Day 1 Step 1: Land Acknowledgement, Essential Question, & Warm up/Vocabulary

Duration: 30 minutes

Implementation:

Lead the class through a land acknowledgement as appropriate to your specific context.

Introduce the essential questions to the class:

• What freedom dreams do you have for yourself, your family, and your community?

• What freedom dreams already exist for yourself, your family, and your community?

Before teaching this lesson, the teacher should familiarize themself with Bettina Love’s definition of “Freedom Dreaming,” a term coined by Robin D. G. Kelley:

• “Freedom dreaming is: 1) imagining worlds that are just, 2) representing people’s full humanity, 3) centering people left on the edges, 4) thriving in solidarity with folks from different identities who have struggled together for justice, and knowing that dreams are just around the corner with the might of people power.”

The teacher will share the term “Freedom Dreaming” with the class. Students will engage in a think-pair-share about what they think “freedom” means, what they think “Dreaming” means, and what they think “Freedom Dreaming” means. During the whole-class discussions, the teacher will make notes on a chart/poster paper to capture students’ voices and create a communal understanding/definition of the meaning of “Freedom Dreaming.”

Then, the teacher will present a map of East San Jose via Google Maps, with student voices guiding the exploration of the neighborhoods/landmarks through these questions:

• What are your favorite places around your neighborhood? (These places could be your street, stores, shops, parks, libraries, restaurants, etc.) What dreams do you have about these places? What dreams may already exist in these places?

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 1-7

• Google Maps

Assessment: Class discussion

Day 2 Step 2: Land Acknowledgement and Review

Duration: 5 minutes

Lead the class through a land acknowledgement as appropriate to your specific context. Review the following with students as a warm-up to the rest of the lesson:

1. What is our class’s definition of “freedom dreaming?”

2. Is there anything that you want to add or change about our definition of “freedom dreaming?”

Resources/Materials: Slides 8-10

Assessment: N/A

Day 2 Step 3: The Gem of the City

Duration: 30 minutes

The teacher will open the lesson by referring to the previous days’ chart/poster paper with notes about “Freedom Dreaming.” Teacher will present the title of the first article, “The battle for the best neighborhood in San Jose, CA,” and lead a discussion with students about what they predict will be mentioned in the article. Then, the class will read the article together, with the teacher stopping for comprehension checks as needed. The teacher will lead a discussion about whether their predictions were right, what is present in the article versus what may be missing, etc.

The teacher will present the title of the second article, “East San Jose is the gem of the city,” and lead a discussion with students about what they predict will be mentioned in the article. Then, the class will read the article together, with the teacher stopping for comprehension checks as needed. The teacher will lead a discussion about whether their predictions were right, what is present in the article versus what may be missing, etc. Then, the class should also discuss the similarities/differences between the two articles and the authors’ points of views.

With the teacher scaffolding as needed, students will work in groups to complete a compare/contrast venn diagram to note the similarities and differences between the two articles.

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 11-14

• “The Battle for the Best Neighborhood in San Jose, CA”

• “Tenes: East San Jose is the gem of the city”

• “Double bubble” template (1 for each student)

Assessment: Completion of double bubble map

Day 3 Step 4: Land Acknowledgement and Review

Duration: 5 minutes

Lead the class through a land acknowledgement as appropriate to your specific context.

Review the following with students as a warm-up to the rest of the lesson:

• Think about the articles we read yesterday. Why do you think that East San Jose was not one of the neighborhoods listed in the first article? Do you think it should/should not have been included?

• What dreams about East San Jose do you think the author might have in the second article we read?

Resources/Materials: Slides 15-17

Assessment: N/A

Day 3 Step 5: AAPI Perspectives Interview Clip

Duration: 20 minutes

Play the AAPI Perspectives Interview Clips (20 minutes). Before playing the video, explain to students that Betty is discussing her childhood growing up in downtown San Jose versus Eastside. In the bit before the clip starts at 18:10 she describes her experience in downtown–she has memories of neighborhood violence and police presence in her neighborhood. (Note that some students may need a pause/break/check-in due to this, but this specific content is from before the 18:10 mark; i.e., not included in the clip from 18:10-21:20). As needed, pause to check for student understanding throughout the clips. Then, lead the students in a discussion with the following questions:

• Betty described the Eastside as having “a lot of life.” In her experience, what gave the Eastside life?

