Step 1: Do Now

Duration: 5 minutes

Purpose: Because the students are just beginning to get their “feet wet” with this lesson, the goal of this section of the lesson is to invite students to consider how politics holds a personal purpose in their livelihoods. The common issue revolving around politics is that students often feel a lack of importance or even relatability to political structures and systems. The intention of this Do-Now is to directly bring them into how families have a direct relationship with their sense of morals and political autonomy.

Implementation:

As students are getting seated, they will be asked to define what they know about politics in their lives. Is their family politically active? Are they politically active?

Resources/Materials: Slides 1-3

Assessment: Class discussion

Step 2: Instructional Activity

Duration: 20 minutes

Purpose: This lesson is to mainly provide a general overview of terms that will be used for the entirety of the unit. By familiarizing students to these terms, the hope is for them to consider how these vocabulary words give voice to feelings or realities they experience in their family dynamics and social groups.

Implementation:

1. Introduce students to a lecture on the definition of politics, along with political ideology and socialization

2. The goal of this section is to provide students with a brief overview of terms, so that they can see how it directly connects with the contexts of their lives.

   a. Ex: With political socialization, make it known that family is one of the largest proponents of the political views and learnings of children.

   b. Ex: With agents of socialization, allow for students to see how their points of life they view a part of their regular day, plays an essential role in molding and shaping their beliefs, proclivities, and political identities

3. The last two vocabulary terms of the lecture revolve around the theme of a “political culture,” exactly what was mentioned in the prior example. Challenge students to consider what it looks like when an entire community of people fall into one understanding of how the world/society should operate and how that might influence what people consider normal.

4. Lead students to consider the term, “hegemony,” and how it reflects the dominant normative understandings and ways of thinking that have consistently produced what is considered “right” and “wrong” in communities

   a. Ex: Ask students about the political landscape of the area of your school. Based on this area, ask students about the political norms and ideologies that are widely accepted/exist as a result of this.

   
   

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 4-6

• Student Facing Worksheet

Assessment: Key terms

Step 3: Independent Analysis

Duration: 10 minutes

Purpose: By not only providing a lecture on the terms, but also giving them some samples of testimonies where this occurs, students will be able to learn from the personal testimonies of the interviewees in order to gain a sense of understanding over how people have come to terms with their upbringing and how those “lightbulb moments” have deeply shaped the course of their lives. These testimonies are also from people that have had the time to reflect on their upbringings and the ways their upbringings have shaped who they are now. For students who are in the beginning of this upbringing process, it may pose as a form of inspiration for them.

Implementation:

1. Using an interview excerpt, ask students to identify how the interviewee was politically socialized by their cultural surroundings

2. By utilizing the stories of these interviewees, challenge students to reflect and acknowledge how personal these forms of socialization are—how might they shape someone’s sense of self and lead to emotional resonance?

3. For the two excerpts that are being shown, ask students to respond to the following questions:

   a. Which agents of socialization does the interviewee reference/hint at when sharing their story?

   b. How might this form of socialization have become a major part of their lives and what they consider good and evil?

Resources/Materials:

• Slides 7-9

• Vickie Taketa Oral History 1

• Coral Tomalinas Oral History

• Student Facing Worksheet

Assessment: Partner discussion

Step 4: Reflection/Exit Ticket

Duration: 15-20 minutes

Purpose: The point of this reflective exit ticket is for students to now zoom out and notice how a group of people might mobilize. Because the bulk of this lesson was about the interpersonal relationships between individuals and community members, the goals of this section of the lesson is to have students start thinking about the sociological aspect of political socialization. When many people who have been politically socialized within their community spaces feed off of each other, what is the result of this at the macro-level?

Implementation:

1. Students will be asked to read and annotate an article from the________, and notice how a collective of people might place an abundance of their cultural identities towards a specific issue. Have students think about what occurs when these individuals are able and encouraged to advocate for their political views. Get students to also wonder what would occur if these individuals were not given the opportunity to advocate at all.

2. As this lesson is structured as an introduction into political socialization and culture, students will initially be invited to do some self reflection on these prompts. In later lessons, students will be invited to share these thoughts with other group members and work together to come to terms with what political mobilization/activism looks like for their culture.

Resources/Materials:

• Independent Practice Exemplar

• Almanac Article on Supreme Court decision (Affirmative Action)

• Student Facing Worksheet

Assessment: Article Analysis