Objectives
In my classroom, I am mandated by the Virginia Standards of Learning to teach my students to read and critique a variety of dramatic selections and to read and analyze relationships among American literature, history, and culture. As such, the objective here is to have my students examine the driving forces between public policy decisions and socio-economic and racial factors by examining literature, dramatic selections, and pastoral images.
We will discuss the idea of citizenship and governmental responsibility and the importance of ensuring that each voice is heard. I plan to teach this unit over the course of nine-weeks with the intent of having students become more involved in and aware of the public policy process. I firmly believe that disengaged citizens are often marginalized. Therefore, I find that it is essential that they can connect to the material studied and not as a silent observer but as an advocate for change. Although this unit focuses largely on New Orleans and the aftermath of Katrina, I decided to also include Tropical Storm Gaston and the havoc that it wreaked on our hometown, Richmond, Virginia in 2004 to make the unit more personal for my students and to draw upon their prior knowledge and experiences about floods and natural disasters.
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