Summary Of Don T Be Uneased My Children By Lisa Gilbert

“Don’t be Uneased My Children” Finding Strength in Stories of the Enslaves” In the article “Don’t be Uneased My Children” Finding Strength in Stories of the Enslaves”, Lisa Gilbert, discussed how to take on teaching difficult topics in the classroom, such as slavery. Finding age appropriate ways to teach painful facts and stories from slavery had been a struggle for Elementary teachers. Starting a focus group, Gilbert invited teachers, nonprofits, and other leaders in her surrounding region. This group later lead to a roundtable for teachers. They worked together for years to better educate themselves and come up with ways to effectively teach about slavery. They discussed approaches to avoid, how to teach agency, and constructive approaches to teaching slavery in the classroom.

This helped them began to identify approaches that could have been destructive to students’. Some teachers may have been implying that slavery was necessary to make the country progress. They also found that teaching students about exceptional slave stories, as if they were common, was also harmful. Very little slaves were treated like humans and teaching children this could be very problematic. Gilbert states, that some of these methods disregarded students unspoken feelings, therefore they discussed how to teach agency. In elementary school classrooms, the story of the Underground Railroad is a classic. This story is a prime example of survival, empowerment, and resistance. During these roundtables the teachers found ways to shine light on spefic slaves and their stories. Elementary students can relate to history if they can make connections. Using the story of Spotswood Rice, a slave who escaped to fight in the Civil War, and was later reunited with his family is an