Marlee S. Bunch is an educator, author, researcher, and curriculum and research developer for K-12 initiatives at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is the author of The Magnitude of Us: An Educator’s Guide to Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms.
Brittany R. Collins is an author and educator whose work explores social-emotional learning, trauma-informed teaching, and disability.
Brittany R. Collins: Your new book The Magnitude of Us proposes the un/HUSH framework, which asks readers to unlearn the “hush” often associated with marginalized histories and stories. Can you share with us, what inspired the un/HUSH framework and give us an overview of the principles the framework entails?
Marlee Bunch: My research examines the oral histories of Black female educators from Mississippi who taught pre- and post-desegregation, between 1954 and 1971. Listening to their stories inspired me to create a teaching framework that encompassed some of the practices they used that were foundational to their classrooms. Using the lessons of the past as a guide to current day classrooms is so important. We should consider intergenerational learning and connection: the knowledge of our elders and ancestors and can be leveraged as a blueprint for how we navigate creating culturally responsive and community immersive classrooms. There are five principles of the un/HUSH framework: (un) Uniting for collective change and naming our positionality, (H) histories, (U) unlearning, (S) stories, and (H) working towards healing. The framework can be used to help build new lessons or assess existing lesson plans (e.g. if you have a lesson or curriculum that has worked previously, the framework can be used to improve and modify it). It can also be paired with other tools to help implement and sustain practices that build learning spaces that are inclusive and celebratory. It can help to illuminate marginalized or silenced histories.
The un/HUSH framework’s principles are connected to both pedagogical practices and to teacher development. The unlearning principle is a good reminder to self-reflect: It is our reminder to pause, reflect, research, and self-assess. Unlearning connects to our understanding of intersectionality and positionality—these aspects help us better understand ourselves, so we can have opportunities to build relationships with students, families, and the communities of our students.
“Using lessons of the past as a guide to current day classrooms is so important.”
BC: Whom do you most hope to inspire with your work, and why?
MB: I hope my work inspires existing educators, new teachers, and preservice educators, and of course ultimately positively impacts students. I hope that The Magnitude of Us and my research inspires practitioners to create opportunities for students, so that all students can reach their highest potential. My work ultimately seeks to illuminate marginalized or silenced stories and histories and facilitate actionable ways the classrooms can become culturally sustaining. One goal of my work is to always leave something behind for future generations—artifacts, filling in the historical record, stories, and so forth. I hope that this book leaves something special for teachers and future teachers.
BC: What historical figure(s) most inform your work?
MB: The historical figures who most inform my work are the women and people at the center of my research—Black female educators and their students from Mississippi, who taught and/or attended school pre- and post-desegregation (1954–1971). These educators embody our intergenerational and ancestral knowledge and history, and many of them were using culturally responsive and social emotional practices before we had terms for these approaches. Equity and advocacy were a collective effort, and groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), along with everyday community members, students, and teachers, worked together to bring about positive civil rights reforms (voting, education, etc.). People such as Vernon and Ellie Dahmer, Joyce Ladner, Barbara Ross, Charles Cooper—among many others—are all examples of heroes who worked to change the landscape of both society and education. Out of these efforts, moments such as Freedom Day, Freedom Summer, and the March on Washington would occur. These moments remind us of our individual and collective power, and the valuable efforts of these changemakers.
“Vernon and Ellie Dahmer, Joyce Ladner, Barbara Ross, Charles Cooper—among many others—are all examples of heroes who worked to change the landscape of both society and education.”
BC: What if somebody asked you, why does culturally responsive teaching matter? What is community immersive teaching, and how do these practices benefit classrooms?
MB: I would share that culturally responsive teaching allows all students to feel represented in the classroom, and ultimately, isn’t that what we want? To be able to give students “windows and mirrors,” through inclusive texts, curricula that is inclusive, illumining voices, and learning about one another. It matters deeply for students’ developing ideas of themselves and others.
Culturally immersive teaching is an idea that I speak about in The Magnitude of Us, which extends culturally responsive teaching to the next level. Being in community, and immersed in a culture or community, is very different than the occasional acknowledgement of our students’ varying backgrounds. Immersed signals a commitment, a daily practicing, and an intentionality. When we think, for example, about acquiring a new language, being immersed in it allows for a long-term understanding and retention of that language. Culturally responsive and community immersive teaching are about using the history of our elders and ancestors—such as the efforts of the SNCC, former educators, and civil rights advocates who were in community with the people they were working alongside—for bottom up organizing strategies that enact change.
BC: What were you most surprised by during your research trajectory?
