Friday, December 20, 2019

Civil Rights, Day 15 - 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: "Alors on danse" by Stromae. Selected for today because it has been a popular song in France (it translates to: "so we dance", and I am going over Winter Break with my wife! Lyrics (in French) here.

AGENDA 12/20/19:
News Brief – Kate
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: Kate had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: NYTimes.com - Congress Approves Raising Age to 21 for E-Cigarette and Tobacco Sales.

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 (and students asked me a million questions).

We also (obviously) talked about this story, and the next steps going forward with impeachment: 

NYTimes.com - Impeachment Results: How Democrats and Republicans Voted.

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 to talk about together:


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 (a few years ago) 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 2019! 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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Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Civil Rights, Day 14 - 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,

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 Friday. 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 12/18/19:
News Brief – Rubi
Activism Project
Work Time
Grade Check

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

News Brief: Rubi had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: WhiteHouse.gov - Letter from President Donald J. Trump to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 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.

Kate 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):


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 2020!
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Monday, December 16, 2019

Civil Rights, Day 13 - 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 12/16/19:
News Brief – Laura
MLK and Malcolm X
Compare and Contrast
Project Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Continue working on your Activism Project assignment! Bring supplies for the work day, next class! Next news brief: Rubi.

News Brief: Laura had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - House panel approves articles of impeachment against Trump. 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.

Rubi 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 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 16 (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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Thursday, December 12, 2019

Civil Rights, Day 12 - 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,

I enjoyed getting to listen to some great music with you today! 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 12/12/19:
News Brief – Grace
Songs for Activism
Share Out
Activism Project Work Time

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

News Brief: Grace had the news brief today and selected an article about a story about this article to talk about: CNN.com - Trump again mocks teen climate activist Greta Thunberg. After discussing the story, we also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Laura was assigned 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):


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: Share Music/Work time on Activism Project

December 16: 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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Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Civil Rights, Day 11 - 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! 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 12/10/19:
News Brief – Riley
Songs for Activism
Activism Project
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Check your grade (updated on StudentVUE) and see if you can improve it! Continue working on your Activism Project and Songs for Activism assignment! Next news brief: Grace.

News Brief: Riley had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Rapper Juice WRLD is dead at 21. 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.

I also made sure to update students (and take questions) on the latest developments with the impeachment process involving President Trump. Here's an article about what is going on: NYTimes.com - Trump ‘Ignored and Injured’ the National Interest, Democrats Charge in Impeachment Articles.

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):


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: Music as Activism (graded) – partner assignment

12: Share Music/Work time on Activism Project

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

18: Activism Project Work Time (final day)

20: Activism Project presentations/gallery walk/Unfinished Business with Civil Rights
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Friday, December 6, 2019

Civil Rights, Day 10 - Class Recap


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

Hi everyone,

It was the end of a short week together in class today! Here's what we did:

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 12/6/19:
News Brief – Henry
Children's March
Debrief
Work Time

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

News Brief: Henry had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: NBCNews.com - Shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola; 3 dead, multiple injured. We discussed this story for a bit, and then moved on.

Riley was selected to do the next news brief.

We also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class, or if students had anything they wanted to talk about, before moving on.

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!

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

10: Music as Activism (graded) – partner assignment

12: Share Music/Work time on Activism Project

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

18: Activism Project Work Time (final day)

20: Activism Project presentations/gallery walk/Unfinished Business with Civil Rights
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Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Civil Rights, Day 9 - Class Recap


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

Dear class,

Welcome back from Thanksgiving break! 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 12/4/19:
News Brief – Bopi
Finish Lift Ev'ry Voice
Little Rock Nine
Activism Project
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Complete and turn in the Little Rock Nine response on Google Classroom. Continue working on your Activism Project! Next news brief: Henry.

News Brief: Bopi had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - North Korea warns US to prepare for 'Christmas gift,' but no one's sure what to expect. 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.

Henry 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):


 Finish Lift Ev'ry Voice: Due to the unexpected fire drill right before Thanksgiving break, we still had about 6 minutes left in this documentary about Portland's Civil Rights history. We finished watching the documentary and went through the questions on the worksheet together, before students turned it in for a behavior target grade.

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: After going through the Little Rock Nine readings, we started looking at the Activism Project in more depth.


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

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

10: Music as Activism (graded) – partner assignment

12: Share Music/Work time on Activism Project

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

18: Activism Project Work Time (final day)

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