Activities
Acknowledging Our Biases
Students will begin and end this unit the same way, by identifying their biases towards the police. During the first lesson, students will identify their biases and what experiences have led them to have the biases they do. Biases can be positive and/or negative. Biases are formed from our personal experiences, stories we hear from people we care about and media, and what we read in books. It will be natural for students to have mixed emotions when describing their view of the police. Once students have identified their biases and what has led them to have the point of view they do, students will be allowed to share their points of view during the talking circle. This will help students engage in authentic and meaningful discussion on how we each have different points of view of the police which affect our biases, but all points of view are valid. Students will conclude this unit completing this activity to see if their opinion on the police and changed and if so why. Again, students will be able to share during a talking circle.
Ideal Police Department
Students will have two cumulative activities. The first one, students will design their own police department. They will create laws that police need to follow, what kind of training police will receive, education and how police will spend their days. Students will write an essay explaining their choices and create a visual of their choice. We will invite neighborhood police into our classroom so students can share their visions with them. Students will be divided into small groups and each group will include a police officer. Once students present their ideal police department to their group, they can participate in a talking circle for further discussion. During this time, police officers will also have a chance to share their ideal police department and reasons for their choices. We will then plan a time for students to have lunch with police officers at their station. The point being, developing relationships with police can heal past traumas caused by police and relationships can strengthen communities.
Safe Space
The second culminating activity will be for students to create a safe place either in our classroom or the school where students can heal from past trauma. Students will act as change agents by acknowledging harm that has been inflicted upon our school community involving the police. They will create a space where students can heal through empowerment. Students will begin by creating a mission statement for the space. Then, students will be divided into teams, each with a specific role, one group might be writing a proposal to the principals, one in charge of the design of the space, one group will be in charge of advertising and fundraising and finally another will create expectations for the space. Once each team completed their part, students will come together as a class create the safe space for healing.
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