Objectives
As this is a dual-enrollment course, I follow the higher institution’s guidelines by using the Delaware Technical Community College Wide Core Course (CCC) Performance Objectives to plan my units of instruction. In this unit I will be using the CCC Analyze social stratification and the causes and consequences of classifying people by race, ethnicity, and gender. In doing so students will: (1) define the concept of stratification and its application to human differences, (2) illustrate the connection between social stratification and life chances, and (3) list two major kinds of criteria societies use to categorize people. Because of our current mascot situation, the lack of information that our students have regarding Native Americans, and the specific example of attempts to assimilate Native Americans in our Sociology textbook’s Race Chapter, I thought that there was no better theme than Indian Boarding Schools to connect something students are familiar with (education/schooling) to the sociological concept of assimilation. Certainly students know about being in school. Those, who are seniors, are looking forward to going away to school/living far from their families. Being empathetic to another view/type of schooling will be good for them. Additionally, highlighting the resilience and resistance of the Native Americans to the assimilation process will enable my students to see these people not only as victims or savages but people who are just like you and I.
The Enduring Understandings are taken from the Core Concepts of our textbook’s chapter on Race. After the unit, students will understand that assimilation occurs through a variety of means – voluntary and/or forced and that social and cultural differences between racial and ethnic groups “disappear” when one group is absorbed into another group’s culture and social networks or when two groups merge to form a new, blended culture.1 Guiding Questions to focus the unit include: What is assimilation and its variety of terms and how are these sociological concepts related to Native American people? How was assimilation used as a discrimination tool against Native American people? How have Native American people resisted these assimilation attempts? and How have Native American people demonstrated their resilience to these assimilation policies over time?
Indian boarding schools constitute a perfect case study to demonstrate the assimilation process. Students will be able to compare and contrast it to that the historical knowledge they have of European immigrants as well as the enslaved Africans. I began my journey to better understand the Indian Boarding Schools and their connection to the sociological concept of assimilation by reading a variety of books, journal articles, teaching resources, and government reports. Additionally, I viewed many photographs. Reflecting on my own education, I did not recollect any time allotment to this subject matter in my own schooling. As I completed these readings, my focus was on the historical content of the primary sources, determining which ones could be most beneficial for my students to be exposed to and use in their understanding of assimilation. Using primary source sets will not only help to meet the Sociology Standards, they also address two History/Social Studies Common Core Standards for Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: (one) CSSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem and (two) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources. Students will be able to synthesize the multiple texts within the primary source text sets to better understand the process of assimilation and its’ effects on the Native American people then and now. I envision students creating and recording dramatic readings for each section – assimilation, resilience, and resistance – to help our entire school community in their understanding of the information.
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