Thursday, December 20, 2018

Civil Rights, Day 16 - Class Recap


Monet's Garden in Giverney, France. I will be heading to France again over Winter Break, to spend time with my wife's family!

Dear class,

Welcome to your Winter Break from Westview and the end of the Civil Rights unit in class! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Behavior LT 2: I can manage my responsibilities as a student.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Knowledge LT 16: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place, or region.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

Soundtrack: "La même" by Maître Gims. Selected for today because it has been a popular song in France this year, and I am going over Winter Break with my wife! Lyrics (in French) here.

AGENDA 12/20/18:
News Brief – McKenzie
Gallery Walk
Unfinished Business
Next Steps

Homework: Read the blog. Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE) and improve it, if possible! Have a great break! Next news brief: Mr. Fritz.

News Brief: McKenzie had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: KPTV.com - Rare tornado damages homes near Port Orchard, Washington. After discussing the story, we also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class over Winter Break.

I will have the next news brief, as it is after break.

As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):


Gallery Walk: Next, students showcased their Activism Projects by putting them on their desks as the class walked around and looked at them. Here's the assignment sheet for the project, which was due today:


I am always so impressed by the thought and effort put into these! It is inspiring to see how students are wanting to change the world through action. I look forward to grading these and getting them back to everyone!

Unfinished Business: Of course, our unit on Civil Rights could not end without taking a hard look at what is going on today. As such, I wanted to showcase a few stories from our country in the past few years. Here's the presentation that we went through as a class:


The articles that we went through (the first three intentionally withheld information about dates and places) are here:


Finally, I passed out a class set of readings about social media fueling hate and the recent opening of a museum about lynching, which just came out earlier this month:


Thank you for the discussion and conversations here!

Next Steps: At the end of class, I showed students a list of what my Diversity and Social Justice students brainstormed for ways they could impact our community and world right now. That list is here:

Write a Letter/Email/Call (List of Elected Officials)

Talk with Family and Friends

Register to Vote (if you are 16 or older and eligible)

Call it Out: Be a Consistent Ally

Read the News (know biased sources)

Identify Actions to Take

Contribute to Charities

Be Educated and Help Educate Others

Write About Your Own Experience/Read Books/Articles



Stay Woke (Don't Close Your Eyes)

Love Your Peers With Reason (Don't Go To The Sunken Place)
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I hope that throughout this unit, students have learned that change is possible and that there are plenty of means to do so available. Thank you for all of your hard work in 2018! When we come back in January, we will do a shorter unit on Immigration in the lead up to finals. Take care and see you next year, everyone!
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Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Civil Rights, Day 15 - Class Recap


Something I care a lot about in our local community is supporting the Portland Thorns women's professional soccer team, to help sustain a professional league for women in the United States. I helped paint this banner for the start of a season! Photo taken in 2015.

Hello everyone,

Our last week of 2018 together! As promised, today was a work day on the Activism Project, which I assigned at the start of the month and will be due next class, on Thursday. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Behavior LT 2: I can manage my responsibilities as a student.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Knowledge LT 16: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place, or region.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

Soundtrack: "The Times They Are A-Changin'" by Bob Dylan. Selected for today because of our work trying to identify what we want to change in the world via the activism project. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/18/18:
Wildcat News Brief – Grace
Activism Project
Work Time
Grade Check

Homework: Read the blog. The Activism Project is due next class, on Thursday! Next news brief: McKenzie.

Wildcat News Brief: Grace had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - In reversal, White House shifts border wall funding demands, wants to avoid shutdown. After discussing the story, we also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class over the weekend.

McKenzie was selected to do the next news brief.

As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):


Finally, at the end of the news brief section, we watched Westview Wildcat News, which is available here to watch again:



Activism Project/Work Time: The rest of class was dedicated to working on  the Activism Project, which is where students choose to identify a cause that they care about and create a poster or brochure explaining why and how people could be involved. Here's the assignment sheet that I passed out earlier this month:


This assignment will be due the last day we meet before break, which is next class, on December 20th. If you are leaving before that day for break, you will need to turn it in before.

Generally, students can choose almost anything that they want to, but I do want to hear about the issue before embarking on too much work. We will set aside a fair amount of class time before the break to do this, and I will provide large sheets of paper, but if a student wants to go above and beyond in working on the project at home or with a poster board, that is obviously great as well.

