One of the most powerful moments in my classroom this year came from using a Retro Report resource: “What Jesse Owens’s Story Tells Us About Sports and Politics”
https://retroreport.org/video/what-jesse-owenss-story-tells-us-about-sports-and-politics/
I used this video with my middle school ELA students as part of a cross-curricular unit connecting history, media literacy, and perspective during Black History Month. Students were studying the constitution and were tasked with choosing an issue that mattered to them and then creating a podcast about that issue and its connection to the constitution. We spent several days exploring different issues facing our city, our state, our country, and our world and Retro Report was the resource my students turned to the most when it came to exploration of current events and issues. This particular video sparked a lot of debate and I was able to pair it with another RR video called “Athletes Versus Injustice: Protests in Sports. https://retroreport.org/video/athletes-vs-injustice-protests-in-sports/
What stood out immediately as students watched, discussed, and grappled with the controversies inherent in these videos was how quickly students moved beyond basic comprehension and into deeper thinking. They began asking questions, not just about Jesse Owens or Colin Kaepernick, but about the relationship between sports, politics, and identity today and the connection to the constitutional issues we were studying in class.
The most powerful moments came during discussion. You could see on their faces the moments when they realized that the constitution is a living, breathing document that guides and impacts all areas of our lives, even sports. Students started making connections to current athletes and debating whether sports or other forms of entertainment–movies, music– can ever truly be separate from political or social issues. A week later, they were still referencing the video and the discussions in their writing and conversations, evidence that the learning had stuck.
From a teaching standpoint, these resources were incredibly valuable. They provided a concise, engaging entry point into a complex topic, saving planning time while elevating the level of classroom discourse. Instead of me delivering the context, students encountered it directly and built their own interpretations.
Retro Report continues to be one of the most effective tools I use to spark inquiry, promote critical thinking, and connect past to present in meaningful ways. There are videos for almost any topic with lesson plans and learning resources to accompany them.
If you are interested in using resources like this in your classroom, create your free Retro Report Teacher Account here: https://sparklp.co/5f498d3f/
Kim Yates
Pineville Middle School
Pineville Independent School District
6th and 7th Grade
