PCSS polled some of our veteran teachers about how they are handling teaching about January 6th, and a number said that "because of the politics in their school district," they were not even mentioning it. Others are diving into the materials produced by the January 6th House Committee.
Our longtime PCSS colleague, Methacton High School social studies teacher (and Marine veteran) Anthony Maida, shared his approach:
I’m using Facing History and Ourselves lesson called “What Happened at the Insurrection at the US Capital and Why” and tying that to Madison’s Federalist 10. In Fed 10 Madison argues that an extended republic is necessary to prevent against domestic insurrection and the “mischiefs” of factions. I’ll couple it with an 8 minute video from the 2nd impeachment of Donald Trump as well as the Oscar winning documentary short called “A Night at the Garden” to show how factions have always been present in America but the “republican ideal” as Madison calls in can prevent these minority factions from doing too much damage to the nation. Essentially if people go out and vote, a minority faction will be controlled.
Facing History web link: https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/what-happened-during-insurrection-us-capitol-and-why
Federalist 10 web link: https://www2.oberlin.edu/faculty/gkornbl/GJK/H103F05/Fed10annotated-A.htm
A Night at the Garden web link: https://anightatthegarden.com/
Thank you, Anthony, (both for your service to your country and to your fellow social studies teachers by sharing your lesson).