Some examples of student choices are:

Climate Change
Animal Rights
Gun Issues
Immigration/Border Issues
Human Trafficking
College Tuition

Thanks for your continued work and engagement with the Civil Rights unit! We will keep at it next class. Here's our schedule for our next classes until break:

December 18 (above): Activism Project Work Time (final day)

December 20: Activism Project presentations/gallery walk/Unfinished Business with Civil Rights

Grade Check: As students were working on the Activism Project posters, I went around and checked in with everyone about their grade in class and what, if anything, could be done to improve it as we approach Semester 1 finals after the break. I look forward to seeing everyone next class, for one last time before 2019!
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Friday, December 14, 2018

Civil Rights, Day 14 - Class Recap


The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC. Photo taken in 2011.

Dear class,

I intentionally waited until far into our Civil Rights unit to discuss Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in depth, as we did today. It's important that students know there is WAY more to the Civil Rights Movement than these two men, and also, their ideas and lives are incredibly important to understand. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Knowledge LT 16: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place, or region.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

Soundtrack: "A Dream" by Common. Selected for today because of the obvious connection to learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/14/18:
News Brief – Connor
MLK and Malcolm X
Compare and Contrast
Project Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Continue working on your Activism Project assignment! Next news brief: Grace.

News Brief: Connor had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: WFLA.com - HCFR lieutenant arrested for making cannabis oil at fire station released from jail. After discussing the story, we also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class over the weekend.

Grace was selected to do the next news brief.

As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):


MLK and Malcolm X: To begin the next section of class, I showed this video introducing two of the key people in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States:



Next, we read a background essay about who Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were, before I split the class up into halves - one side learning about MLK's ideas and philosophy, and one side learning about Malcolm X and his ideas and philosophy. All of those documents are available to view here, online:


After each side learned about their assigned person through the reading, we then partnered up with the opposing side, so each student pairing could discuss what they found.

Compare and Contrast: Next, students completed the compare and contrast Venn Diagram (overlapping circles) to try and understand the ideas of both people. We talked about this as a class, and then went through this PowerPoint to understand a bit more of the context around who MLK and Malcolm X were:


As we went though the PowerPoint, student were taking notes and filling out information on this assignment sheet (both sides were due today in class):


This was all done in the hopes that students would have more depth of understanding around two of the most crucial figures in 20th century American history. I encourage everyone to continue to research on your own, as well!

Project Work Time: The rest of class (if we had time) was dedicated to working on  the Activism Project, which is where students choose to identify a cause that they care about and create a poster or brochure explaining why and how people could be involved. Here's the assignment sheet that I passed out:


This assignment will be due the last day we meet before break, December 20th. If you are leaving before that day for break, you will need to turn it in before.

Generally, students can choose almost anything that they want to, but I do want to hear about the issue before embarking on too much work. We will set aside a fair amount of class time before the break to do this, and I will provide large sheets of paper, but if a student wants to go above and beyond in working on the project at home or with a poster board, that is obviously great as well.

Some examples of student choices are:

Climate Change
Animal Rights
Gun Issues
Immigration/Border Issues
Human Trafficking 

Thanks for your continued work and engagement with the Civil Rights unit! We will keep at it next class. Here's our schedule for our next few classes until break:

December 14 (above): MLK vs. Malcolm X – Whose Ideas Were Best?

December 18: Activism Project Work Time (final day)

December 20: Activism Project presentations/gallery walk/Unfinished Business with Civil Rights
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Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Civil Rights, Day 13 - Class Recap


Musicians often have messages in songs that relate to protest and/or activism. Here's Jay Z at London's Wireless Festival in 2013. Probably the best concert photo I've ever taken!

Hi everyone,

A short Wednesday together, so we listened to music related to activism! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Knowledge LT 16: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place, or region.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

Soundtrack: "Born this Way" by Lady Gaga. Selected for today because it is a song that advocates for a cause: namely, LGBTQ recognition and empowerment. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/12/18:
News Brief – Bob
Songs for Activism
Listen to the Music
Project Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Continue working on your Activism Project and Songs for Activism assignment! Next news brief: Connor.

News Brief: Bob had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Michael Cohen sentenced to three years in prison. After discussing the story, we also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Connor was selected to do the next news brief.

As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):


Finally, we also discussed the terms "colored people" "minorities" and "people of color" and why the latter term is what is currently favored for use (especially as I saw the first term being used on the Little Rock Nine response). Here's the article that I showed briefly in class:


Here's the Google graph of the terms and their use in books over the course of time that we looked at:


Thanks your attention to this section of class! Words are important.

Songs for Activism: This was the assignment that I passed out last class, after we looked at and listened to some examples of songs about a particular issue or event:


The idea here was to have some fun in listening to music (which almost everyone enjoys!) and see how music as an art form can be used to further a cause (like the one you are working on for your project)! Please make sure that this assignment is turned in - everyone had to do their own copy, even if students were working with a partner.

Listen to the Music: Next, students presented their songs to the class as we looked at the lyrics and listened to the songs (if a school appropriate version was able to be found). I enjoyed listening to the music with everyone and getting to know a bit more about what students enjoy in songs!

Work Time: The rest of class (if we had time) was dedicated to working on  the Activism Project, which is where students choose to identify a cause that they care about and create a poster or brochure explaining why and how people could be involved. Here's the assignment sheet that I passed out:


This assignment will be due the last day we meet before break, December 20th. If you are leaving before that day for break, you will need to turn it in before.

Generally, students can choose almost anything that they want to, but I do want to hear about the issue before embarking on too much work. We will set aside a fair amount of class time before the break to do this, and I will provide large sheets of paper, but if a student wants to go above and beyond in working on the project at home or with a poster board, that is obviously great as well.

Some examples of student choices are:

Climate Change
Animal Rights
Gun Issues
Immigration/Border Issues
Human Trafficking 

Thanks for your continued work and engagement with the Civil Rights unit! We will keep at it next class. Here's our tentative schedule for our next few classes until break:

December 12 (Wednesday - above): Share Music/Work time on Activism Project

December 14: MLK vs. Malcolm X – Whose Ideas Were Best?

December 18: Activism Project Work Time (final day)

December 20: Activism Project presentations/gallery walk/Unfinished Business with Civil Rights
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Monday, December 10, 2018

Civil Rights, Day 12 - Class Recap


The Rocky statue outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I will bet you probably know the theme song!

Dear class,

It was great to be back with everyone today, after only one day seeing you all last week! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Knowledge LT 16: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place, or region.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

Soundtrack: "Rocky Theme" from Rocky. Selected for today because of our work today regarding music and activism! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/10/18:
News Brief – Marianne
Debrief Children’s March
Songs for Activism
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Continue working on your Activism Project and Songs for Activism assignment! Next news brief: Bob.

News Brief: Marianne had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - China bans most iPhone sales after granting Qualcomm an injunction against Apple. After discussing the story, we also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class over the weekend.

Bob was selected to do the next news brief.

As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):

Debrief Children's March: Last class, with the guest teacher, students watched a short film about the "Children's March" and non-violent activism. This was the handout:


Today in class, we debriefed the film together and talked about the importance of activism, as it relates to our unit!

Songs for Activism: Next, I introduced what I think will be a pretty fun assignment - listening to music with a partner (if students chose to), and identifying events and/or issues that the song is about. To start, we went through some examples a class, here:


We analyzed the lyrics as I played the songs in the presentation. Then, I gave students this assignment to work on in class:


The idea here was to have some fun in listening to music (which almost everyone enjoys!) and see how music as an art form can be used to further a cause (like the one you are working on for your project)!

Work Time: The rest of class was dedicated to working on the music for activism assignment above, along with the Activism Project, which is where students choose to identify a cause that they care about and create a poster or brochure explaining why and how people could be involved. Here's the assignment sheet that I passed out:


This assignment will be due the last day we meet before break, December 20th. If you are leaving before that day for break, you will need to turn it in before.

Generally, students can choose almost anything that they want to, but I do want to hear about the issue before embarking on too much work. We will set aside a fair amount of class time before the break to do this, and I will provide large sheets of paper, but if a student wants to go above and beyond in working on the project at home or with a poster board, that is obviously great as well.

Some examples of student choices are:

Climate Change
Animal Rights
Gun Issues
Immigration/Border Issues
Human Trafficking 

Thanks for your continued work and engagement with the Civil Rights unit! We will keep at it next week. Here's our tentative schedule for our next few classes until break:

December 10 (above): Music as Activism (graded) – partner assignment

December 12 (Wednesday): Share Music/Work time on Activism Project

December 14: MLK vs. Malcolm X – Whose Ideas Were Best?

December 18: Activism Project Work Time (final day)

December 20: Activism Project presentations/gallery walk/Unfinished Business with Civil Rights
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Thursday, December 6, 2018

Civil Rights, Day 11 - Class Recap


One of the quotes at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC.

Hi everyone,

I was out of the building today at another 9th Grade Success meeting, so this post is what I was hoping happened in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Knowledge LT 16: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place, or region.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

AGENDA 12/6/18:
News Brief – Esther
Children's March
Debrief
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Continue working on your Activism Project! Next news brief: Marianne.

News Brief: Esther had the news brief today and selected an article about a story inside the United States to talk about.

Marianne was selected to do the next news brief, on Monday.

