Amanda Fanelli on Fostering Critical Thinking

0:00 This podcast, Spotlight for Success, is our way of highlighting the incredible success stories happening in education right here in our home state of Georgia. Today, we're thrilled to be joined by Amanda Finelli, with Sol C Johnson High School in Savannah, Georgia, who has made a significant impact in the field of social studies education. We'll be exploring her journey, insights and positive changes she's creating for students and teachers. Now let's get started. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, Amanda? Sure, I've been teaching for 19 years. I have taught history that entire time. I wasn't an education major, though. In college I majored in musical theater and was lucky enough to have a chance to pursue that for a minute.

0:47 But then I started substitute teaching and I loved it. So I teach because it's a choice that I made, not because perhaps I didn't have another avenue. It's my passion. I've been offered opportunities to leave the classroom and I don't want to do that. So, yeah, and high school is my vibe. I mean more power to the folks who can teach elementary and middle. That's not me. high school students are. They're inspiring and their willingness to challenge me and to challenge the status quo, I think, is what makes them the perfect fit for me.

1:28 That's wonderful, Amanda. So can you tell us a little bit about your experience in your school? Sol C Johnson, Sure. So I have taught world history, us history, sociology, psychology, economics, american government. I've taught in the AP and now I teach IB history of the Americas and I coordinate our international baccalaureate, diploma and career-related programs. Wow, Now what kind of school are you at? Sol C Johnson is a Title I school in Savannah. We serve a community that is predominantly black American. We also have a Latinx population, a small Asian population as well.

2:09 The IB program is a school within a school. We are a choice program with about 200 students in a student body of 750 total and that program is more diverse. We have international students, but still predominantly serving a Title I urban community. That is amazing. What a great program to be part of and administering within the school. Absolutely that is great. I'd like to ask about some of your experiences, maybe a key moment or a turning point that you'd like to share with the community. Sure, that's a good question.

2:51 There's been so many. I think, though, for me the seminal moment in my career didn't really have anything to do with teaching history necessarily, i mean I've been very lucky to be apart of so many wonderful programs that have allowed me to travel and allowed me to be out experiencing, experiencing history firsthand to then bring it back to my students. But last year I was chosen as a Fulbright Scholar for the Teachers, as Global Scholars program, and through that I learned about global education in a whole new way. We, as IB teachers, are always saying, oh, it's global, but what does that really mean? And Fulbright was able to help me isolate that and to really help my students then to figure out what that means.

3:37 And this summer, my fieldwork was in Ghana. So I spent 18 days in Ghana, both in Accra and then in Volta, where I taught for a week. Yeah, I did, and I got to meet the Minister of Education, who, interestingly, taught for 20 years here in the United States. And what's interesting about Ghana is that they are trying to be more like us, which is, you know, in a time when being an educator is challenging and there's a lot of people, you know, seeking to, you know, push, maybe, public education in one direction. It was interesting to hear that perspective, that they also want their students to be a bit more assertive, to not simply accept that they perhaps are run by somebody else or as Africa becomes more important on the global stage.

4:32 They don't want West Africa to be left behind- Regions that are more willing to take a stand and sort of push in the direction that they want to go. So the Minister of Education's solution is to make his kids more like the kids he taught in South Central LA all those years ago. So I thought that was interesting and it reframed my vision of education quite a bit. I'm lucky, as an IB teacher I already teach this global perspective, but I think it made me appreciate my students in a whole new way. Wow. And the fact that that they never stop questioning and they never simply accept something for what it is, and it made me really proud of the fact that I helped them to be critical thinkers and to even develop those skills further so that they can take that on with them into the world and become problem-solving citizens.

