Activist Teachers go on the record: How I teach Palestine in the classroom

Zinn Education Project and Prism Report's “Teaching Truths: Educators Speak on Justice and Liberation in the Classroom" series has teachers detailing how they bring social justice activism into class.

Zinn Education Project and Prism Report have teamed up to produce a series named “Teaching Truths: Educators Speak on Justice and Liberation in the Classroom” - the series details how “brave” teachers bring their activist causes into the classroom. On October 7th, they published their teacher interviews on Palestine:

(this wonderful poster references Refaat Alareer who denied that Hamas committed sexual violence on October 7th and found the idea of babies being killed in ovens hilarious)

The brave teachers profiled in this report are:

“Suzanna Kassouf is an experienced social studies teacher from Portland, Oregon, who has faced both support and significant challenges while integrating these topics into her lessons.

Destiny Andrews, a dedicated educator with a decade of teaching experience, currently teaches fourth and fifth graders at Oakland Academy of Knowledge. Andrews’ journey into education was fueled by her own challenging school experiences and the transformative impact of a memorable teacher.”

Andrews was introduced to the Zinn Education Project and its resources during her teacher education program. Kassouf was exposed to it in Grad School. Teachers Colleges and Education programs are a huge site of radicalisation and indoctrination.

Andrews said she was drawn to teach at Oakland Academy of Knowledge because of its Ethnic Studies program which allows her to openly “teach Palestine” in the classroom:

“I joined this school partly because of its emphasis on ethnic studies. I’ve been able to teach about Palestine openly, collaborating with colleagues to discuss its relevance. We co-taught lessons, and one of the students even proposed a project titled “The People vs. Israel,” where they created indictments and performed a role play.”

For Kassouf’s part

“Last year, I taught a long unit on Palestine and Israel, starting with a lesson from the Zinn Education Project, called “Seeds of Violence.” Bill Bigelow tested that lesson in my classroom. In the lesson, students take on one of 17 roles related to Zionism, from supporters to opponents. They engage in a mixer to discuss their roles, followed by a debrief where we analyze the root causes of violence in the region. Students choose various factors they believe contribute to the conflict and create posters about their findings.”

Here is the lesson that Kassouf based her class on:

“the roots of today’s violence can be seen much earlier — from the first years of Zionist immigration and land purchases in Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th century, the expulsion of Palestinian peasants, the Zionists’ partnership with the British Empire to effect its goal of “a national home for the Jewish people,” and Palestinians’ gradual recognition of the sweeping nature of the Zionists’ ambitions. As Rashid Khalidi summarizes in his essential book, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, “the modern history of Palestine can best be understood in these terms: as a colonial war waged against the indigenous population, by a variety of parties, to force them to relinquish their homeland to another people against their will.”

“The fine print: Inevitably, an activity like this tells some people’s stories and leaves others’ out. I sought to give voice to Zionists confronting antisemitism who saw Palestine as a future national home, but also to Jewish opponents of Zionism, as too often Zionism and Judaism are conflated. I included Palestinian peasants because they were losing their land to Zionist settlement — and resisting — as well as Palestinian newspaper editors and activists, who came to awareness, thanks to this peasant resistance, about the Zionist movement’s ultimate aims for a Jewish-only state.”

More from the interview:

“Martinez: What kind of feedback have you received from students regarding lessons on Palestine?

Andrews: The students engage deeply, discussing historical context and questioning land ownership. They connect these lessons to their own histories, such as Hawai’i and the Philippines.

Kassouf: Students generally enjoyed the activity and learned a lot. However, when I displayed their posters in the hallway, there was a controversy because some were critical of Zionism, leading to intervention from the Jewish Federation.

Martinez: How did the Jewish Federation find out about the posters?

Kassouf: An alumni parent saw them and raised concerns during a Jewish Federation meeting, which prompted a wave of calls and emails to the district. I had to take them down. Initially, I put up posters that said “Censored” in their place, but those were also removed.

Martinez: What was the response from your students regarding the censorship?

Kassouf: They were confused and upset, especially because many understood the importance of discussing these issues.”

The teachers say, however, that they have received no pushback from parents or administration, no censorshop, and have been allowed to teach their curriculum.

“Martinez: Do you teach outside the textbook?

Andrews: Yes, especially with ethnic studies. I often bring in outside materials and examples to enrich discussions.

Kassouf: Yes, I don’t even use a textbook.”