MB: I was most surprised by discovering the degree to which Black educators were using progressive pedagogy in segregated schools. Sadly, growing up, this was not history that I learned in school. The everyday heroes such as Bob Moses, Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, and so forth are not talked about enough. When we learn about Jim Crow and desegregation, we often hear about the scant resources that Black schools had (which is accurate), but what we do not hear enough about are the ways that Black educators leveraged community, organized, and used creativity for the betterment of their students.
Hattiesburg, Mississippi is a bit of an anomaly, in that most of the Black educators had master’s degrees and were highly skilled. We know that not all areas of the South had those circumstances due to systemic barriers and lack of access, but Hattiesburg students were lucky in that Hattiesburg teachers went to great lengths to extend their teaching craft, and were able to upend barriers that could have prevented their success. The women I interviewed spoke about creating libraries when none existed in the schools, making home visits, creating annuals (similar to yearbooks) for students, and the student and community mentorship that they engaged in. I never knew that I needed these stories of the past, that I needed oral histories and research, to better understand and situate myself in this field of education. It was a life-changing experience, one that I want to share with others.
“We often hear about the scant resources that Black schools had, but what we do not hear enough about are the ways that Black educators leveraged community, organized, and used creativity for the betterment of their students.”
BC: Can you think of one or two specific teaching moments from your time with students that exemplify the best of un/HUSH pedagogies in action?
MB: Yes—there have been several teaching moments that exemplify the best of the un/HUSH pedagogies in action. When I began writing The Magnitude of Us, I surveyed my previous students to ask them what had been most impactful in their learning. Some of them I had over a decade ago, and so I wanted to know what resonated after all this time. They mentioned Socratic seminars that we had in our class, the creative expression of poetry that I offered to students as a mode of expressing their knowledge, and the relationships that we built. One time specifically that I can recall involved a situation where a student, who had an IEP with various needs and anxiety about presenting, asked if she could opt out and take a zero. I told her no, and as a class, we encouraged her to share her presentation. Once in front of the room, she was hesitant, emotional, and on the verge of sitting down, when a student asked, “What can we do to make you more comfortable?” She responded that having people stare at her, was what made her most nervous, and so one by one, student turned their desks so that their backs were facing her. She ended up presenting and doing a great job. After, the students all stood up and gave her a standing ovation. It was an incredible, in-action display of what the un/HUSH framework can foster: the encouragement of marginalized voices, classrooms that are trusting and built on relationships, and stories that have the ability to connect us to those with lives and backgrounds different than our own.
More recently, I had the honor of piloting the text with preservice educators in a course at Smith College, and their feedback and creative ways of using the framework for discussion, lesson planning, and so forth, was impressive. The way that they used it as a tool to discuss and connect made me so hopeful and inspired. Finally, a preservice educator, Chrissy Kim at the University of Illinois, used the un/HUSH framework to assess and evaluate a text and the components of the text (plot, characters, etc.). This is an innovative way to use the framework to suit your specific needs when planning curriculum and classroom activities.
BC: What changes to policy, curricula, or instructional practice do you feel are most needed in our present moment, and why?
MB: Changes to policy, curricula, and instructional practices that I believe are most needed in our present moment include creating inclusive curricula, including diverse texts in the classroom, and offering development for administrators and districts to support and lead efforts towards the implementation and sustaining of culturally responsive teaching practices. States that are working towards mandates and policies that encourage and/or require inclusive histories (for example, Illinois), are models for other states to follow, so that students in all states can eventually experience a holistic and meaningful education. Additionally, I think it’s important to offer students courses and content that illuminates inclusive history. For example, allowing students to take courses about Black history, Asian American history, and so forth, so that they receive a broader understanding of perspectives and historical knowledge.
BC: What might you say to readers new to your framework who are eager to dive in but don’t know where to begin? What’s the best first step?
MB: I would encourage readers and educators new to the un/HUSH framework and eager to dive in to begin with the book and take some time to walk through the principles of the framework. Understanding what (un) uniting for collective change and naming our positionality, (H) histories, (U) unlearning, (S) stories, (H) fostering healing entails is a great first step towards beginning to dive into the framework. Looking at the example lessons in the book is also a good way see how the framework can be applied to both new curricula and existing lessons and texts. The best first step is becoming familiar with the principles and then thinking through application of those components. That might mean pulling an existing lesson plan to use the framework to assess, examining the examples in the book, or experimenting with creating new curriculum. Like anything new, we get better when we dive in, experiment, ask questions, work with a colleague to plan and use the framework, reflect on the principles, and most importantly, enjoy the book. I hope the book offers you something useful and meaningful to take into your classroom, and ignites creativity, reflective practices, and the courage to try something new.
