Guide Entry to 25.02.04
This project will utilize theories and practices that decolonize educational spaces. Students will develop skills to critically analyze how racism shows up in their academic education. They will explore storytelling techniques through oral tradition to empower their linguistic and cultural identities. My unit completely integrates two methods for teaching: Anti-racist Black Language and Ethnic Studies. A crucial element of this unit is to consistently discuss and interrogate the effects that colonization and racism has had on languages, and subsequently on our storytelling. Therefore, we will pair our lessons on Anti-racist Black Language with 2Pac’s “Dear Mama” which features Black Language. We will also explore Indigenous stories and the role that oral tradition plays in preserving Indigenous culture. We’ll read and discuss Rigoberta Menchú’s I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian woman in Guatemala, noticing how she, a native Maya K’iche’ speaker, learns Spanish in order to share her story of oppression and resistance orally with a translator who transcribes her story into the written word. We’ll also look at StoryCorps examples of family interviews to inform how students conduct their own family interviews and create narratives from them.
(Developed for English, grade 9; recommended for English, grade 9)
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