AAPI PERSPECTIVES THEME: Joy & Cultural Resistance
GRADE LEVEL: 12
SUBJECT: U.S. Government
INTENDED UNIT: Unit 2/3 (This project is formed as a kind of project based summative for students to reflect upon the work they were a part of for the unit.)
ESSENTIAL QUESTION:: How does the humanization of stories spark resilience, solidarity, and optimism for the future?
CENTRAL QUESTIONS/BIG IDEAS:
How have counterstories and narratives from marginalized communities highlight their humanity and resilience?
How can we celebrate the insurgent ways marginalized groups have combated systemic injustice?
LESSON SEQUENCE/INTENTION: This lesson framework is intended to be a full week-long project.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday/Thursday
Friday
CONTENT OBJECTIVE:
Knowledge:
First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Cultural Wealth (Tara Yosso): The forms of cultural advantage and resilience developed by marginalized communities that are often dismissed. These communities are often seen to be deficient in their ability to support themselves and better society. Yosso’s framework of cultural wealth critiques this notion
14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause: No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Qualitative Data: Information that cannot be counted, measured or easily expressed using numbers.
Skills:
Key Ideas and Details:
Craft and Structure:
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
Habits:
Making personal links between the stories of our elders and our own
Acknowledging ways and forms of resistance in personal grassroots and/or collective organizational efforts
GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT AREA STANDARDS:
12.6.4: Describe the means that citizens use to participate in the political process (e.g., voting, campaigning, lobbying, filing a legal challenge, demonstrating, petitioning, picketing, running for political office).
12.8.2: Describe the roles of broadcast, print, and electronic media, including the Internet, as means of communication in American politics.
12.10: Students formulate questions about and defend their analyses of tensions within our constitutional democracy and the importance of maintaining a balance between the following concepts: majority rule and individual rights; liberty and equality; state and national authority in a federal system; civil disobedience and the rule of law; freedom of the press and the right to a fair trial; the relationship of religion and government.
CA ELD STANDARDS:
Key Ideas and Details:
Craft and Structure:
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
IEP/504 ACCOMMODATIONS:
For this lesson, all components are framed with the express purpose of reiterating information in various modalities, so that all students with any learning style are able to internalize the lesson well. Students will have multiple opportunities to share their findings with other classmates, group up, and break down key concepts with the whole class.
All students will always have slides available to them, along with a student handout to guide their learning.
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
Slides (link)
Project Instructions (link)
Graphic Organizer (link)
Graphic Organizer Exemplar (link)
Exit Ticket Example Day 1 (link)
AAPI Oral Histories Website accessible from JAMsj.org (link)
LESSON IMPLEMENTATION SEQUENCE:
Step 1: Do Now
Duration: 10 minutes
Purpose: The purpose of this “introductory” part of the project is to allow students to now truly internalize how the lessons they take have direct relation to their lived experiences. Whether students identify as part of a marginalized community or not, the intention of this project is to humanize themselves and their experiences as they take the time to process another’s story.
Implementation:
Students will be asked about why storytelling is important as a tool of communication.
The hope from this question is to spark insight and understanding over how stories of individual human behavior, along with how qualitative data plays a seminal role in the development and understanding of human emotions and how laws directly translate into something of deep, complex impact in this world.
Resources/Materials: Slides 1-5
Assessments: N/A
Step 2: Instructional Activity
Duration: 20 minutes
Purpose: The purpose of this section of the lesson is to offer an overview of the project the students are about to embark on. This includes the details of the project, the exemplar that I will be providing, along with how the project can be synthesized.
Implementation:
Introduce to the students, what can be colloquially known as “The Testimonio Project.” Within this project, students will be asked to choose a podcast guest and take notes on how this individual’s story and life highlights the impact of governmental policies on individual humans. However, students will also be challenged to consider how these interviewees also challenged the norms and realities they were given, and fight for their cultural heritage.
Within this project, students will also be challenged to consider their positionalities with the interviewee’s. How have they found empathy/relatability to the interviewee’s story? What are some takeaways that they’ve come to sit with?
Lastly, this project will have a creative expression component. Students will be invited to either present the individual they chose to listen to, form their own podcast response, or write a poem/form an artistic response to the story that they’ve heard. How is this story a reflection of cultural wealth and joyful resilience?
Resources/Materials:
Slides 1-9
Project Instructions
Assessments: N/A
Step 3: Choosing the Video to Watch
Duration: 15 minutes
Purpose: To ensure that students know which video to get started on, students will be provided time and asked why they chose the video they chose. This is to also ensure that students don’t make any sudden changes to their video, making it so that they are successful for the latter stages of the project as well.
Implementation:
Students will be given a list of the potential oral histories along with their videos and transcripts to set their project on. They can read through the summaries and keywords to make their selection. Students can also review and select from any of the available interviews and transcripts on the AAPI Perspectives website.
Students will also be provided a short summary of what that video/transcript entails.
Students will also be encouraged to at least watch the first 5 minutes of the video (based on the transcript) of their interest to solidify whether this elder’s story is the story they would want to use for their project.
Resources/Materials:
Graphic Organizer
AAPI Oral Histories Website accessible from JAMsj.org (link)
Graphic Organizer Exemplar
Assessments: N/A
Step 4: Reflection/Exit Ticket:
Duration: 5 minutes
Purpose: To set a quick formative check for understanding to make sure that students know what is expected of this first work day. Students will be asked to consider why they chose the video they chose, along with how it connects to them personally, providing a formative check on their progress as well.
Implementation:
Students will be asked to turn in an”Exit Ticket/Reflection” over what they have accomplished thus far, how they plan on managing their time for the duration of the project, and why they believe the interview they chose is relatable/impactful to them in some way, shape, or form.
Resources/Materials:
Slide 10
Exit Ticket Example Day 1
Assessments: N/A
NOTE: For the subsequent days, follow the lesson sequence above, focusing on individual work but requiring an exit ticket each day to ensure that the student is on track for project due date.