Educator and AFT Civics Design Team Member
Now in his seventh year teaching, Raphael Bonhomme teaches third-grade in School Within School, a Reggio Emilia-inspired school in Capitol Hill, part of the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). He is a member of the Washington Teachers’ Union.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in history and his master’s degree in education from Howard University. Bonhomme started out as an art major in college but decided against pursuing art as a career. “As I was considering my options for a major, I reflected on the support I received from teachers and the importance of that support in getting ready for college,” he says.” I chose to major in history and minor in education.”
He began his career in DCPS as a paraprofessional, working as an after-school art coordinator with students on the autism spectrum. After that, he stepped into a full-time teaching role in second and third grade at School Within School, an arts integration elementary school.
“No matter what subject it is, students are always creating things,” Bonhomme says. “I integrate art into social studies to tap into children’s knowledge, whether it’s doing skits, creating comic books or another type of project.”
Bonhomme connected with the American Federation of Teachers civics design team through a colleague and mentor who is active in the AFT. “I thought it was a great opportunity to do something that other people around the country could benefit from,” Bonhomme says. “I know there are particular obstacles in particular regions and areas, perhaps a reluctance in teaching certain topics; but through the civics design team’s work, we can give teachers tools and strategies to remove those obstacles.”
Civics education is important at the elementary level because elementary school students have the capacity to be social change agents. “They have the ability to see an issue and be active in it,” he says. “Kids should gradually be developing an awareness of adult issues.” It’s important to give children a forum to ask questions and receive reliable information as they’re building that understanding.
Civics can also help build empathy, which is an important skill that develops in elementary school, he says. “When people—adults or kids—feel uncomfortable, it’s an opportunity for growth.”
Drawing on his experience integrating art and project-based learning across the curriculum, Bonhomme is focusing on contextual simulation as a strategy for civics education: “I’ve been successful in using skits and role-plays in my classroom, and I also know how these approaches have backfired in many teachers’ classrooms. There are many positives to the approach when teachers are well trained in what to do.”
Contextual simulation is a strategy that has the potential to bring greater equity into the classroom. “This is a great way for students to show their knowledge in different ways, other than just paper and pencil,” he says. Bonhomme looks forward to conducting action research in his classroom, implementing the ideas that he and the team have researched and finding out how they align with real-world situations.
Overall, participating in the civics design team gives Bonhomme a way to connect the dots between elementary-level social studies curriculum and larger issues of social change. “Things are the way they are because of the systems that we have, each of which has been structured in a specific way. Everyone can identify problems, but to make change happen, people need to know how to address those problems within the governmental structure,” he says. “Civics education is teaching the rules of the game so that you can make change.”