Teaching Strategies
Multi-media Anchor “Texts”
To learn about the two modern-day activist movements, we will use a combination of video and reading. The ESPN documentary 14437follows the organizational efforts of the WNBA players in the 2020 WNBA playoff bubble. Additionally, there are a variety of op-eds, open letters, and interviews from various players that further shine a light on their strategies in building a successful coalition.
For Occupy Wall Street, we will use excerpts from Michael Gould-Wartofsky’s The Occupiers38 to gain background on why the movement began. Then, we will read news articles from 2011 to understand how the media portrayed the movement in real-time. Finally, the New York Times created a variety of educational resources for teachers during the protests.39 We will use their lesson on Occupy Wall Street slogan analysis to examine successes and failures of the movement.
Chalk Talk
A Chalk Talk is a silent activity designed to give students the chance to share ideas without having a few students dominate the conversation. In this activity, large pieces of paper are placed around the classroom with questions written at the top. Students walk around the room and write their reactions or responses to each question directly on the paper. As the activity continues, they can respond to their classmates' ideas. Chalk Talks can serve a variety of purposes: assessing students’ prior knowledge, collaboration with others, assessment of what students have already learned.
Spar Debates
Spar debates are “spontaneous argument” debates between two students. At the beginning, students are given a topic. (Example: Grassroots activism can effectively change democratic systems.) Then, students have two minutes to prepare their arguments. The “pro” speaker gives a one minute affirmative speech with their pre-prepared arguments. Then, the “con” speaker does the same, arguing for the other side. Then, the debaters have thirty seconds to prepare for a three-minute cross-examination session where they can ask clarifying or pointed questions. The debate ends with each speaker giving a one minute closing statement.
Jigsaw
A jigsaw is an activity where the teacher separates students into groups. Each member of the group is responsible for learning a different part of the material. After students have learned their parts, they report back to the group and share what they learned. The Jigsaw method holds students accountable for each others’ learning and encourages students to work together,
Use of Technology
As a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, technology is now ubiquitous in classrooms. I will use a variety of educational technology to supplement and guide our learning. Each student at my school has their own Chromebook. Canvas is the main learning platform that Tulsa Public Schools uses. I will utilize PearDeck to make the class slides interactive. I will use JamBoard to help gather student input and information in a digital format.
Simulations
A classroom simulation is using an actual situation to teach a concept. Primarily, we will use role-playing simulations in this unit. Using an online resource called iCivics, students will play a game called LawCraft. In this game, students start by learning about an issue. Then, they read letters from constituents to determine why and how the issue matters to their community. From there, students go through a simulation of writing a bill and passing it through legislation. Already, students will begin to see how lengthy the process of turning a bill into a law can be, even without adding the dynamic factors of modern-day politics.
Weekly Journals
Students will keep a notebook throughout the unit for weekly journal and drawing prompts. In the unit intro, students will brainstorm a list of words and phrases to describe their ideal society, whether that includes democracy or not. Once a week, students will take 10-15 minutes to free-write or draw their interpretations and reactions to that word. These journals play a significant role in the culminating project.
Guest Speakers
Within the city of Tulsa, there are an abundance of activists and organizers. I hope to bring some of these adults and high school students into my class so that my students can learn from their expertise. I also want them to see how activism is actively impacting their community.
Culminating Writing Project
For the last two weeks of the unit, students will craft a persuasive essay with an accompanying visual component. For the essay, students will select an activist movement related to their interests. This could range from athlete protests to climate strikes to product boycotts. Students will research their movements and determine if the activists were successful or not. They will analyze the movement through the lens of the six building blocks of distributive politics. Ultimately, they will explain how solving this issue would lead to their ideal world, which they have brainstormed in their weekly journal free-writes. For the visual component, students will create a poster for the issue they have selected. They will find a slogan and include a visual component.
The final, and arguably most important, phase of the writing process is publishing. In previous years, I’ve hosted writing fairs as opportunities for students to share their work with the community. For the fairs, students spread out around a community space (gym, cafeteria, etc.) and community members, families, and fellow students visit the fair to read students’ work alongside them. I plan to host a writing fair at the end of this unit as well.
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