5:25 I think we take that for granted in this country, that, as challenging as that makes education sometimes, our kids are never afraid to tell us what we're doing wrong, what we're doing right. That's right. They never just passively take whatever I say, and now I really appreciate that. That is wonderful and I understand you're here at Georgia Council of Social Studies and you're going to be accepting an award tomorrow. No, I accepted an award today. Oh today, that's okay During the luncheon. This year I'm the Gilder Lehrman Georgia History Teacher of the Year. Wow. Yeah, which is a huge honor, wonderful. Yeah, the Gilder Lehrman Institute.

6:07 Really, they preserve and protect primary sources and make them available to k-12 educators. They're they're up there somewhere, here at the conference as well, and that's the thing, right like, let children, let students take the primary sources, read them, work with them and draw their own conclusions. You know we talk often about you, you know, again, the politicizing of public education. No, here, read this, you think, right, you reflect, you figure out what it is that you believe. There is no effort to indoctrinate. We simply want kids like the Ghanaians to think for themselves and to always question.

6:51 And that's what social studies is. It's teaching them to be human. Rather than teaching them one specific thing or one specific fact, we send them out into the world ready to use their knowledge of the past to solve the problems of today. Wonderful, wonderful. Are there any key takeaways from this conference that you're going to bring back? Yeah, I am. Somebody in the awards luncheon today gave a great speech about how the state of Georgia recently stopped testing social studies in fifth grade and now it is only tested in eighth grade.

7:32 And then the US History GMAS is the high school exam and even though I teach IB, I do not teach the standards. Luckily for me in many ways, because that gives me a lot of freedom as an educator and I can cover topics and really get in depth in a way that a GMAS teacher can't, in a way that a GMass teacher can't. This is awful because it is driving schools away from even incorporating social studies lessons once a week in their curriculum, because in fifth grade they're tested on English, math and science, and then in eighth grade it's Georgia studies, which, okay, great Georgia, I know you love your history and that's wonderful. But how are we guaranteeing that they're getting the skills that social studies provides?

8:14 Not even the content. Anybody can search up content now, right, we can look for answers easily online. It's the skills. It's that critical thinking, it's that problem solving, it's that idea that we don't take anything at face value. It's media literacy. It's how do I know that this source is a better source than this one, and who is this and what angle might that person have and what is the value of this and what are the limitations of this? And they're not going to have those skills because, you know, schools feel pressured to focus on the standards and if the standards are not going to be tested, they're going to move away from it. And so there was an inspiring speech given today by somebody, and he was- He felt he made me feel like we can still make a difference and stop this.

9:04 You know he's like go back to your districts, remember why we're here, fight for this in your classrooms. And even though I'm a high school teacher, I am my student, my children, my actual children, are in elementary school right now. And so it's. I don't know, I hadn't really thought about it. You know, because you get wrapped up in what it is that you're doing and I'm fighting for my students. But now I'm thinking, oh my gosh, that's true, they're barely getting any social studies in their classroom, and that is not good. So I'm going to join the Georgia Council of Social Studies. I'm going to get involved, you know, to fight for social studies on the state level, at the district level, at the school level, in my kids' school.

9:46 I think it's opened up a new door, a new path for me, in addition to being an educator, to being an advocate. That is wonderful, Amanda. Is there anything else you would like to share with the educational community? Just keep doing what you're doing. It's a challenging time to be an educator in this country in this state. but it is an exciting time to be an educator because, you know, we have the opportunity to shape the next generation. And you know, again, my Fulbright really taught me about global education and the idea that if we meet our kids where they are and help them to investigate problems in their community, they will naturally want to come back to us to learn the skills to get out there and to change things for the better.

10:41 So I think teachers don't give in necessarily to this idea of essentialism and all the kids have to know these things. What they have to know is how to be a changemaker, you know, and if we can give them those skills, they'll figure out the rest. That's wonderful. Well, Amanda, thank you so much for speaking with us. Absolutely Thanks for having me. Again, this program is provided by ABC Spotlight for Education. We're here at Georgia Council for Social Studies with Amanda. We wish you the best and hope you have a great rest of the conference and hope to see you next year. Thank you, you too. Thank you.