Civil Rights, Day 5 - Class Recap

In 2011, I went to San Francisco for Spring Break (my brother was living there at the time) and took this picture.

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Spring Break! I know that I am certainly looking forward to resting up a bit and coming back with an abundance of energy! Here's what we did today:

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.
SS.HS.CO.ALT.01: I can organize ideas in a logically sequenced manner and in a way that is appropriate to the content area.

Soundtrack: “Come & Get It” by Selena Gomez. Selected because I think just about everyone is ready for Spring Break. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/21/14:
News Brief
Little Rock Nine
Murdered for the Movement
Activism Project

Homework: Have a great Spring Break! Revise historical investigation, if needed! Read the blog! Next news brief: Rachel.

News Brief: Lewis had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: CNN.com - Courtney Cash, grandniece of Johnny Cash, found dead in a box. We talked about this for maybe a minute, then moved on, since class started so late due to the Diversity Assembly (not that I minded - it's my favorite assembly of the year)!

We also chatted for a little bit about what we were up to over the break. I hope you all are safe and have fun while resting up!

Little Rock Nine: I gave the class a few minutes to finish the reading on the Little Rock Nine, then had everyone answer these two questions:

1) Why do you think Elizabeth Eckford encountered such a hostile reaction when she arrived at Central High School?
2) How did societal hierarchies connect to the events surrounding the integration of Central High School?

I will use these in relation with the "Early Struggles" responses to assess your proficiency with the societal hierarchies learning target.

Murdered For The Movement: Next, we did an activity which involved everyone taking on the persona of someone that had been murdered as a part of the Civil Rights Movement. Each student had someone (or multiple people connected by the same case) different. The point of this was to showcase various different stories, like Emmett Till's, of what happened and how little justice there was for the families of the victims.

Activism Project: Finally, at the end of class, I passed out the Activism Project and explained what I am looking for. During Spring Break, I want you to select an idea that you might want to do. Nothing more - this whole project is not homework over the break. We will keep working on it when we get back. If you missed class, or wanted to see a copy of the assignment again, here it is:

Google Drive - Civil Rights Unit: Activism Project

This is pretty free-ranging in terms of what you might want to select. Just try to make it something you are passionate about, please! Let me know if I can help, or if you want to run ideas by me in the comments!

Civil Rights, Day 4 - Class Recap

A quote from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. Photo taken in 2011.

Hello everyone,

Thank you for another good day! We had some fun discussions and I think some interesting content in class. Read on for the recap:

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.
SS.HS.CO.ALT.01: I can organize ideas in a logically sequenced manner and in a way that is appropriate to the content area.

Soundtrack: “Stop The Rock” by Apollo 440. Selected for today because of the topic of the Little Rock Nine, who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/19/14:
News Brief
Social Hierarchies
Segregation Pictures
Little Rock Nine

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

---

News Brief: The news brief today was from Reilly M., who chose this article to talk about: CNN.com - The color of valor: 24 minority veterans receive long overdue Medal of Honor. A very timely article for our current field of study! The Medal of Honor is the country's highest military award. Very cool to see some recognition for heroes.

Social Hierarchies: Before I gave everyone the chance to do the "Early Struggles" reading response for learning target credit, I showed this example of what a social hierarchy (a system by which society ranks categories of people) is, from Ancient Egypt:

Thinking about that sort of example, I then had everyone write out responses to the following two questions:

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?

Segregation Pictures: Next, we got up and looked around at various pictures representing segregation in the United States, which were posted around the room. This activity was designed to get people up and moving around - though some ingenious students defeated this by using their phones to take pictures of the pictures. Oh, you youngsters... In any case, thank you for the participation here!

Little Rock Nine: To start this section off, I showed this video clip from Marquette University, which goes over the basics of what happened in Little Rock's Central High School in 1957, with the forced integration:

After this, I passed out a reading which we did in much the same style as the "Early Struggles" reading last class. This was about the background to integration, with a specific focus on what happened in Little Rock. The questions we will do next class are:
1) Why do you think Elizabeth Eckford encountered such a hostile reaction when she arrived at Central High School?
2) How did societal hierarchies connect to the events surrounding the integration of Central High School?

