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Unpack Your Impact: How Two Primary Teachers Ditched Problematic Lessons and Built a Culture-Centered Curriculum
Reimagine social studies through culture, diversity, and inclusivity for all primary students
Primary educators know that little kids can do big things. So why teach the same old lessons when we can expose students to impactful, interesting, and beautiful ideas about the real world? In an era of heightened political tensions and narrowed curricular focus, superstar educators Naomi O’Brien and LaNesha Tabb have found a surprising way to expose our youngest learners to more perspectives, center culture in the primary classroom, and take the need—and potential—for teaching about citizenship social studies!
By laying out their revolutionary approach to teaching social studies, O’Brien and Tabb explain how to provide students with a deep but achievable understanding of global social systems as they’re transformed by history, sociology, economics, geography, and civics. And, because the Unpack Your Impact curriculum can be folded into existing lessons for almost any topic, students garner an inclusive and interdisciplinary appreciation for how all learning shapes, and is shaped by, a diverse array of human cultures. Inspiring, optimistic, and empowering, Unpack Your Impact shows that primary teachers can make a positive impact—individually and globally.
Unpack Your Impact delivers a profound and fresh perspective on cultural integration in social studies classrooms. It equips readers with meaningful and tangible methods to have honest discussions while exploring topics that have been desperately missing from traditional textbooks. Personally, my favorite aspect of the book is that LaNesha and Naomi present eye-opening ways to provide historical meaning across various subjects. —Dr. Valerie Camille Jones, mathematics specialist and Presidential Award winner
LaNesha and Naomi have done it again! As educators, they understand what steps are needed to help teachers rethink their practices. The duo continues to push educators to do better for ALL kids! —Vera Ahiyya, educator and book curator
This is what I wish I had in my early years of teaching. It is practical, inspiring, relevant, and needed! I encourage all educators to read this book and learn from two of the best! —Shaun Woodly, PhD, author, educator, speaker, and found of the movement Teach Hustle Inspire
Primary educators know that little kids can do big things. So why teach the same old lessons when we can expose students to impactful, interesting, and beautiful ideas about the real world? In an era of heightened political tensions and narrowed curricular focus, superstar educators Naomi O’Brien and LaNesha Tabb have found a surprising way to expose our youngest learners to more perspectives, center culture in the primary classroom, and take the need—and potential—for teaching about citizenship social studies!
By laying out their revolutionary approach to teaching social studies, O’Brien and Tabb explain how to provide students with a deep but achievable understanding of global social systems as they’re transformed by history, sociology, economics, geography, and civics. And, because the Unpack Your Impact curriculum can be folded into existing lessons for almost any topic, students garner an inclusive and interdisciplinary appreciation for how all learning shapes, and is shaped by, a diverse array of human cultures. Inspiring, optimistic, and empowering, Unpack Your Impact shows that primary teachers can make a positive impact—individually and globally.
Unpack Your Impact delivers a profound and fresh perspective on cultural integration in social studies classrooms. It equips readers with meaningful and tangible methods to have honest discussions while exploring topics that have been desperately missing from traditional textbooks. Personally, my favorite aspect of the book is that LaNesha and Naomi present eye-opening ways to provide historical meaning across various subjects. —Dr. Valerie Camille Jones, mathematics specialist and Presidential Award winner
LaNesha and Naomi have done it again! As educators, they understand what steps are needed to help teachers rethink their practices. The duo continues to push educators to do better for ALL kids! —Vera Ahiyya, educator and book curator
This is what I wish I had in my early years of teaching. It is practical, inspiring, relevant, and needed! I encourage all educators to read this book and learn from two of the best! —Shaun Woodly, PhD, author, educator, speaker, and found of the movement Teach Hustle Inspire
182 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 15, 2020
54 people are currently reading
673 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
October 25, 2020
Typically I hate reading on a small screen but since my husband NEVER charges the iPad after reading his eighty seven hundred news sites, I resorted to reading via Hoopla on my iPhone this morning. But! Turned out to be a good thing because I was to screenshot some quotes like these treasures.
“Some things are too critical for crafts.”
“A craft is cute, but is that what we want our social studies lessons reduced to?”
Ok, so now all know how I feel about crafts at school. Know I’m the coach who when talking with K-5 teachers on ELearning for Inclement Weather planning (pre-COVID) openly said, “This isn’t Sunday Schools, people. Cut the crafts and the random unconnected STEM challenges.”
I most appreciated was Chapter 8, Final Thoughts and Tips. My friend Chad Heck and I sometimes co-present on handling book and materials challenges. Rule Number 1 is that you have to-have to-have to communicate your vision and plan with families from the beginning of the school year. LaNesha talks about laying the groundwork at her Back to School night. Fabulous!
