Social studies classes are usually composed of note-taking, powerpoints, and lectures. There are two social studies classes at the high school, however, that watch television and discuss the social and political issues relating to those shows instead.
Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator Gary Shiffman and African-American Scholars Program Director Christopher Vick run a social studies independent study called Presidential Politics. A group of students and teachers watch the television show “The West Wing” and then talk about it on Friday mornings.
“The West Wing” is a television drama that was broadcast on NBC. According to the NBC website, it is about a fictional president named Josiah Bartlett and the political conflicts and events of his presidency.
“The long-term value of the enterprise is practice talking about politics for all of us,” Shiffman said. “We want to learn about the presidency and how the American government works.”
ExCel social studies teacher Kyle Beaulieu-Jones sits in on the Presidential Politics independent study. Beaulieu-Jones teaches a similarly structured class in the ExCel program about an HBO series called “The Wire,” which he based on an independent study Shiffman and Vick led two years ago.
“The Wire” is a crime drama focusing on different institutions in Baltimore, Md., according to the HBO website. Jones said that the class is mainly watching the fourth season of the show, which focuses on the institution of schools.
Senior Alonso McGee, a student in the ExCel class, said he was first introduced to “The Wire” when he was young and his mother watched it.
“I would just come in the room and watch it with her,” he said. “I was too young to really understand it, but I was actually kind of interested in it.”
During a typical week, the class tries to watch one episode. According to Jones, they will watch 25-minute segments of “The Wire” and talk about it two days a week, and then read articles connecting to the lessons from the show or do other activities the other two days a week.
“Besides just being able to watch TV in class, I am actually learning a lot more about stuff that actually goes on today and not necessarily in our environment,” McGee said.
Similar to the goals of the Presidential Politics class, Jones said he wants to get the students to discuss topics that interest them.
“I really just want this to motivate them to have thoughtful conversation and to read and write about things they are interested in,” Jones said.
Jones also wants the students to take lessons about school and other institutions out of the class.
“We’ve just found out about different cities and what problems they had,” Jones said. “We’re trying to connect as much as possible to their lives.”
According to McGee, Jones’ goals are becoming reality in the class.
“We try to take things that we see in the show and see if we can connect them to real-life situations,” McGee said. “We learn about politics, and it’s really interesting.”
Lily Böhlke can be contacted at [email protected].
