Photo posted to the Westview High School Facebook account on March 14, 2018. Taken during a 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 11/12/19:
News Brief - Jacob
Debrief Forced Choice
Implicit Bias
Who Do I Belong To?
Bystander Activity
The next news brief is assigned to: Fabiola.
We also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class over the weekend.
Fabiola 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 Forced Choice: Last class, we devoted almost our entire time together to a debate about some social issues. I wanted to be sure to ask students how the discussion went, as well as what was interesting and thought provoking. Please be sure to submit your reflections (these will be graded) on Google Classroom by today.
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 involuntary personal attitudes and biases, as we continue with this work. Did you find anything especially interesting or surprising about your results?
As a part of delving into how we might be unconsciously biased in one way or another, I showed this overview regarding active and covert racism, which I passed out in class:
As a part of delving into how we might be unconsciously biased in one way or another, I showed this overview regarding active and covert racism, which I passed out in class:
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:
Social Hierarchy: any system of persons ranked one above another in society (for example: race, wealth, ability, gender, orientation).
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.
Social Hierarchy: any system of persons ranked one above another in society (for example: race, wealth, ability, gender, orientation).
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
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, even in the context of singing along with hip-hop songs:
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 next class (this is also posted in Google Classroom):
This assignment will be due in class next Monday, so students have about a week to complete it. Please let me know if you have any questions I can answer - I will definitely be available via blog comments or emails! See you next class!
