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Multiracial Solidarity

GRADE LEVEL: 3

SUBJECT: ELA

INTENDED UNIT: Transformation & Change

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can multiracial solidarity create transformation and change in the world?

LESSON TITLE: Multiracial Solidarity

CENTRAL QUESTIONS/BIG IDEAS:

  • 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?


CONTENT OBJECTIVE:

Knowledge: Students will understand what it means to be in solidarity with others through the lens of intersectionality.

Skills: Utilizing resistance reads as a means of counter-storytelling and disruption of oppressive narratives.

Habits: Reflection, critical thinking, identity exploration, solidarity, empathy, multiracial solidarity, applying an intersectional lens


GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT AREA STANDARDS:

ELA

  • Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

  • Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

  • Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.


CA ELD STANDARDS:

  • Exchanging information and ideas with others through oral collaborative discussions on a range of social and academic topics.

  • Listening actively to spoken English in a range of social and academic contexts.

  • Reading closely literary and informational texts and viewing multimedia to determine how meaning is conveyed explicitly and implicitly through language.


IEP/504 ACCOMMODATIONS:

  • All lesson plans will be accommodated with a transcript (for video clips), student facing worksheets, and visual slides ready to be shared and accessed.
  • Feel free to accommodate extra time for any formative assignments and provide scaffolds as needed for differing age groups/needs.
  • Refer to specific accommodations in students’ IEP/504 plans.

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

  1. Slides (link)

  2. Intersectionality 101 Video (link)

  3. IntersectionAllies: We Make Room for All by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council, and Carolyn Choi

    a. Book available at Santa Clara County Library District

    b. Audiobook & Book available at San Jose Public Library

  4. Intersection Allies | Belonging Through Books Digital Read Alouds Video (link)

  5. Will Kaku Oral History (52:45 >> 55:09)

  6. Tom Izu Oral History 2 (4:47 >> 7:59)


LESSON IMPLEMENTATION SEQUENCE:

Step 1: Land Acknowledgement, Essential Question, & Warmup

Duration: 10 minutes


Implementation:

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

Introduce the essential questions to the class:

  • How can multiracial solidarity create transformation and change in the world?

Play the warmup video (5 minutes), and lead the class in a discussion of the Warmup questions:

  • What kinds of images stood out to you during the video? What do you think these images mean?

  • What questions do you still have about intersectionality?


Resources/Materials:

  • Slides 1-6

  • Intersectionality 101 Video


Assessment: Class Discussion

Step 2: Vocabulary

Duration: 10 minutes


Have students read/write the vocabulary words and the definitions. Then, have students draw an example related to the words.


Resources/Materials: Slides 7-8


Assessment: N/A

Step 3: Read Aloud

Duration: 20 minutes


Read aloud the book Say My Name, and pause periodically to check for understanding with students as needed. It may be helpful to pause and take closer looks at the pictures/images in the book to help students gain deeper understandings of the concepts in the book.

Lead the students in discussing the following questions:

  • What did you learn from the book Intersection Allies?

  • What questions do you still have about the book?

  • If you had to explain intersectionality to someone who has never heard of it before, what would you tell them?

  • What is one way that you have seen someone be an ally to others at school, at home, or in the community?


Resources/Materials:

  • Slides 9-11

  • Intersection Allies by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council, and Carolyn Choi


Assessment: Class Discussion

Step 4: AAPI Perspectives Interview Clips

Duration: 20 minutes


Before playing the AAPI Perspectives Interview Clip, please take the time to preview the following concepts with students.

  • Child separation policy

  • Laura Bush visiting detention centers

  • AAPI hate/violence

  • Cannery workers, migrant workers

Play the AAPI Perspectives Interview Clips (10 minutes), pausing to help support students’ understanding of the interview as needed.


Resources/Materials:

  • Slides 12-15

  • Will Kaku Oral History

  • Tom Izu Oral History


Assessment: N/A

Step 5: Discussion & Reflections

Duration: 30 minutes


Lead students through the following discussion questions:

  • Will mentions that he hopes people can see racism as “not just a Japanese American issue,” but as “a humanitarian issue that affects all communities.” What do you think this means?

  • Will mentions that there is misunderstanding about other communities (particularly the Black community) when there was a rise in AAPI hate attacks. Why do you think he says that it is important to show Black and Asian solidarity?

  • How does Tom recognize how he has learned from Black and Brown communities despite his identity as an Asian American?

  • How can multiracial solidarity create transformation and change in the world?


Resources/Materials: Slides 16-17


Assessment: Class discussion