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!