The Big Easy: Literary New Orleans and Intangible Heritage

Strategies

Collaborative Learning

This unit uses many collaborative learning activities (Think-Pair-Share, Dinner Party, Jigsaw, and Group Work) that encourage peer interaction and change the role of the teacher from banker of knowledge to learning facilitator. ⁶¹ Collaborative learning builds classroom community, which is essential when dealing with emotionally-charged topics such as racism and violence. A classroom community is as a space where teachers and students learn through speaking, listening, and often disagreeing with each other. ⁶² By creating a classroom community, students learn to respect each other and feel safe sharing their opinions without fear of ridicule or retaliation. Collaborative learning also supports 21 ^st century literacies that equip students with the skills to thrive in a networked society where collaborative work relies on the collective intelligence of a group instead of the knowledge and skills of one individual. ⁶³

Primary Sources Document & Photo Analysis

Analyzing and interpreting primary source documents is an essential skill for history students. Students should understand the difference between primary (first-hand accounts) and secondary (second-hand accounts or interpretations) sources, and that these sources can come in many forms, such as letters, memoirs, newspapers, photographs, audio recordings, or videos. Using first person narratives and photographs of historical events instead of summative textbook accounts engages students and allows them to actively investigate history. ^{6 4} These types of documents also help students learn essential historiography skills, including: cause and effect, compare and contrast, continuity and change over time, bias and point of view. ⁶⁵ When using text primary sources, I model the analysis procedures for my students so they understand what they should be looking for in the text. I also note the type of document (letters, government reports, newspaper articles, etc.), the creator (occupation, ethnicity, etc.), their point of view, the purpose, the context, and any pertinent geographic information. There are several mnemonic analysis strategies—APPARTS (Author, Place and time, Prior knowledge, Audience, Reason, The main idea, Significance), SPRITE (Social, Political, Religious, Intellectual, Technological, Economic), and SOAPSTone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone) to name a few—that can help students deconstruct written texts. For visual texts, I teach my students to use OPTIC (Overview, Parts, Text, Interrelationships, Conclusion) to break apart photos, posters, and artwork into smaller pieces, making sure not miss tiny details in their analysis. Learning to analyze documents also helps students improve their reading, comprehension, speaking, and writing skills across the curriculum.

Writing

While writing can be a challenge for students, it is an essential skill that naturally fits into many classroom exercises. Writing in all its forms, from tweets to photo stories and essays, can be integrated across the curriculum. This unit deals with tough subjects such as racism and violence, and I feel it is important for students to reflect and write as they deal with the emotions tied to the history. In this unit, students will write responses from the point of view of key players in the Tulsa Race Riot, analytical responses to historical photographs, and poems that connect to artistic texts. Writing is a systematic process that involves planning, translating thoughts into texts, and revision that innately includes higher order thinking and learning. ⁶⁶

Field Trips

Within today's educational environment of mandated testing field trips have fallen by the wayside, but they provide "lived learning" experiences that students rarely forget. ⁶⁷ Visiting the places students read about in a class brings intangible heritage, history, and geography to life. Field trip learning experiences should begin before students board the school bus; prepare them ahead of time by learning the historical, cultural, and geographic background of the field trip destination. In this unit, the field trip to Greenwood provides context to what students have already learned through studying the history of Tulsa before, during, and after the riot. I always require students bring pencil and paper on trips for writing assignments. Some museums offer scavenger hunts and my high school students love taking part in these seemingly juvenile challenges—so check to see if they are offered or make up your own. After a field trip, extend the learning experiences by assigning written reflections or more in-depth projects, and have students write thank you notes to the organization and its staff of places you visit.