Ms. Tabron is an English teacher at Leesville Road High School. For the 2017-18 school year, she plans to add a class about African-American Literature to the curriculum.
At the beginning of the course, each student will get a list of books from which they can choose African American novels that they want to read in the class. The books will feature African-American history starting from slavery to present day. At some point, the whole class will be reading the same book, and at other times each student will be assigned author studies. An author study is when you choose a particular author that you’re interested in, and research about them and learn their style of writing. “You might find someone that you’re really interested in, and you want to explore more of their poetry and their works and presentation,” said Tabron. She hopes to make it as culturally relevant as possible.
The honors version of the class is for students that are used to an honors-level workload. The curriculum of the academic version of the class will be identical, however, students will learn at a slower-pace than the honors level class. Tabron wants the class to be discussion based, with little to no tests or quizzes. Most of the assignments will be seminars, projects, and presentations.
Tabron had an interest in teaching this course because she feels like she didn’t get the chance to learn about African-American authors until she went to college. After learning about African-American authors, Tabron connected more with literature written by African American authors.“If I can help someone find that connection before they get to college that’s what I want to do,” said Tabron.