Like most Dave Burgess books, I wish there was a Works Cited or Bibliography page. But Naomi and LaNesha speak from the most powerful resource of all, real experience.
“Some things are too critical for crafts.”
“A craft is cute, but is that what we want our social studies lessons reduced to?”
Ok, so now all know how I feel about crafts at school. Know I’m the coach who when talking with K-5 teachers on ELearning for Inclement Weather planning (pre-COVID) openly said, “This isn’t Sunday Schools, people. Cut the crafts and the random unconnected STEM challenges.”
I most appreciated was Chapter 8, Final Thoughts and Tips. My friend Chad Heck and I sometimes co-present on handling book and materials challenges. Rule Number 1 is that you have to-have to-have to communicate your vision and plan with families from the beginning of the school year. LaNesha talks about laying the groundwork at her Back to School night. Fabulous!
Like most Dave Burgess books, I wish there was a Works Cited or Bibliography page. But Naomi and LaNesha speak from the most powerful resource of all, real experience.
January 31, 2024
The authors provide a handful of ideas for changing your “average” lesson to be better centered around social studies standards (ex: rather than teaching about Johnny Appleseed every fall or pumpkins every October, they provide examples for integrating sociology or economics). I appreciated their recognition on how this needs to change & thought there were many valid points. Students are not building background knowledge if they are learning about the same content/topic in every grade. Overall, I thought the book was an advertisement for their TPT store. I was expecting the book to be research-based. I think it is ideal for teachers who are just beginning to expand their understanding of DEI.
October 4, 2020
Even though this book was written for primary grade teachers, I think it would be beneficial for grade level teachers!!
July 18, 2022
This book is incredible. It gives real suggestions and thoroughly explains why these changes we can make in our teaching experiences would help so many students become better humans. I loved this and will be referring back to it for a long time!!
January 18, 2021
Very inspiring!
July 5, 2021
Learned a lot and changed my views and inspired me! Great for K-2 teachers.
October 30, 2022
Very short but helpful read on how to incorporate culture-centered lessons!!!!
August 7, 2021
Decent educational read about how to transform our classrooms into a more culture centered environment for our students to grow in their knowledge of the world. I think the authors give some great ideas to implement but definitely felt at times like an advertisement for their resources.
June 21, 2023
I don’t think I would normally give a professional development book a 5 star rating, but this one deserves it. O’Brien and Tabb have laid out a strong case for the need to begin teaching our children how to become critical thinkers about our world by strengthening our Social Studies lessons. They give practical yet inspiring ideas that can be implemented immediately! I can’t wait to try some of their ideas in my classroom this fall.
August 22, 2021
I have been following Naomi (@readlikearockstarteaching) and Lanesha (@apron_education) on Instagram for awhile and have used some of their lessons and units with my students. We really enjoyed the unit on HBCU’s this year.
So, of course, I had to pick up their book and learn more about the process behind their shift in teaching thematic units.
This book packs (see what I did there? 😉) so much good information for elementary teachers and I love the idea that we should not hold back from exposing them to everything from sociology to economics. They included great tips for making sure social studies can be incorporated in a variety of areas.
In addition, they share lessons they have used in their own classrooms and the end of each chapter includes a summary of how to unpack what you are teaching and look at the impact you may have.
Highly recommend for my fellow elementary teachers!
So, of course, I had to pick up their book and learn more about the process behind their shift in teaching thematic units.
This book packs (see what I did there? 😉) so much good information for elementary teachers and I love the idea that we should not hold back from exposing them to everything from sociology to economics. They included great tips for making sure social studies can be incorporated in a variety of areas.
In addition, they share lessons they have used in their own classrooms and the end of each chapter includes a summary of how to unpack what you are teaching and look at the impact you may have.
Highly recommend for my fellow elementary teachers!
November 26, 2020
This is so powerful and FANTASTIC. I feel ready to change the world!
February 20, 2021
"Our classrooms may be the only places that our students get these lessons or hear the truth. We owe it to them to expose them to a deeper, richer, more colorful and accurate history."
Can I please be a student in O'Brien and Tabb's classrooms? (I'd settle with being a fly on the wall.) This book is the next best thing. I finished it feeling energized to start embedding social studies in more authentic, meaningful ways across content areas. This guidebook is a quick read and the ideas in this book are accentuated with pictures, anecdotes, and examples. There were so. many. EXAMPLES! A thought that frequently crossed my mine while reading this book was "Yes! This is what teaching is supposed to be!" I left with tangible ways to start in my own classroom.