Next class (the last before Spring Break), you will answer these questions, do an activity involving some role-playing, and get the main assignment for the unit, to at least think about over break.

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,

A full week of school 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 3/17/14:
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: Reilly M.

News Brief: Rachel was not in class today, so we missed a news brief. Too bad!

Historical Investigation Grades: I was up very late last night finishing these up so that you could have them back. 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.

See you on Wednesday!

Civil Rights, Day 2 - Class Recap

Kanye West (left) and Jay Z (right) at the Watch The Throne tour stop in Boston, 2011.

Hi everyone,

Welcome back from your long weekend! A one day week for this class is now done. Read on to see what we did today.

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: “Through the Wire” by Kanye West. Selected for today because of the lyrics - a verse reads:

How do you console my mom or give her light support? Telling her your son's on life support And just imagine how my girl feel On the plane scared as hell that her guy look like Emmett Till

AGENDA 3/12/14:
News Brief
Emmett Till
Plessy v. Ferguson
Early Struggles

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Rachel

News Brief: Tiffany M. selected an article about this story: CNN.com - Confusion clouds search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. This relates to the USA in that there were a few Americans on board the missing flight. I hope the mystery is solved - I don't like the idea of entire planes just disappearing without a trace for no identifiable reason!

Emmett Till: We finished watching a documentary called The Murder of Emmett Till, which we started last class. There were about 30 minutes left. If you missed one or both days, here's the video again:

After the film, we went over the documentary questions that I passed out last class. My main point in showing this was to drive home the point how brutal and unjust life was in the era we are talking about. I wanted to drive home the point that civil rights are not just about speeches in black and white - this happened less than 60 years ago, and to this day, we still have hate crimes happen all the time. This case of a 14 year old boy being murdered and mutilated for whistling at a white woman, and his killers being totally freed of all responsibility inflamed the passions of so many people. How could this happen? These are the same sorts of questions we ask today.

Plessy v. Ferguson: The rest of class focused on going over the U.S. Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Here is a recap of the case, which said that segregation of races was legal, because it was not discrimination - specifically, segregation of different railroad cars in Louisiana. I passed out a worksheet that looked at the case and had the class answer five questions related to it. Next class, we will move on to looking at some of the early struggles of the civil rights movement and how they were overcome.

Civil Rights, Day 1 - Class Recap

Emmett Till was raised in Chicago, Illinois, before taking a fateful trip to Mississippi one summer. This is the famous Chicago Theatre sign, in 2011. 

Hi everyone,

Thanks for checking in on the blog during your long weekend! We are finally getting into some new content in learning about Civil Rights in America. Read on to check out what we did today!

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: “Cry Me A River” by Justin Timberlake. Selected because of the ongoing crisis in Crimea, Ukraine, and because it was raining out today. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/6/14:
News Brief
Literacy Test
Lynchings
Emmett Till

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Tiffany M.

News Brief: Kayla had the news brief today and selected this (super lengthy titled) article to talk about: DailyMail.co.uk - 'Our mommy's trying to kill us': Police interviewed and released pregnant mom just HOURS before she drove her three children into the ocean, prompting dramatic rescue. I actually had a CNN alert on my phone during class that said the mother was being charged with three attempted murder counts. Thanks, Kayla!

Literacy Test: After the news brief, 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:

Slate.com - Take the Impossible “Literacy” Test Louisiana Gave Black Voters in the 1960s

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:

Google Drive: "Answers" to the Louisiana Literacy Test for Voting

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.

Lynchings: For this section, I talked about the importance of not ignoring, or sweeping under the rug, the horrific and brutal history in the United States when it comes to lynchings. The article I read aloud to the class, as everyone was taking Cornell Notes, was from this website:

CrimeLibrary.com - Carnival of Death: Lynching in America (Page 2)

I also showed some statistics compiled about people lynched in the United States from 1889-1918, which can be found here:

Google Drive: Lynching Data Set, 1889-1918

At the end of reading the article, I gave the class a bit of time to try and wrap up taking notes using the Cornell format, then we moved on to:

Emmett Till: This is one of the more famous lynchings in United States history. The documentary we started watching in class is called The Murder of Emmett Till. If you missed class and wanted to catch up (we will watch the rest next class), it is here:

We made it about 25 minutes in today.

