TEACHER LESSON GUIDEBOOK
This is THE playbook that, essentially, lays out how to inject discussions about racism, oppression and gender (how people resist their gender) into middle school language arts classes.
A quick glance at purchase records shows Rockwood bought 20 or so of these lesson guidebooks. $45 each, for a total of around $900.00.
Teachers use them to plan lessons for 8th grade language arts classes, in what used to be called the Critical Literacy unit. We don't know the current name because Rockwood hasn't answered our questions.
The lessons in this guidebook helped prompt that infamous email last school year, which led to national news coverage. More on that below.
Overall, the guidebook’s 165 pages are divided into 20 sessions of how to teach middle and high schoolers why acting like a boy or girl can be oppressive, and how to teach students to look for racism in unintentional insults called microaggressions.
The pages also encourage teachers to use materials that portray police as racists and all of it usurps parents by introducing these sensitive topics at school, often without them knowing.
The guidebook encourages teachers, multiple times, to use movie clips from "The Hate U Give," which is based on a controversial book.
This guidebook comes from a teacher resource called the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, or TCRWP.
This is the cover of the lesson guidebook. As you can see, it's the manual for the entire "Critical Literacy" unit; a unit that parents formally complained about in the spring and fall of 2021.
Additionally, this same guidebook is being used again, right now, in 8th grade language arts classes. And, TCRWP continues to be in the spotlight: "Units of Indoctrination"
The photos below detail discussions and assignments from Session 12 in the book, called "Gender Norms." These classroom discussions about book characters relate to gender fluidity, challenging/resisting gender norms, gender identity, power, & oppression.
Remember, this is language arts class. A core class. Required learning. Not gender studies.
Not an elective. The words on the pages are directions; what TCRWP is telling teachers to do with students.
Note: We added the underlining.
The pages show how the lessons looked to teachers.
Below is how they looked to students.
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| Canvas, Rockwood's online learning platform. |
Excerpts below:
Teachers are told to bring up that what kids know about gender can be resisted.
Parents have said they don't know how this has anything to do with language arts.
Additional images are below.
Note: Gender norms are not concepts students are required to learn; they're not in Missouri's learning standards.
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Action:
Parents challenged the Gender Norms lessons and the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in August of 2021.
Result:
Retained without restriction. (No changes.)
However:
Rockwood also said, because of parent feedback, it was removing and rewriting some of the lessons. They never answered our questions, so we didn’t know which lessons they were still using.
UNTIL the spring of 2022, when this same unit on Gender Norms (and other units that were formally challenged) was used again.
Rockwood is still using this guidebook.
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DETAILS
Language Arts, 8th grade
Critical Literacy unit
Complaints Spring, 2020-2021
Status: In use right now.
Additional images:
