Note: There will not be the usual recap today, as I am traveling to Chicago for 9th Grade Success work. Students in class were working with the guest teacher on their Writing for Justice narratives (minimum two pages, double spaced), which will be due at the start of class, next Tuesday. Links to this assignment and explanations about what to do are in the previous blog post.
Please make sure to turn in any missing work you want to count towards this Progress Report by tomorrow (Thursday)! Have a great long weekend, everyone!
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Monday, November 5, 2018
Civil Rights, Day 2 - Class Recap
Photo posted to the Westview High School Facebook account on March 14, 2018. Taken during the student walkout against gun violence.
Hi everyone,
As we continue the start of the Civil Rights unit, I wanted to talk about race, racism, and activism in modern context, so students could understand a bit more about what happened in history. 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: "I Can See Clearly Now" by Jimmy Cliff. Selected for today because of the work we did regarding bias in class. Lyrics here.
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: "I Can See Clearly Now" by Jimmy Cliff. Selected for today because of the work we did regarding bias in class. Lyrics here.
AGENDA 11/5/18:
Wildcat News Brief - Jaida
Implicit Bias
Who Do I Belong To?
Bystander Activity
Any late/missing work needs to be turned in by Thursday for the first Progress Report.
The Writing for Justice narrative is due on Tuesday, November 13 at the start of class.
The next news brief is assigned to: Skyla (Wednesday) and Arturo (next Tuesday).
We also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class over the weekend.
Skyla was selected to do the next news brief (Arturo will have the news brief next Tuesday).
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 watched Westview Wildcat News today in class. If you missed class or wanted to watch it again, it is available:
Harvard Implicit Bias: The next part of class was devoted to defining the term "implicit bias" as well as taking the Harvard Implicit Bias test on Race, which can be selected here:
The goal here was to learn a little bit more about our own personal attitudes and biases, as we continue with this work. We asked that you share your results in small groups around you. Did you find anything especially interesting or surprising about your results?
After delving into how we might be biased in one way or another, I then showed this overview regarding active and covert racism:
After delving into how we might be biased in one way or another, I then showed this overview regarding active and covert racism:
The point here is to identify that there are certain socially unacceptable forms of racism, but that there are also all sorts of socially acceptable forms of passive racism. We talked about cultural appropriation during the Native American unit, as well.
Here were the terms we defined in class today as students took notes:
Racism: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
Overt and Covert Racism: see slide
Implicit Bias: Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner.
(Not for notetaking: These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control.)
Ally: a person who is a member of an advantaged social group who takes a stand against oppression, works to eliminate oppressive attitudes and beliefs in themselves and their communities, and works to interrogate and understand their privilege.
Bystander: a person who is present at an event or incident but does not intervene or take part.
Perpetrator: a person who carries out a harmful, illegal, or immoral act.
Victim/Target: a person harmed, injured, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event or action.
Students were asked to listen and again, write down what they were thinking and any questions that they had.
I then showed this video of Ta-Nehisi Coates talking about why white people should not use the 'n' word:
Bystander Activity: At the end of class, we did an activity of identifying the roles of Ally, Bystander, Perpetrator, and Victim in a story. The stories that we analyzed are here:
The first page in the linked document is what students were filling out as we read the stories and thought about times in their own lives that they had been one of the roles in the stories. Here was the assignment that we ended class with and students will be working on in class on Wednesday (this is also posted in Google Classroom):
This assignment will be due in class on Tuesday, November 13th, so students have about a week to complete it. Please let me know if you have any questions I can answer - I will definitely still be available via blog comments or emails on my trip!
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Civil Rights, Day 1 - Class Recap
Welcome to a new unit! This is the sign at New Orleans International Airport, in Louisiana. Today, students took a literacy test, used in Louisiana to stop people of color from voting. Photo taken in 2009.
Dear class,
It's always nice to start a new unit with you all, as there is so much to think about and do together! Here's what we did today in class:
Learning Targets Addressed:
Behavior LT 2: I can manage my responsibilities as a student.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.
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.
Soundtrack: "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke. Selected for today because of the change to a new unit and because the song is related to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Lyrics here.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.
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.
AGENDA 11/1/18:
News Brief - Bianca
DBQ Debrief
Pittsburgh
Literacy Test
Plessy v. Ferguson
We also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class over the weekend.
Jaida 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):
DBQ Debrief: Since we took most of the last two classes in both Americans Studies and Lit and Comp 10, I wanted to be sure to ask students about what their thoughts were on the assignment and the process leading up to it. This is the first time we have had an assignment that will be scored for both classes, so it was an adventure for us, as well. We will hope to have grades back to you before progress reports! It's definitely easier when the amount we have to grade is split in half.
My Global Studies students from last year are probably at least a little bit familiar with this diagram, as we talked about the Rwanda Genocide. I also know that Westview administration came to all classes on Monday during Period 4 to deliver a statement about hate speech, which would be evident in the pyramid right above Biased Attitudes. Thanks for the conversation here.
Literacy Test: After this, I passed out a test and said there were only ten minutes to complete it, with every answer being correct in order to pass it. This was supposed to be impossible, by design! Here's a link to a page with the blank test on it:
It is somewhat difficult to ascertain with certainty if this actual test was used, but it does appear to be one from the State of Louisiana, used to deny people of color the right to vote. These tests were given to anyone that election officials wanted - which was typically only people of color, not whites. If you are interested in seeing the "answers" (many of which were pretty subjective) again, here they are:
I hope this was an interesting activity to start out with! I also hope the point was driven home that having some sort of standard or qualification for voting rights aside from age is discriminatory.
Here is the BuzzFeed video that we watched in class (warning: some strong language, but in context):
Here is the BuzzFeed video that we watched in class (warning: some strong language, but in context):
Plessy v. Ferguson: To start this section of class, I had students brainstorm what "civil rights" are and how to define the term. After this, I asked students to write down the LegalDictionary definition: The term civil rights refers to the basic rights afforded, by laws of the government, to every person, regardless of race, nationality, color, gender, age, religion, or disability.
To begin looking at how the United States has denied basic rights to people of color, we looked at the famous Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson. I passed out this handout in class (as a class set):
The second page has questions for students to answer about the case. We finished class by looking through the answers together. I hope you found the class interesting today! See you next week!
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