Giving Compass' Take:

• Lauren Barack writes how examining local and communal history, including young voices and challenging personal assumptions are all good ways to make black history resonate in your classroom. 

• How can teachers explore, expand and bring in different perspectives regarding black history? How will teaching students on race differ in different communities? 

• Here are five ways you can honor black history month all year long. 

To David Trowbridge, one way to make sure curriculum is relevant for all students is to take a look in a school’s own backyard. As director of African and African-American Studies at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, Trowbridge believes local history is a great way to pull students right into a historic moment, particularly when it comes to teaching about African American history across the United States.​

It’s also a method he’s championed since launching Clio, an online site and free app that takes people on historic walking tours in their local area. His favorite entry on the app is the location of a sit-in that occurred in his hometown.

“There is no physical marker, but the digital marker we created includes digitized newsreel footage of the sit-in along with links to related primary and secondary sources," he said. "It feels almost like a time machine when you see the sit-in happen right in front of you where you are standing and can learn about the people and context.”

With African American History Month kicking off in February, educators should ensure the curriculum is both relevant to and inclusive of students. This could mean highlighting local sites rich in historical significance, including historic figures who, in their time, would have been the same age as the students being taught today, and even having teachers reexamine the resources they’ve used in the past to dig deeper for new material.

Read the full article about making Black history resonate by Lauren Barack at Education Dive.