Bringing the lessons of ‘Abbott Elementary’ to life

BUFFALO, N.Y. —  Practicing resilience, embracing humor amid adversity and finding community are a few of the life lessons that “Abbott Elementary,” the popular ABC-TV mockumentary, conveys.

Abigail Henry, a second-year doctoral student and Arthur A. Schomburg fellow in the Graduate School of Education, and Erin Kearney, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Learning and Instruction, are bringing those lessons to life in a new first-year seminar course they are co-teaching: LAI 199 SEM | School Stories: Abbott Elementary and Public Education Today.

The Emmy- and Golden Globe award-winning show, now in its fifth season, spotlights a primarily Black, underfunded Philadelphia public school. With humor and heart, it highlights passionate teachers doing their best with limited resources, a narcissistic principal and bureaucratic hurdles.

When Henry took Introduction to Qualitative Research Design with Kearney last spring, she perked up when Kearney mentioned she’d been thinking of designing a course on “Abbott Elementary.”

“I was thinking that we’re the Graduate School of Education, so why not teach a course on a show focused on education?” Henry says. “I remember Harvard University used to have a course on (HBO’s) ‘The Wire.’ ‘Abbott’ is a realistic but hopeful representation of public education, which we thought would resonate with first-year students.”

Henry knew she could draw on the 13 years she taught ninth-grade African American history in her native West Philadelphia, where the fictional school is based. Meanwhile, Kearney grew up outside Philadelphia and spent more than a decade in the city during and after her graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Abigail was looking at this part of the UB curriculum – the required 199 course – and the challenges of engaging students in it, and it came together from there,” Kearney says, adding, “I couldn’t have done this course without Abigail. I’ve learned a ton from her and her expertise working as a high school teacher. She’s great with the warm-up exercises, getting students to connect with one another and building a sense of community.”

Seeing themselves in a fictional world

The course is divided into two sections; one has 12 students and the other 20. The students watch about 25 episodes of the show on their own throughout the semester and are expected to come to class ready to answer questions such as: What made you laugh? What made you uncomfortable? Can you relate anything from the episode to things you experienced in school?

“We had a whole conversation about the assumptions that we make about other people that was based upon something that occurred in one episode,” Henry says. “A lot of the students really opened up about the assumptions they sometimes make and had an honest conversation.”

Several of the students grew up in Buffalo or New York City and can relate to the school’s urban setting, Kearney says.

“They’re seeing similarities to their reality — from the social issues spotlighted to the characters who may be flawed but are really loveable people,” Kearney says. “The show has served as a good connection point for their lives before they came to UB and what they are encountering in this stage of life.”

Developing skills required to succeed in college

The required first-year seminar is intended to help students develop college-level skills in discussion, writing and analysis, as well as to encourage best practices for studying.

Kearney and Henry make a point of talking to the students about how they’re doing in their other classes, especially ones that take place in big lecture halls.

“We ask them things like: What do you find challenging? Where can you go to study? What time did you go to bed last night?” Kearney explains.

They say it’s been eye-opening to see the challenges students are facing – such as working full time while going to school or traveling long distances to get to campus.

They ask the students to draw a map of their own educational stories, beginning with birth and marking important points along their way to college.

“We ask them: Based on your own personal story and what we’ve seen in ‘Abbott’ and read about, what could be good topics for a paper?” Kearney says.

Students have chosen subjects such as class size and its impact on learning, challenges they faced applying to college and filling out financial aid forms, and the impactful relationships between students and teachers.

Real-life lessons, such as breakups

“We’re trying to instill important academic skills but also encourage them to not lose sight of their own experiences — who they are and what kind of purpose they want to have in the world,” Kearney adds.

One of the best classes thus far, they say, came around Valentine’s Day when the students discussed a breakup story that was the focus of one episode.

“Many of the students are experiencing breakups during their first year,” Kearney says. “We got the sweetest email from one of the students afterwards who said, ‘Thank you so much for talking about this in class this week, because I’m navigating this personally.’ Having the space and time to hear the personal stories of the students has been really moving.”

Some of the students didn’t pass another first-year seminar, so this class is a re-do. With the combination of the lessons brought to life from the TV show and the guidance of Kearney and Henry, the students are doing better in this course and others.

“One of the students talked about how much more organized she is now,” Henry says. “She told us she’s working on her assignments ahead of time, putting everything into her calendar and generally staying on top of her schoolwork.”

They plan to continue to offer the “Abbott Elementary” course every semester, with the support of the GSE.

“It's been really a lovely experience in terms of getting to know the students,” Kearney says, “And thinking, as a university and as the school of education, the best ways to support students who are in a huge life transition.”