As part of the news brief, we usually watch the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day:


Children's March: To begin the next part of class, the following document was passed out:


I wanted to see how much students knew about Birmingham, Alabama and non-violent activism before we watched the video below as a class, and noted how parts of non-violent activism related to actions taken:



Hopefully students found this interesting and engaging! It is definitely powerful to see how children made a different during the Civil Rights Movement.

Debrief: After the film, students completed the back side of the assignment sheet. I am certainly curious as to if there is anything you would be willing to go to jail for! I want students to keep the Children's March note sheet so that we can go through it together next Monday.

Work Time: Last week, I introduced the main project for the Civil Rights unit, which is where students choose to identify a cause that they care about and create a poster or brochure explaining why and how people could be involved. Here's the assignment sheet that I passed out in class:


This assignment will be due the last day we meet before break, December 20th. If you are leaving before that day for break, you will need to turn it in before.

Generally, students can choose almost anything that they want to, but I do want to hear about the issue before embarking on too much work. We will set aside a fair amount of class time before the break to do this, and I will provide large sheets of paper, but if a student wants to go above and beyond in working on the project at home or with a poster board, that is obviously great as well.

Some examples of student choices are:

Climate Change
Animal Rights
Gun Issues
Immigration/Border Issues
Human Trafficking 

Thanks for your continued work and engagement with the Civil Rights unit! We will keep at it next week. Here's our tentative schedule for our next few classes until break:

December 6 (substitute): Children’s March (What Would You Do?) / Work Time on Activism Project

December 11: Music as Activism (graded) – partner assignment

December 13 (Wednesday): Share Music/Work time on Activism Project

December 15: MLK vs. Malcolm X – Whose Ideas Were Best?

December 19: Activism Project Work Time (final day)

December 21: Activism Project presentations/gallery walk/Unfinished Business with Civil Rights
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Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Civil Rights, Day 10 - Class Recap


These are all of the 9th grade students on their first day at Westview this year. Imagine how different it would be to enter high school as one of the Little Rock Nine?

Dear class,

Given that I will be out on Thursday at a 9th Grade Success training, this was the one day this week I was able to spend time with you all! As such, we continuing looking at civil rights issues, including school integration after the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Here's what happened in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Knowledge LT 16: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place, or region.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.

Soundtrack: "Blackbird" by The Beatles. Selected for today because the song was partially inspired by the Little Rock Nine. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/4/18:
News Brief – Vicky
Little Rock Nine
Poster Slogans
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Continue working on your Activism Project! Next news brief: Esther (Thursday) and Marianne (Monday).

News Brief: Vicky had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: APNews.com - New York man gets prison for trying to sell fake cocaine. After discussing the story, we also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class over the weekend.

Esther was selected to do the next news brief (on Thursday with the guest teacher) and Marianne will have it on Monday.

As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):


Little Rock Nine: To begin this part of class, I showed students where Little Rock, Arkansas is, and then we went through this lesson:


As a part of this, we watched this introductory video:


We then read some of the accounts from history texts about the Little Rock Nine, which are linked to here:


After the readings, students worked on the following response, which is graded (also available on Google Classroom to submit there):


If you did not finish this in class today, please turn it in ASAP!

Poster Slogans: We didn't have much time in class to do this today, so I just passed this sheet out (so students can see some examples if they are wanted to work on the Activism Project at home) and we will work on it next week.


Hopefully this helped a bit in thinking about what you might do as your Activism Project!

Work Time: Last week, I introduced the main project for the Civil Rights unit, which is where students choose to identify a cause that they care about and create a poster or brochure explaining why and how people could be involved. Here's the assignment sheet that I passed out in class:


This assignment will be due the last day we meet before break, December 20th. If you are leaving before that day for break, you will need to turn it in before.

Generally, students can choose almost anything that they want to, but I do want to hear about the issue before embarking on too much work. We will set aside a fair amount of class time before the break to do this, and I will provide large sheets of paper, but if a student wants to go above and beyond in working on the project at home or with a poster board, that is obviously great as well.

Some examples of student choices are:

Climate Change
Animal Rights
Gun Issues
Immigration/Border Issues
Human Trafficking 

Thanks for your continued work and engagement with the Civil Rights unit! We will keep at it next week. Here's our tentative schedule for our next few classes until break:

December 4 (above): Little Rock Nine (graded) / Work Time on Activism Project (poster analysis activity)

December 6 (substitute): Children’s March (What Would You Do?) / Work Time on Activism Project

December 11: Music as Activism (graded) – partner assignment

December 13 (Wednesday): Share Music/Work time on Activism Project

December 15: MLK vs. Malcolm X – Whose Ideas Were Best?

December 19: Activism Project Work Time (final day)

December 21: Activism Project presentations/gallery walk/Unfinished Business with Civil Rights
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