Observing Social Justice Through A Digital Lens

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Subject

Digital Literacy

Reading & Language Arts

Social Studies

History

Geography

Science & Health

Topic

Race & Ethnicity Class Gender & Sexual Identity Bullying & Bias Rights & Activism

Essential Question

What did Martin Luther King mean when he said, “A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere?” What does it mean today?
How have people advocated and fought for justice throughout history?
How does privilege shape the lives of individuals and groups?

Texts

Multimedia

Ben DeSoto 'Understanding Poverty' exhibit

In this video, photojournalist Ben DeSoto discusses "Understanding Poverty," an exhibit featuring images of people and communities affected by poverty and homelessness.

Ben Tecumseh DeSoto

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Subject

Economics

Topic

Class

July 2, 2014

Literature

The Skin I'm In (Chapter 4)

Maleeka gets made fun of at school about her clothes, her grades, even the color of her skin. In this chapter, one of her teachers, with white blotches on her face, shows how she's been able to accept the skin she's in.

Sharon Flake

Grade Level

6-8

Topic

Race & Ethnicity

July 3, 2014

Literature

Foul Line—1987

In this poem, a black woman carefully analyzes her interaction with a white waitress, whose actions, although civil, are smoldering with superiority.

Colleen McElroy

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Topic

Gender & Sexual Identity Race & Ethnicity

July 5, 2014

Literature

Only One Me

This poem's speaker describes being bullied and feeling depressed and skipping school to avoid the harassment. Spiraling downhill emotionally, the speaker ultimately comes to accept and appreciate his/her unique identities.

Sean Mauricette (aka SUBLIMINAL)

Grade Level

6-8

Topic

Bullying & Bias

July 8, 2014

Literature

A Slave Auction

Solomon Northup was kidnapped and sold into slavery for 12 years before he was freed. This excerpt from his memoir of those years, Twelve Years A Slave, details a New Orleans slave auction.

Solomon Northup

Grade Level

6-8

Subject

History

Economics

Topic

Race & Ethnicity

April 27, 2016

Visual

Crazy Versus Eccentric

In this ironic cartoon, the same man is depicted twice—once with tattered clothing and unkept body hair as a poor man and a second time in a suit with a clean-cut image as a rich man. As a poor man, he's regarded as crazy, but as a rich man, he's eccentric.

Andy Singer

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Topic

Class

July 2, 2014

Visual

Oyster Shucking: Dunbar, Louisiana

This 1911 photograph shows a four-year-old girl working alongside her mother shucking oysters in a Dunbar, Louisiana, cannery.

Lewis Hine

Grade Level

3-5 6-8 9-12

Subject

Economics

Geography

Topic

Class

September 3, 2015

Visual

Rough on Rats

"Rough on Rats" is a late 19th-century advertisement for a pesticide. The image depicts a stereotypical Chinese man eating a rat.

Forbes Co. Boston

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Subject

History

Topic

Race & Ethnicity Immigration

September 3, 2015

Teaching Strategies

Word Work

Illustrated Vocabulary

In this visual strategy, students divide vocabulary words into parts and draw illustrations to represent the separate meaning of each part.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

CCSS

L.6-12.4, L.6-12.6

July 19, 2014

Close and Critical Reading

Text-Dependent Questions

Readers must refer back to the central text to answer text-dependent questions and provide evidence from the reading to support their answers. Students provide accurate, relevant and complete evidence. To do this well, students will often need to re-read the text several times. This approach privileges the text over prior knowledge, personal experience and pre-reading activities.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

CCSS

RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.4, RL.6-12.5, RL.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.3, RI.6-12.4, RI.6-12.6

July 19, 2014

Community Inquiry

Text Talk Time (6-8, 9-12)

A whole class discussion structured to facilitate rich dialogue, active listening and use of textual evidence.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

CCSS

RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.4, RL.6-12.5, R.L.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.4, RI.6-12.5, RI.6-12.6, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.3, SL.6-12.6

July 13, 2014

Student Tasks

Do Something

Act Up! Drama for Justice

Students write and perform a skit or monologue that brings awareness to a specific issue addressed in the text.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

July 13, 2014

Do Something

Be the Change...

Students identify and investigate a community problem and propose a solution. They then plan and implement action directed at solving the problem.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

July 13, 2014

Do Something

Film Festival

Students review films related to a theme in the central text, then plan, prepare for and host a community film festival.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

July 13, 2014

Do Something

Journalism for Justice

Students plan, write, edit and distribute a piece of print or digital journalism about a relevant social problem or issue.

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

July 13, 2014

Do Something

My Voice, My Voter’s Guide

Estimated time Two to three weeks Why? One of the ways young students become invested in the democratic process is by become empowered advocates for civic participation in their local communities. When younger students

Grade Level

3-5 6-8 9-12

Subject

Civics

August 30, 2018

Plan Built By

BMETALLINOS

Observing Social Justice Through A Digital Lens

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