope’s slides and the other showed her remote students’ virtual classroom. (As at other schools, NHA’s classes are now taking place partly in person, partly by computer.)

The remote student pointed out Morrison’s choice of the word ​“purity” when Shadrack notices the ​“purity and whiteness of his own breath among the dirty, gray explosions surrounding him.” This symbolizes how young and naive Shadrack is, she said.

One of the in-person students added that this is the moment Shadrack’s trauma happens and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) starts.

The class had learned about diction and juxtaposition as literary tools in the previous class. All of the social identity clues were related to another lesson on social identification theory. These were all new concepts to Jocelyn Williams, who was delighted with the knowledge.

“We just learned about ​‘diction.’ I’d never heard that word before in my life. There are so many forms of it in reading,” Williams said.

Williams’ aunt first decided Williams would return to school. Williams was hesitant until she watched a virtual meeting about how organized and safe NHA would be. Most of her friends are still learning remotely.

Unlike many students, Williams thrived in remote learning. She kept straight As during the pandemic and helps friends who struggle more with online classes. She helped one friend stay on top of his project deadline and was gratified when he asked her to look over his notes later.

“I love helping people. It’s beneficial for them, and it’s beneficial for me. It doesn’t feel good if I’m way up here and they’re back there,” she said.

She plans to go to college and become a veterinarian. She’s planning to start working after she graduates to make sure she can afford it.

She elected to take Hope’s African-American Literature class and is very happy about her choice.

“I’m Puerto Rican and Black. It’s very beneficial to know about my ancestors and what they have been through. There are also Asian, Arabic and Jewish studies. There are so many subjects not being taught. It gives you a boost of confidence to learn about what they did to change things. When we learn this, we can make a huge difference in a positive way,” she said.

Wylie agreed. Despite being quiet through most of the class period, Wylie spoke enthusiastically about the class as a whole.

“It’s amazing. We learn about Toni Morrison and James Baldwin. It’s what I want to learn,” Wylie said.

Hope herself first encountered Sula as a sophomore at Hillhouse High School. The book wasn’t in her regular curriculum though. It was in the high school’s selective, summer enrichment program.

“Traditionally when we think about literature — even in education preparatory programs — we always focus on the literary canon and the experiences of majority groups. In most cases, it’s white, male or white, female perspectives and experiences,” Hope said. ​“For me, it’s about bringing in other experiences and letting students decide for themselves what voices should be included in what we call canon.”

That sophomore year, Hope’s English class was reading To Kill A Mockingbird, a book by a white author that talks about racism from the perspective of a few white characters. Black characters are described in less depth and humanity than these white characters.

Hope didn’t fully appreciate Sula and her now-hero Toni Morrison until graduate school, when she reread the novel. She realized how much Sula could teach high schoolers about literary elements and eventually wrote her master’s thesis on the topic.

“There is so much layered within the way Toni Morrison, Sonia Sanchez and Chinua Achebe wrote that students can connect with,” Hope said.

Previous coverage of changes in public school classrooms in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic year:

• Hybrid Classes Challenge Teachers Anew