I love field trips. To me, there is nothing more gratifying as a teacher than seeing your content area come alive and interact with students outside of the classroom. The fact that my school (I’m new this year) embraces field trips as an important part of learning is so encouraging. Not all schools share this approach nor have the funds or resources to make this happen.

This past Wednesday I had the pleasure of taking a group of my Spanish 4 and AP students from our school in the south suburbs to the Chicago History Museum’s special exhibit Aquí en Chicago, highlighting Latine historic contribution’s to Chicago as well as the pursuit of justice for the Latine community. It’s bilingual, hits on MANY AP Spanish themes, and I knew it would challenge a lot of my students in different ways.

My classes are have a pretty good balance in diversity, which I have always wanted: it’s a mix of white kids with Black and Brown kids, including Latine, represented. This diversity brings a healthy challenge to the classroom to examine different cultural and racial histories, cultural practices and perspectives (OK now I’m talking like an AP teacher). So, I hoped that this exhibit would bring the classic education analogy of mirrors and windows to life for my students.

I was lucky enough to attend a teachers’ workshop offered by the museum last weekend. There, I heard firsthand from the curator (Elena Gonzales, PhD) and the artist (Cecilia Beaven) who painted many murals throughout the exhibit. It was so enriching and allowed me to lead a short discussion with students of the mural before we even entered into the museum. The museum also provided worksheets and other information to support learning.

This exhibit is also extra special as it was started by a group of teen students at Instituto Justice, who protested the lack of representation of Latine groups at the museum during a visit in 2019. Together with my students, we read the story the day before visiting the exhibit, although in a perfect world we would have spent several days more. I was up against time, so I did what I could. If you are interested in my Spanish resource for the back story, please contact me!

Students worked through the exhibit’s five sections addressing how certain stories and artifacts reflected the Latine community’s fight for justice. They did an excellent job both loving on cultural icons like the carrito paletero and reflecting on tougher issues, like the intervention of the U.S. in L.A. countries. And, I must add… I had told them my expectation was that they spoke Spanish during the museum visit at minimum, but ideally also in the restaurant for lunch and on the bus. They did awesome and really committed!

As a Spanish teacher, I learned a ton and was inspired to incorporate and build out some units focused on Chicago history in future classes in Spanish 4. Slated for my summer would be to research more of PiHCo (Pilsen Housing Cooperative), songs from Jesus “Chuy” Negrete and the HILCO disaster in Little Village. Let me know if you are a Chicago based teacher and are interested in collaborating. I hope to go back on my own to get some additional ideas… and I purchased the research book from the exhibit.

After the museum visit, we headed to Bárbaro Taqueria on North Avenue for lunch. I must give them a shout out since they agreed to host us very last minute! I originally had a different lunch spot coordinated for Peruvian food, but very unfortunately they canceled on me last minute (I mean the day before around 1 pm! Uh…. where will I feed 16 hungry teens who want to try different Latin American foods?!). Thankfully, through a connection of a student, we got hooked up with Bárbaro and had amazing Mexican food, all within our budget! We enjoyed tortas and tacos and amazing tres leches. I had the torta pastor… highly recommended! Sadly, I did not take a picture. And as an added bonus: the staff spoke Spanish to my students… pushing them to utilize those language skills in a very natural, yet spontaneous way. ¡Gracias Bárbaro Taqueria!

In sum, if you are in Chicago and you are a Spanish teacher, PLAN THIS FIELD TRIP to this exhibit! To do it justice, learn from me and take a few days beforehand to explore the backstory and ideally, a few of the artifacts/stories highlighted in the exhibit. I’m happy to serve as a resource if you have questions!