As Thanksgiving approaches, teachers have the opportunity to engage their students in meaningful discourse about history and how it is remembered.

When I think back on how Thanksgiving was taught when I was in elementary school, I am embarrassed for how my school thoughtlessly turned a learning opportunity into a spectacle. Hopefully, this isn’t a widespread approach to teaching Thanksgiving and is one that will surprise you as well: Half of the first-grade students were dressed up as Pilgrims, and the other half were dressed up as Native Americans. Then, we had an assembly where we sang songs about friendship and being grateful.

That was the only “educational” experience I had with Thanksgiving as a student. My classmates and I missed out on an opportunity to learn an important lesson about the history of our country.

I became a teacher for the purpose of empowering students to seek out information and opportunities; I wanted every student I taught to recognize their own power, develop their confidence, and begin to feel prepared for whatever challenges they faced in and out of my classroom. Those same goals are why I believe students need to be given the opportunity to grapple with the truth behind the stories of Thanksgiving they have previously heard.

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