By Sarah Hughes | Grant Writer
In spring 2014, Inspired Teaching helped local history come alive for hundreds of teenagers in the Washington, DC public and public charter schools.
Inspired Teaching staff with expertise in the local history of Washington, DC wrote a teaching unit, called "Dream City Revisited" centered around the effort in the 1960s, 70s and 80s by local Washingtonians to claim key democratic freedoms and responsibilities including the right to vote for mayor and school board officials. Washington, DC residents enjoy fewer democratic rights than citizens from all other states within the U.S. The movement by local Washingtonians for greater democratic expression within the District of Columbia is called the Home Rule movement.
Inspired Teaching staff then recruited teachers at six schools within DCPS or the public charter school system to teach the “Dream City Revisited unit” in their classrooms. As a result, several hundred young Washingtonians explored, in classroom discussions and position paper essays, big and critical questions related to the recent civic history of their home city-- questions such as: What does it mean for young Washingtonians to “inherit” the history and legacy of the Home Rule movement in DC?; What role did former Mayor Marion Barry play in the DC Home Rule movement?; In what ways does the Home Rule movement continue today?; and What are the unique rights and responsibilities of young Washingtonians with regards to the Home Rule movement?
At Inspired Teaching’s culminating event for this project, “Dream City Revisited”, we held a Town Hall at DC’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, which was attended by over 100 people, including dozens of students from DC public and public charter schools. We created an opportunity for these young Washingtonians to talk directly to the authors of the book Dream City (Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood). Additionally, the event attracted coverage in The Washington Post:
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