The last chapter of the book (Final Thoughts, Tips, and Strategies) was also very helpful. Changing to more authentic lessons requires a shift in how we've been teaching -- a shift that can be intimidating. It covers ways to address families who may not initially be onboard (keyword: transparency), attitudes to hold when teaching (present facts/remain unbiased), and how to plan these lessons.
I also appreciated that each chapter ended with a "Unpack" and "Impact" summary. "Unpack" reiterates the main points of the chapter (i.e. how to improve instruction) while "Impact" emphasizes why implementing these measure are important.
This book is a practical, accessible read which I will be rereading again and again. Highly recommend.
Can I please be a student in O'Brien and Tabb's classrooms? (I'd settle with being a fly on the wall.) This book is the next best thing. I finished it feeling energized to start embedding social studies in more authentic, meaningful ways across content areas. This guidebook is a quick read and the ideas in this book are accentuated with pictures, anecdotes, and examples. There were so. many. EXAMPLES! A thought that frequently crossed my mine while reading this book was "Yes! This is what teaching is supposed to be!" I left with tangible ways to start in my own classroom.
The last chapter of the book (Final Thoughts, Tips, and Strategies) was also very helpful. Changing to more authentic lessons requires a shift in how we've been teaching -- a shift that can be intimidating. It covers ways to address families who may not initially be onboard (keyword: transparency), attitudes to hold when teaching (present facts/remain unbiased), and how to plan these lessons.
I also appreciated that each chapter ended with a "Unpack" and "Impact" summary. "Unpack" reiterates the main points of the chapter (i.e. how to improve instruction) while "Impact" emphasizes why implementing these measure are important.
This book is a practical, accessible read which I will be rereading again and again. Highly recommend.
February 17, 2021
Good food for thought for ALL grade levels! LOVE the line: “If you teach humans, then you teach social studies!” Like how the authors encourage teachers to strive for getting comfortable with teaching what might be new & even uncomfortable topics at all levels (in a developmentally appropriate way of course). Let’s not underestimate the ability of young people to be able and willing to engage in deep, mature dialogue (I learned this when moving from high school to middle school). Often younger students are MORE curious, willing to ask questions and therefore have richer discussions and understandings. Also love that they point out that waiting until Senior year to dig into concepts of economics and gov’t is waaay too late and that we miss out on opportunities to introduce and dive in earlier (see previous statement about students being able to handle it). Finally, I am encouraged by (and LOVE) the fact that the authors encourage geography everyday!!! I could not agree more! The lack of geographic knowledge in the US is scary and this makes it difficult to truly “get” so much more (history, economics, culture, current events...life!). Hats off to fellow educators Naomi & Lanesha! Thank you for sharing your hard work and insights with us all!!
July 4, 2021
Walk the halls of any elementary school, and you’ll see tons of the same activities and hear tons of the same read-alouds (thanks, Pinterest). Some of those activities and books promote stereotypes and falsehoods about history, and most of them feature little to no diversity in characters, authors, or subject matter.
Meanwhile, many Americans don’t know the basic history of our country and lack knowledge or empathy for cultures other than their own.
The answer? Unpack Your Impact! Rather than spending precious time repeating the same units and stories—apples, pumpkins, gingerbread—what if we actually teach social studies, bring in multiple perspectives, and read books that reflect the diversity of the world around us? Our students will be more engaged and better prepared for the future. And, yours won’t be the 9th “Snowmen at Night” or “Disguise the Turkey” bulletin board on your campus. We can and must do better, and this book has great ideas for how to make that change.
Meanwhile, many Americans don’t know the basic history of our country and lack knowledge or empathy for cultures other than their own.
The answer? Unpack Your Impact! Rather than spending precious time repeating the same units and stories—apples, pumpkins, gingerbread—what if we actually teach social studies, bring in multiple perspectives, and read books that reflect the diversity of the world around us? Our students will be more engaged and better prepared for the future. And, yours won’t be the 9th “Snowmen at Night” or “Disguise the Turkey” bulletin board on your campus. We can and must do better, and this book has great ideas for how to make that change.
August 3, 2021
O’Brien and Tabb are passionate about the need for teaching social studies in primary grades. By “social studies,” they do NOT mean “cute” units on apples, turkeys or leprechauns; they mean meaningful, culturally responsive lessons rooted in history, sociology, economics, geography and civics that can, at the very least, be woven into other subjects (especially reading, building on picture books teachers read to their students) and at best, as topics and lessons worthy of their own spots in the weekly schedule. If students are going to become critical thinkers, questioners, and challengers, they need to learn how to make global, cultural connections early in their education. This book is full of practical advice and lots of inspiration for primary grade teachers.
