At 8 a.m. every other morning, social studies teacher Ms. Amelia Mason and her students start off their day with an engaging bell ringer activity. Afterwards, the class transitions into a vibrant discussion of current events around Chicago, expressing their views about what is going on in their city. All of this is in an effort to together better understand the inner workings and history of the city they all hold dearly to their hearts.
This school year, Jones College Prep is offering a new honors elective class for juniors and seniors that covers the history of Chicago inside the classroom and beyond. History of Chicago is taught by Mason, meant for students to express their love for their city.
“Principal Dolan had proposed adding new dual credit courses, so Mr. Smith and I looked at the course catalog and looked for stuff that seemed like it might be interesting and compelling for students,” said Mason. “Now the class didn’t end up being dual credit, but I’m glad we still did it. I had no idea how many students are so proud of their city and so excited to learn about it.”
Students in the class not only learn in the classroom but get hands-on experience by going into the city during the school year to learn about the city’s rich history and to conduct research. Students started the year off by interviewing random civilians in the streets and getting their perspective on the city.
“We started by conducting some oral history interviews,” said Mason. “Going out into the city, talking to people about how they perceive Chicago and what they think is the greatest problem Chicago faces right now.”
Throughout the year, students in the class will cover a variety of topics pertaining to Chicago.
“So we’re starting with the founding of Chicago, indigenous history, and we’ll go all the way up to the present day,” said Mason. “In the first unit we’re going over land and sovereignty and who controls it because of my personal interest in systems of power and justice. In our next unit, we’ll talk about capitalism and workers rights, as we talk about The Jungle and industrial history. Then we’ll move on to talk about segregation, redlining, and sort of stereotypes about violence and crime.”
Mason wants to give her students as much experience outside of the classroom so that students can see the inner workings of Chicago themselves.
“My goal is to get kids into the city as much as possible, which is kind of the beauty of having seniors and also the beauty of studying the city itself in the city,” said Mason. “I’m gonna plan field trips in the winter and spring. The year long project is going to be them outside of class, conducting research, and hopefully publishing research on their communities.”
The class contains a variety of students who are all united together by one common love: their city.
“We have students who are really interested in social studies, and some students who would see themselves more as math and science people,” said Mason. “I would say the common element is everybody is proud of the city, interested in the city, passionate about the city, which you can imagine for me, that’s an awesome mix to get to really talk about some of this stuff with people who have all sorts of experiences.”
Initial feedback from students, other teachers, and even parents has been passionate and exciting.
“I think students are really knowledgeable and curious about how other people perceive their city. The problems that we talk about may be things that they’re experiencing on a day to day basis, and they have a lot to say about it,” said Mason. “Parents are really excited about the class. Last night we had a parent who said they were gonna read the textbook along with us as we go.”
History of Chicago is off to an exciting start, and Mason hopes to keep expanding the class and grow students’ love for their city.
“I think as long as kids are happy there, I love teaching it. I think it’s interesting and has exciting topics,” said Mason. “I hope to keep teaching the class, but I hope to never teach it at 8 am ever again.”
