Introduction
As educators, we spend a lot of time encouraging and telling students to find their voices. We ask them to speak up, ask questions, and advocate for themselves. Truthfully, finding your voice is not always easy, and it can be harder when you feel like you have to hide the pieces of yourself you love most to fit in with people whose opinions aren’t needed or wanted anyway.
Participating in Roderick Ferguson’s seminar, The Kids Are Not the Threat, challenged me in ways I did not expect. Long after each seminar ended, I found myself thinking about the same questions. Who gets to be different without paying a price? Who decides whose stories matter? Whose voices are heard, and whose are ignored? Those questions became the foundation of this curriculum unit.
Growing up in Hearne, Texas, and now teaching in the same community has shaped the way I see my students. Every year, I watch young people walk through the halls of Hearne High School carrying responsibilities that most people never see. Some help care for younger siblings. Others work after school or translate for their families while trying to keep up with school. Their stories are different, but many carry the same questions. Do I belong? Does my voice matter? Will anyone listen? Those questions influenced every part of this unit.
The title, Lean on Me: Finding Voice, Honoring Difference, and Standing on Business, reflects the journey I hope my students take.
When I think about Lean on Me, I think about community. I think about people who show up for one another when life gets hard. I think about accountability, encouragement, and relationships that remind us we are not meant to carry life’s burdens alone. I also think about Joe Clark from Lean on Me. He was loud, unapologetic, and demanding because he believed his students were capable of more. His methods were often debated, but his commitment to young people was never questioned. Whether my students know the Bill Withers song, the movie, or neither, the message is the same. None of us make it through life alone. As we often say, “We all we got, but we all we need.”
Finding Voice helps students understand that their experiences, cultures, languages, and stories matter. Every day I teach students who move between languages, cultures, and expectations without realizing how much strength that requires. They bring more than backpacks into my classroom. They bring responsibilities, experiences, and perspectives that deserve to be heard.
Honoring Difference asks students to move beyond simply tolerating others. It challenges them to recognize that different cultures, identities, languages, and lived experiences strengthen communities. Rod Ferguson’s seminar pushed me to think differently about whose knowledge is valued and whose stories are often pushed aside. That realization challenged me to create a classroom where students not only see themselves reflected in the curriculum but also learn from experiences different from their own.
Then there is the part my students immediately recognize: Standing on Business. They use the phrase all the time, but in this classroom it means something deeper. It means your actions match your words. It means speaking up when it would be easier to stay silent and standing beside people who are too often overlooked. Throughout this unit, students will see how ordinary young people transformed their voices into action that changed schools, communities, and even the nation.
Using literature, historical documents, speeches, music, documentaries, photography, and reflective writing, students will explore how literacy can become a tool for leadership and change. I hope that they leave this unit with more than historical knowledge. I hope they recognize that they do not have to wait until adulthood to make a difference. Their voices matter now. If they leave believing they belong, that their stories have value, and that they can make a positive impact in their community, then they will understand one of the most important lessons I took away from Rod Ferguson’s seminar: the kids are not the threat. They are part of the solution.
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