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Bursting Your Bubble: Exposing Yourself to History, Ideas, and Cultures

AAPI PERSPECTIVE THEME: Transformation & Change

GRADE LEVEL: 11-12

SUBJECT: Social Studies, Ethnic Studies

ESSENTIAL QUESTION:

  • What role can students play in the transformation of themselves, their community and larger society?

  • What are strategies of engagement for students within their own communities?

CENTRAL QUESTIONS/BIG IDEAS:

  • The progress made by communities of color in the present is due to the compounding risks and sacrifices from the generations before. Communities of color have been working together towards similar goals for a long time.

  • Ethnic studies not just benefits the people who identify with the subject/content presented in the class/material, but also everyone who directly and indirectly benefits from a diverse society through the laws, arts, music, food, cultures, and people they encounter everyday.

  • History can be taught and passed on, or it can be erased and whitewashed over.

  • Most students are exposed to Ethnic Studies in their college years and not in grade school. This is of course assuming the students continue on into higher education or have the means to.


CONTENT OBJECTIVE:

Knowledge:

  • Understanding the history and importance of Ethnic Studies in academic systems. Seeing and acknowledging the ways different communities of color have influenced one another directly and indirectly (self-expression, creatively, vernacular, popular culture etc.).

  • By exposing a person to communities, cultures, and countries outside their comfort zone they gain an opportunity to expand their understanding of the world outside the news, social media, and negative stereotypes passed on in their circle of influences (increased compassion and lessening xenophobia).

  • The history that is taught in primary, intermediate, and secondary school can be skewed in favor of a political, patriotic, ideological, and/or racial point-of-view.

Skills:

  • Metacognition - Awareness of their thought process, challenging their old biases/understandings/thought processes, analyzing the past and actions of historic events/people and the reasons why certain situations and actions played out the way they did.

  • Understanding the hyperlinked nature of POC history and their actions that resulted in real social and societal change.

Habits:

  • Evaluating past knowledge with new information. Questioning and scrutinizing the written/spoken point-of-view in history texts, news, and propaganda.

  • Use RAFT assignments (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) where students must consider a situation, letter, speech or poem from a perspective other than their own, or that of the original speakers.


GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT AREA STANDARDS:


CA ELD STANDARDS:


IEP/504 ACCOMMODATIONS:

  • School laptops/computers available to view online content. Printouts of content available upon request. Links to materials available for outside viewing. Printouts of outsheets. Slides.

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

  1. Viet Thanh Nguyen Oral History (51:15 >> 54:55)

  2. Tom Izu Oral History 1 (44:39 >> 53:00)

  3. Ethnic Studies: Born in the Bay Area from History’s Biggest Student Strike Article (link)

  4. Ethnic Studies Resources

    a. Preparing educators to implement and teach Ethnic Studies (link) (pdf)

    b. Ethnic Studies timeline (link)

    c. What Does Research Say About Ethnic Studies (link) (pdf)


LESSON IMPLEMENTATION SEQUENCE:

Step 1: Warmup

Duration: 15 minutes

Purpose: Read/listen to a piece of reporting and evaluate the contents for information, clues, POVs, biases, and details about the topics being covered. A shortened overview about the history and creation of the first college of Ethnic Studies in the country. Think about the effort and sacrifices people have made to have their bodies, voices, histories, and stories shared/told alongside European/White narratives.


Implementation:

Read the KQED article Ethnic Studies: Born in the Bay Area from History’s Biggest Student Strike.

As the students read the article, have them write down:

The key ideas/demands that motivated students and educators at San Francisco State College to strike.

The risks and consequences they faced during and after the strike.

The results of their collective efforts.


Step 2: Call on Students


Ask students to share what they gleaned from the reading.


Resources/Materials:

  • Slides 1-9 (intro slides, skip if appropriate)

  • Slides 10-12

  • KQED audio and article


Assessment: Class discussion

Step 3: Watch and Reflect

Duration: 10 minutes

Purpose: Analyzing the impact and changes that occurred when Viet was exposed to Ethnic Studies courses in college. Exploring the ways new pieces of information can change a person’s life and professional trajectory.


Have students watch (or read) the excerpt of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s interview about his experiences taking Ethnic Studies courses in college. Display the discussion questions and have students take notes. Then, do a think, pair, share.

Then, have students watch (or read) the excerpt of Tom Izu’s interview about his experiences with being pre-med and fighting for Asian American Studies in the 1970s at UCSC. Display the discussion questions and have students take notes. Then, do a think, pair, share.

You may create a graphic organizer or worksheet for this portion if necessary.


Resources/Materials:

  • Slides 13-19

  • Viet T. Nguyen Oral History

  • Tom Izu Oral History 1


Assessment: N/A

Step 4: Group Work - Ethnic Studies in Everything

Duration: 25 minutes

Purpose: Students will examine current education curricula and trends. They will use an EDI lens to bring forward information and facts that were hidden from K-12 history books and lessons and how students and educators benefit from the addition of Ethnic Studies into these subject areas.


Have students work together in groups for this assignment. In this exercise, students will examine different subjects and topics that have been taught in K-12 that can benefit from the addition of an Ethnic Studies lens.

Students should reflect on the ways the history books have:

  1. Overlooked/silenced the details about the contributions and sacrifices made by POC worldwide in the areas of mathematics, technology, food, music, entertainment etc.

  2. Students can use their own personal experiences, classroom examples, points in history, popular culture, and current world affairs to support their argument.

Example: Margot Lee Shetterly’s book Hidden Figures.

At the end of the exercise groups should be able to present the subject/topic, pinpoint the areas in the subject/topic where examples of Ethnic Studies can be woven into a classroom lesson, and express the benefits of adding these details to a classroom lesson.

Exercise can be done together on paper or on a laptop computer using Canva, Figma, PowerPoint etc.


Resources/Materials:

  • Slides 20-22

  • Notebooks

  • Laptops


Assessment: Presentation

Step 5: Reflection

Duration: 10 minutes

*Purpose: Summarizing the key concepts and examples from the lesson. Students reflect on the importance of having an Ethnic Studies lens on their education and to think of the ways society can undo the whitewashing of history.


What are the educational and societal benefits of having Ethnic Studies in our academic curriculums?

What are the obstacles that stand in the way of implementing an Ethnic Studies forward education?

How can we, as agents of change, shape education and our communities for future generations?


Resources/Materials: Slides 23-24


Assessment: Class discussion