Thank you for your focus and hard work! Enjoy your long weekend!

Forced Choice, Day 2 - Class Recap

This is the room inside Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the Constitution of the United States was debated and signed. Picture taken in 2008.

Dear class,

Thank you so much for another great day of talking, listening, and debating! I hope that you found it as interesting and enlightening as I did. Here's what happened today:

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: “Get Up, Stand Up” by Bob Marley. Selected for today because you were standing up for what you believe in, and it relates to civil rights! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/5/14:
News Brief
Finish Forced Choice
Reflection

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Kayla.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Aleighsha. She chose this article to talk about: CNN.com - 10-year-old suspended for making fingers into shape of gun. This is interesting, especially considering our discussion about civil rights. Did the student have a right to free speech violated? Or was this way too much punishment for such an act?

I also talked for a while about the ongoing situation in Ukraine, where the U.S. government is trying to help ensure that Russia does not take over.

Finish Forced Choice: I was actually thinking we would be able to wrap this up in plenty of time to start the next bit, but the opinions and discussions were just so good that I decided to hold off until next class. The three questions we talked about today were:

5. Organized prayer in public schools should be allowed.
7. The government of a country should have the power to make decisions that the majority of the people in it do not support.
8. Should the motto “In God We Trust” be removed from our currency?

Reflection: At the end of class, I had everyone write a reflection based on the following prompt:

Write a one page reflection on the activity. What was the most difficult or controversial question for you? Why? How do these sorts of questions relate to the study of civil rights?

This was due in class, and will help me determine how much you took away from this two day long activity. Let me know in the comments if you have any further questions or, ahem, comments!

Forced Choice, Day 1 - Class Recap

Fireworks over Niagara Falls, in 2009. Turning in your historical investigation today is worthy of some fireworks!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to a day blissfully free of work on your historical investigation, I hope! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
SS.HS.RE.ALT.04: I can use evidence from my research to effectively address the research topic.
SS.HS.CO.ALT.01: I can organize ideas in a logically sequenced manner and in a way that is appropriate to the content area.
SS.HS.CR.ALT.04: I can evaluate information and explanations within a given context and develop a relevant conclusion.
SS.HS.RE.ALT.02: I can access relevant information from multiple and varied sources.
SS.HS.CR.ALT.05: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.

Soundtrack: “We Like To Party!” by Vengaboys. Selected for today because, again, you should feel like having a party with your historical investigation done! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/3/14:
News Brief
Share Time
Forced Choice

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Aleighsha.

News Brief: Today's article was brought in by Daniel, who selected this story (and posted about it in the comments on the blog - thanks!): AP.org - Disney ends funding to Boy Scouts over gay policy. This was especially timely, because we talked today in class about discrimination a bit when it comes to same-sex marriage.

Share Time: Next, I split up the class into about groups of 3, and had students just check in with each other for a few minutes about how the historical investigation went, the research question and answer, and just generally how things are.

Forced Choice: The rest of class was spent doing a forced choice debate, which I always enjoy. These were the questions I asked students to answer with a Yes or No, with no in between. We talked about the first four - we won't do all of the rest next class, but we will probably do some, then write a reflection.

1. Giving up some of our rights (like our phones being listened to without a warrant) is necessary for our own protection.
2. The Second Amendment (A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.) means that everyone in the US has the right to have any weapons that they want.
3. Same-sex marriage should be allowed everywhere.
4. Marijuana should be legalized everywhere for recreational use.
5. Organized prayer in public schools should be allowed.
6. It bothers me that the National Security Administration/federal government can see whatever we do online.
7. The government of a country should have the power to make decisions that the majority of the people in it do not support.
8. Should the motto “In God We Trust” be removed from our currency?
9. People in power are always corrupt in some way.
10. Democracy is always the best form of government for anywhere in the world.

Thank you for your active participation here! I also really appreciate the respect and open minds displayed. I hope that you enjoyed this activity as much as I do. Next class, we will talk a little bit more about this, then really get into the Civil Rights unit. See you on Wednesday!