March 26, 2021
THIS. BOOK. IS. AMAZING! Naomi and LaNesha write with such honesty and passion that I didn’t want to stop reading. This book is one of the most exciting/ engaging education books I’ve read. I really appreciate the way they are candid in sharing that they used to do all the things they are asking educators to move away from and how tough that can be. I can’t wait to teach social studies in full again next year and start sprinkling some in where I can do to virtual time constraints for online learning. It’s like a really great and useful of! If you an elementary school teacher (or honesty this stuff could be applied to anyone who teaches kids) go get this book, like NOW!
April 5, 2021
To be honest, this will not be earth-shattering information for teachers who are already trying to integrate more social studies content into their classrooms. However, it is such a quick read with so many amazing ideas that I highly recommend it for all elementary teachers, whether you’re already making efforts to teach civics, economics, sociology and more to your students or if you’ve had a hard time integrating elements of culture. The authors make a very strong argument for the value of making time in the school day and are realistic in understanding that different schools have different demands! Highly recommend!
April 26, 2021
This book focuses on an interactive teaching method of social studies, respecting culture, and multi-cultural perspective. The authors demonstrated how critical it is that we change up how we are teaching students about the world in order for them to really become engaged citizens. This interactive and questioning teaching method is a valuable way to engage students.
The focus on divisions by race and affirming race over the individual concerns me. Anti-racist, social justice, and cultural labeling is primary in the writing instead of a focus on individual merit or historical contribution of the figure.
Overall, the book's method is good just keep in mind the left of center slant.
The focus on divisions by race and affirming race over the individual concerns me. Anti-racist, social justice, and cultural labeling is primary in the writing instead of a focus on individual merit or historical contribution of the figure.
Overall, the book's method is good just keep in mind the left of center slant.
January 22, 2021
This book is an absolute must-read for teachers. This will be a book I gift new teachers in the future. This is written by 2 teachers who share their actual experiences--good and bad. They are honest about where they have gone wrong, how they addressed change, and what their classrooms look like. There are genuine examples of topics you can use as well as a clear explanation of how you can come up with your own topic and figure out how to address STEM and social studies branches.
January 7, 2021
I’m in a situation where I just teach math and science so I was a little frustrated when I received this as a gift because I thought, “I don’t teach social studies!” But as they say in the book, “if you teach humans, you teach social studies.” This was a great read and I’ve already used tips from it in both math and social studies. I can’t wait to get to telling time and teach the history of it!!
January 30, 2021
If you teach, this book is for you! LaNesha and Naomi do a great job of giving real world examples about how they transformed their teaching and their classrooms to include more social studies. While this book is geared toward primary teachers, it truly is applicable to all teachers. They have great resources for teachers to use as well. I highly recommend Unpack Your Impact!
July 1, 2021
So inspirational - highly recommend for any primary (or even intermediate) teacher. The book reads like a conversation with friends, and provides plenty of information about why we need to teach impactful, inclusive social studies lessons, and how we can do it, too! This book has me extremely excited to get back to the classroom in August.
February 1, 2021
I highly recommend this book, especially for elementary teachers. However, it is one that all teachers must read. This is definitely a book I will be gifting my teacher friends. Thank you Naomi and LaNesha!
May 17, 2021
Every teacher, no matter what grade or level, should read this. I made countless notes and am so inspired by O’Brien and Tabb’s work! I am so excited about the new generation of teachers and the students they are raising.
June 17, 2021
What an absolutely MONUMENTAL book! I have so many people who have been asking me for years what they can do for social studies on the primary grades. I will be handing people this book from now on. Ugh, I’m so grateful to these women for writing this book!
June 26, 2021
3.5 stars. While the book is a good start, I don’t feel it goes far enough in transforming a good teacher’s classroom practice with any new ideas. It also reads very much like a commercial for their TPT products.
October 13, 2021
Lots of good information to digest in this book! It sparks a desire to do more to cultivate empathetic learners who will grow to be empathetic citizens. I have questions, thoughts, and ideas from reading this one. Recommend for all elementary educators!
November 22, 2020
Not only do I think that this book would be excellent required reading in a teacher prep program, I also think experienced PK-5 teachers should read it as well. 💯
February 25, 2021
Probably my favorite non-fiction read of the year. Powerful for educators and any person looking to unpack your impact.
March 27, 2021
Can’t suggest this book enough!! Easy to read and so thought provoking! Already started working on adjusting and changing some of my units. Great for all grade levels and subjects.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews