Civil Rights, Day 3 - Class Recap

It is almost a week since the Malaysian Airlines 777 disappeared without a trace. This is an Air France Airbus A340, landing at St. Maarten in the Caribbean in 2009.

Hi everyone,

Welcome to another long weekend! Well, for you, not for me. Lots of grading to be done! Then a full week of school next week before Spring Break. Let's keep up the hard work! Here's the recap for the day:

Learning Targets Addressed:
SS.HS.KN.ALT.17: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.
SS.HS.KN.ALT.19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

Soundtrack: “Learn to Fly” by Foo Fighters. Selected for today because the ability to learn together was mandated by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and because of the disappearing Malaysia Airlines 777. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/13/14:
News Brief
Historical Investigation Grades
Brown v. Board of Education 
Early Struggles

Homework: Revise your historical investigation, if needed! Read the blog! Next news brief: Eoghan.

News Brief: Sadia selected this article to talk about this morning: CNN.com - Nine still missing after Manhattan explosion leaves at least 4 dead, 63 hurt. Obviously, a tragic story! An entire building exploded in New York City, potentially because of a gas leak. 

Historical Investigation Grades: I was up very late last night finishing these up so that you could have them back before the long weekend. Some notes: 1) remember that you can revise and get a better proficiency score, if you would like. 2) Please go through every page and (try to) read my notes about everything. 3) Let me know how I can help, if you are at all confused about what you got, or how to improve!

Grades are now posted by student ID # in the classroom, and will be updated as we continue to go through the rest of the semester. You should always know where you are at and how you could improve!

Brown v. Board of Education: Last class, we talked about Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which legalized segregation of races in the United States. Today, we looked at the U.S. Supreme Court decision that eventually overruled it: Brown v. Board of Education (1954). This was a similar exercise, of me reading the handout and then giving the class time to answer the five questions associated with it. Please keep these! Both the handout and your answers will help you will the upcoming learning target on social hierarchies! 

Early Struggles: The rest of class was devoted to getting into small groups and going through a reading about the early stages of the Civil Rights movement. The reading was taken from Teaching Tolerance, and this book. I wanted students, as a group, to be trying to take notes on the answers to the questions of:

1) How does the term "societal hierarchy" apply to African Americans in the United States?

2) What has happened to African Americans as a result of societal hierarchies?

Next class, you will use these notes and your previous answers on the court cases to try and demonstrate proficiency on the learning target.

Have a great weekend!