Friday, November 30, 2018

Civil Rights, Day 9 - Class Recap


Me and my friends Scott and Clarke, in 2009 at a Portland Trail Blazers Playoff game. The Moda Center (then the Rose Garden) was built on land that was formerly part of the Albina neighborhood.

Hi everyone,

Today in class we wrapped up our viewing of Lift Ev'ry Voice and I introduced the Activism Project. 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: "We Shall Overcome" by Pete Seeger. Selected for today because it became a song that rallied many people together during the Civil Rights Movement. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 11/30/18:
News Brief – Emma H.
Finish Lift Ev'ry Voice
Discussion
Activism Project

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

News Brief: Emma H. had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Drug and suicide deaths rise as US life expectancy drops. 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.

Megan 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):


Lift Ev'ry Voice: Next, we finished watching an excellent documentary from OPB, called Lift Ev'ry Voice. If you want to watch again, share, or get caught up, it is here:


Here is the worksheet that goes along with the documentary:


As students were watching, I tried to pause and explain more of what was going on with maps and background information. I hope this was helpful in understanding!

Discussion: After the documentary, we went through the questions together as a class and had a discussion about the film. For the most part, I find that students generally have no idea about Portland's racial history and current issues, so I am glad that this unit allows for some connections to be made locally. I then collected the response questions, which will be entered in the gradebook as a behavior target.

Activism Project: Finally, 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.

Thanks for your continued work and engagement with the Civil Rights unit! We will keep at it next week. Here's the schedule for our next few classes until break:

November 30 (above): Lift Ev’ry Voice (behavior grade) / Assign Activism Project (graded)

December 4: Little Rock Nine (graded) / Work Time on Activism Project (poster analysis activity)

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

11: Music as Activism (graded) – partner assignment

13 (Wednesday): Share Music/Work time on Activism Project

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

19: Activism Project Work Time (final day)

21: Activism Project presentations/gallery walk/Unfinished Business with Civil Rights
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Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Civil Rights, Day 8 - Class Recap


We continued watching the documentary "Lift Ev'ry Voice" today in class, which goes over how the creation of the Memorial Coliseum and Moda Center impacted the African-American community in Portland. Photo taken in 2009.

Dear class,

Another quick Wednesday together, as we continued talking about Civil Rights in Portland. 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: "Alabama" by John Coltrane. Selected for today because Coltrane composed this in response to a bombing at a church in Alabama in 1963 that killed four African-American girls. Learn more here.

AGENDA 11/28/18:
News Brief – Dahson
Kelly on Vanport
Lift Ev'ry Voice
Discussion

Homework: Read the blog. Know your grade and how to improve it, if possible! Next news brief: Emma H.

News Brief: Dahson had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - A California man was shot 8 times and died after checking on concerned neighbor's house. After discussing the story, we also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Emma H. 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):


Kelly on Vanport: At the start of this unit, Kelly Simonsen, who is an instructional aid in Period 1 and 3, asked me if we would be talking about Vanport in class, as she wrote a paper in college about it! So, I asked if she would be willing to share parts of the paper with the class, which she did as a reminder as to what happened with Vanport (as seen last class in the first part of the documentary). Here's the paper, with parts highlighted that she shared in class:


Thank you Kelly, for sharing your research and paper with everyone!

Lift Ev'ry Voice: For the rest of class, we continued watching an excellent documentary from OPB, called Lift Ev'ry Voice, and ended class about 1:05 in. If you want to watch again, share, or get caught up, it is here:


Here is the worksheet that goes along with the documentary:


I think it is super important that we understand our own history regarding race in Portland, especially as I think there are some common assumptions that are just not true. As such, I was glad to see that almost everyone was glued to this in class. Thanks for your focus and willingness to learn about our own history! We will finish this next class and then turn our attention back to national level issues with the Civil Rights movement.
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Monday, November 26, 2018

Civil Rights, Day 7 - Class Recap


The famous "White Stag" building sign in downtown Portland. Photo taken over Winter Break, 2015.

Hi everyone,

Welcome back from your Thanksgiving Break! We now have 4 full weeks together before we break for the end of the year, and lots to do! Here's what happened 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: "Come Rain or Come Shine" by Billie Holliday. Selected for today because of the rainy weather over the weekend and the desire to keep a positive attitude about coming back to school! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 11/26/18:
News Brief – Johann
Oregon's Racist History
Lift Ev'ry Voice
Discussion

Homework: Read the blog. Know your grade and how to improve it, if possible! Next news brief: Dahson.

News Brief: Johann had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: Space.com - NASA's InSight Mars Lander Reaches Mars Today! Here's What to Expect. We also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class over the long weekend. It was great to rest up and relax!

Dahson 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):


Oregon's Racist History: As I tried to point out today, there is a LOT of history in our own community of racism, that I think students do not typically know about. But, there is a reason that Portland is one of the whitest major cities in the United States. A few links for curious students to check out:




I also wanted to be sure that we talked about the laws that prevented people of color from owning property in places like Lake Oswego and throughout Oregon. Here is an example:


We also watched the first 4 minutes or so of this video, to help set the stage for the main documentary I wanted to show in class:



Lift Ev'ry Voice: For the rest of class, we started watching an excellent documentary from OPB, called Lift Ev'ry Voice, and ended class about 41 minutes in. If you want to watch again, share, or get caught up, it is here:


Here is the worksheet that goes along with the documentary:


I think it is super important that we understand our own history regarding race in Portland, especially as I think there are some common assumptions that are just not true. As such, I was glad to see that almost everyone was glued to this in class. Thanks for your focus and willingness to learn about our own history! We will continue to watch this next class!
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