Andrews was inspired to include Palestine in her teaching after October 7th

“Martinez: When did you first start including Palestinian resistance in your curriculum?

Andrews: It was after Oct. 7, when students became more aware of current events. That prompted me to make those connections in my teaching.”

Kassouf wishes to end the interview by giving a plug to Samia Shoman (previously covered in this substack) and to say she’s working on a new activity for the classroom: a simulation on the apartheid system in Palestine.

“Kassouf: I also used lessons from the Zinn Education Project, including Samia Shoman’s “Independence or Catastrophe” and the “Promises” documentary. I’m working on a simulation about the apartheid system in Palestine, which will be published in an upcoming Rethinking Schools edition.”

Here are extracts from Shoman’s introduction to her lesson:

“I use the term Zionism and teach it explicitly to my students. Zionism is the support of an exclusively Jewish state in Israel, along with the land that it claims should be part of Greater Israel”

“I teach the students that facts and perspectives inform people’s narratives, which all lead to individual truths.”

“One of the most common questions students asked throughout the entire unit, often out loud to the entire class, was “How could Jews treat Palestinians without dignity or humanity after what they had experienced?”

“When students raised this, I let them engage in discussion with one another and facilitated rather than answered, because I have no answer and do not think there is a single answer. It was an opportunity for students to dig deep on an emotional, academic, and critical thinking level to synthesize historical knowledge with their own perspectives on human behavior.”

“As with all student work, there were differing depths of understanding reflected in what students turned in. A high-performing student’s work on Israel’s Independence included the following excerpts:

Fact: The Jewish and Arab people fought a war against each other after tension arose between the two. In 1948, Israel was formed and gained its independence. After the creation of Israel, the Jewish immigration rate increased.

Perspective: The Jewish people believed they had a “natural and historic” right to Palestinian land due to their religious history. Once they gained control of Israel, any Palestinian resistance was seen as a threat that must be dealt with because Arabs were trying to interrupt the land that rightfully belonged to the Jews.

Narrative: Jews were tortured and unaccepted in Europe during the time of the Holocaust. After the Holocaust, Jews were displaced and not united with one another. They saw hope in a land that was full of their history. Families of all ages packed up their belongings and began the journey to Palestine in hopes of settling into new homes.

My truth: Even though the Jews needed a stable home after the devastation they had been put through in Europe, I believe that they didn’t have the right to completely take over land that belonged to another group of people. The Jews should have made a civil compromise with the Arabs before heading to war and pushing them out of their own homes.

In contrast, a hardworking and engaged student with low literacy skills wrote the following about the Nakba:

Fact: Palestinian villages were erased, although the exact number is disputed. After Israel was created, Arab armies invaded. Palestinians ran away from their homes and had to go to refugee camps.

Perspective: The Israeli “independence” is nothing but a catastrophe for us.

Narrative: The Jews made us go to refugee camps and we attacked their villages. Also, more than 300 of our villages were taken over. They came and took our land, killed, and violated rights. We are stuck living in poorly set up camps while they are sleeping in our homes.

My truth: I know that Jews needed a place to stay and the only place they wanted to go was Palestine because it was their birthplace but it was kind of mean of them to go to Palestine and just kick out the Palestinian people because what the Jews went through before was now happening to Palestinians—they had nowhere to go and were living in tents and it was a bad situation for them.”

Both Andrews and Kassouf have used this lesson.

Destiny Andrews, one of the interviews for the Prism Report, left a review of Shoman’s “Independence or Catastrophe” Class:

“As a whole class, we brainstormed who we thought should be brought to trial. We came up with the Israeli government (and the IDF), Britain, Nazi Germany, the United States and NATO, the media, and Hamas. The charge: the murder of Palestinian civilians and children in the years following 1917. In groups and with assistance, the students were assigned the task of writing an indictment. Once completed, they were assigned a different defendant to research and write their defense as they did in The People vs. Columbus lesson. The jurors were selected from each group and everyone had access to read each indictment. From there, we held a trial followed by another reflection. 

Although there were improvements to be made, many students reported this activity as being the most memorable at the end of the year.”

—Destiny Andrews

Elementary School Teacher, Vallejo, California

Is it any wonder that students are coming out of K-12 with a skewed view of not only the conflict but of the Jewish people?

Read the full interview here: https://prismreports.org/2024/10/07/teaching-history-of-palestine-in-class/