• In your own neighborhood, school, or community, what gives it life? What freedom dreams may already exist in your own neighborhood, school, or community?

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 19-20

• Betty Duong Oral History

Assessment: Class discussion

Day 4 Step 6: Land Acknowledgement and Review

Duration: 5 minutes

Lead the class through a land acknowledgement as appropriate to your specific context.

Review the following with students as a warm-up to the rest of the lesson:

1. What have you learned so far about freedom dreaming?

2. What questions do you still have about freedom dreaming?

Explain to the student: “By the end of this series of lessons, we will create our own projects to share our freedom dreams for ourselves, our families, and our communities. Today, we will take a look at an example of one way that a community has showcased their history and freedom dreams.”

Resources/Materials: Slides 21-23

Assessment: Class Discussion

Day 4 Step 7: JAMSJ Virtual Gallery Tour

Duration: 25 minutes

Lead students through the virtual gallery tour of the JAMSJ exhibit, with the intention of inspiring students to think about how they may want to share their own history and freedom dreams in their own projects.

Lead students in answering these questions:

1. What is something you learned from the gallery tour?

2. What questions do you have about the gallery tour?

3. What ideas do you have about how you can show your own freedom dreams in your own project?

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 24-25

• JAMsj Virtual Gallery Tour

Assessment: N/A

Day 5 Step 7: Land Acknowledgement and Review

Duration: 5 minutes

Lead the class through a land acknowledgement as appropriate to your specific context.

Review the following with students as a warm-up to the rest of the lesson:

• By the end of this series of lessons, we will create our own projects to share our freedom dreams for ourselves, our families, and our communities. Today, we will take a look at another example of one way that a community has showcased their history and freedom dreams.

Resources/Materials: Slides 26-28

Assessment: Class discussion, narrative letter

Day 5 Step 8: “Eastside Dreams”

Duration: 25 minutes

Teacher will open the lesson by reviewing the Compare/Contrast Venn Diagram that students completed from Day 2. Then, the teacher will introduce today’s article by leading students through a “picture walk” of the images that are used throughout the article. Teacher will lead an open-ended discussion and allow students’ prior knowledge, observations, and wonderings to be at the center of the discussion and make note of these things on a chart/poster paper. Then, the class will read the article together, with the teacher stopping for comprehension checks as needed. Then, the students will answer the following questions:

• Write and/or draw about what you saw in the pictures in the article. What dreams about East San Jose do you think some of the people in the article might have?

• What ideas do you have about how you can show your own freedom dreams in your own project?

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 29-30

• “Eastside Dreams: Highlighting the history of East San Jose”

Assessment: Class discussion

Day 6 Step 9: Land Acknowledgement and Review

Duration: (teacher discretion)

Lead the class through a land acknowledgement as appropriate to your specific context.

Then, review with the students: “We will create our own projects to share our freedom dreams for ourselves, our families, and our communities. Your project can be a drawing, painting, poster, collage, book, video, diorama, poem, presentation, song, dance, or anything else you can dream of! Your project will answer the following questions:

• What freedom dreams do you have for yourself?

• What freedom dreams do you have for your family?

• What freedom dreams do you have for your community?

• What freedom dreams already exist for yourself, your family, and/or your community?”

Teachers may use discretion to decide how long they can allot for students to complete their projects.

Other resources that may be helpful to show students as a supplement include:

• Eastside Magazine

• March Through Nashville Project

Involving families and community members in the creation and presentation of the freedom dreaming projects is recommended. For example, families can provide videos or photos for their projects. Also, the final presentation of their projects can be a community gathering in which other classes, families, and community members can participate.

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 31-33

• Eastside Magazine

• March Through Nashville Project

Assessment: Freedom Dreaming Projects