Maintaining Momentum

My 10th grade African American History class was discussing how African people in the diasporic communities retain, blend, or lose their cultures, especially in Latin America. Initially I wanted my students to use specific sources from a packet of evidence I prepared for them. I gave them time to review the packet of evidence, annotate the documents, and take notes related to the central questions: (a) How and to what extent did African people and their descendants keep their culture in Latin America? (b) What barriers existed to keeping culture? (c) What were the most effective methods of cultural retention?

I then brought my class back together and opened up the discussion by asking for any initial thoughts/observations. But instead of citing the provided evidence, I was surprised to hear students start talking about their own experience with internalized racism and how this made their family not want to teach them Spanish. I had not planned to prompt students to make personal connections to the content. At this moment I started to sense the energy of the discussion shifting in a good way. Many students were leaning forward, adding comments, or raising their hands. A new goal emerged: keep the energy and momentum alive and center my students’ voices. But this new goal was in tension with my initial goal to have my students cite evidence. I did not know how to balance both goals while also acknowledging that my students were excited to share their lived experiences.