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Social Studies: Anti-Racism

By Elasaid0714
Grade Level
6-8
private
LEARNING PLAN
Essential Question
  • How are people similar to and different from each other?
  • What are the benefits and challenges of living in a diverse society?
  • How can we celebrate what we have in common while also honoring our differences?
  • How can we make connections across our differences?
  • How do communities become diverse?
  • What skills are necessary within diverse societies?
  • How does an individual benefit from living in a diverse society?
  • What is the relationship between diversity and belonging?
  • What does it mean to say there is strength in diversity?
  • Why is it important to judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, as Dr. King said?
Texts
Literature

The Skin I'm In (Chapter 3)

Maleeka gets made fun of at school about her clothes, her grades, even the color of her skin. In this chapter, she talks about getting teased on a school trip and how even her friend Char was ashamed to be seen with her because of her clothes.
by
Sharon Flake
Grade Level
3-5 6-8
Topic
Race & Ethnicity
Social Justice Domain
Justice
July 3, 2014
Informational

Danger on my Doorstep

Linda Schubert recounts the fear that consumed her Jewish family living in Nazi-Germany in the late 1930s. Each family member endured individual stress and anxiety, but each also contributed to the family's greater good of the family.
by
Linda Schubert
Grade Level
6-8
Subject
History
Geography
Topic
Race & Ethnicity Religion
Social Justice Domain
Identity Justice
July 7, 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.
by
Solomon Northup
Grade Level
6-8
Subject
History
Economics
Topic
Race & Ethnicity
Social Justice Domain
Justice
April 27, 2016
Informational

The Power of Language

In this essay, the author identifies vague terminology used by the United States government during World War II to describe their actions toward Japanese Americans and outlines terms that would more appropriately describe the government's actions.
by
Learning for Justice Staff
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
Subject
Civics
History
Topic
Race & Ethnicity
Social Justice Domain
Diversity Justice
April 28, 2016
Informational

This Land is Ours

“The Ponca’s challenge of the U.S. government marked a turning point on the long path of Indian resistance. Increasingly, after Standing Bear v. Cook, the fight for Native rights would shift from the battlefields to the courtrooms of the growing nation.”
by
Learning for Justice Staff
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
Subject
History
Geography
Topic
Race & Ethnicity
Social Justice Domain
Identity Diversity Justice Action
August 9, 2017
Literature

(A)wake

In this poem, the speaker traces the senseless killings taking place abroad and at home, with a particular focus on the African-American community. The speaker also calls communities to action to "grow our hope and heal our hearts" in order to live together in peace.
by
Jessica Kobe
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
Subject
Civics
History
Geography
Topic
Race & Ethnicity Religion Class Immigration Gender & Sexual Identity Rights & Activism
Social Justice Domain
Diversity Justice Action
September 26, 2016
Informational

The burden of being a young American Muslim

Hailey Woldt describes being a part of a research team that traveled to 75 cities and visited 100 mosques as part of a study on Muslims living in a post-9/11 America. In Brooklyn, a ten-year-old boy tells of being beaten, prevented from practicing his religion in peace and called a terroist.
by
Hailey Woldt
Grade Level
6-8
Subject
Civics
Geography
Topic
Race & Ethnicity Religion Rights & Activism
Social Justice Domain
Diversity Justice Action
July 3, 2014
Visual

Iesha Evans

Protesting the death of Alton Sterling and the Baton Rough Police Department’s request for Black Lives Matter demonstrators to clear roadways, Iesha Evans stands in the middle of a street as two Louisiana state troopers, dressed in riot gear, approach to arrest her.
by
Jonathan Bachman
Grade Level
K-2 3-5 6-8 9-12
Subject
Civics
History
Topic
Race & Ethnicity Rights & Activism
Social Justice Domain
Justice Action
January 30, 2017
Literature

Barracoon

This excerpt from Barracoon, which provides a first-person account from the last living man transported from Africa to America as an enslaved person. The excerpt shows Zora Neal Hurston arriving at Cudjo Lewis’ house to speak with him about his past in only the way he can.
by
Zora Neale Hurston
Grade Level
6-8
Subject
History
Topic
Race & Ethnicity Religion Class
Social Justice Domain
Identity Diversity Justice Action
June 18, 2019
Teaching Strategies
Word Work

Traits Matrix

In this semantic feature analysis strategy, students use a grid to show how vocabulary words relate to one another and to conceptual frameworks (e.g., masculine versus feminine).
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
L.6-12.4, L.6-12.5, L.6-12.6
July 19, 2014
Word Work

Vocabulary Prediction Chart

Students predict the meanings of vocabulary words before reading and confirm the accuracy of their predictions during and after reading. Students identify context clues from the text and revise their definitions accordingly.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
L.6-12.4, L.6-12.6
July 19, 2014
Word Work

Vocabulary Rounds

This contextual redefinition strategy encourages students to use the structure and context of words to predict their meanings. Students arrive at the definition through exposure to increasingly rich clues.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
L.6-12.4, L.6-12.6
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Challenge the Text

Challenge the Text helps students ask and answer their own text-dependent questions by taking multiple perspectives and uncovering assumptions and biases within the text.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.3, RL.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.3, RI.6-12.6
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Reading Against the Grain

In reading against the grain students analyze the dominant reading of a text and engage in alternative or "resistant" readings. Resistant readings scrutinize the beliefs and attitudes that typically go unexamined in a text, drawing attention to the gaps, silences and contradictions.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.2, RL.6-12.6, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.2, RI.6-12.6
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Shared Reading

Shared reading combines aspects of guided reading and read-aloud strategies. During shared reading, a teacher or proficient student reads the text aloud, pausing at pre-selected moments to discuss content and analyze the text. This strategy facilitates close reading of a complex text in small or whole group settings.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1
July 19, 2014
Close and Critical Reading

Text Graffiti

This strategy exposes students to multiple short pieces of a text before they read it in its entirety. Students read selected quotes out of context and comment on both the selection and the comments of other students. The activity ends with students reflecting on their reactions to and predictions about the text.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1
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

Four Perspectives

A strategy to introduce the anti-bias framework into group discussion and textual analysis. Students respond to and pose questions from the four anti-bias domains: identity, diversity, justice and action.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.4, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Socratic Seminar

A structured discussion in which students examine issues and respond to open-ended questions about a text. Students use dialogue rather than debate to communicate with each other.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.3, SL.6-12.4, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

Text-based Fishbowl

A strategy for organizing medium- to large-group discussions. Students are separated into an inner and outer circle. In the inner circle, or fishbowl, students have a text-based discussion; students in the outer circle listen to the discussion and take notes.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RL.6-12.3, RI.6-12.1, RI.6-12.3, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014
Community Inquiry

What Would They Say

A discussion strategy that asks students to infer how a particular author or character from a text would respond to questions and scenarios. Students must defend their conclusions using evidence from the text.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
RL.6-12.1, RI.6-12.1, SL.6-12.1, SL.6-12.3, SL.6-12.4, SL.6-12.6
July 13, 2014
Student Tasks
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

Spotlight on Change Agents

Students investigate, interview and profile a person working for equity and social change. The person can work on the local, national or international level, with an organization or as an individual. The compiled profiles will form a resource for other students in the future.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
July 13, 2014
Write to the Source

Break It Down

Break it Down asks students to demonstrate their explanatory and descriptive writing skills.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
W.6-12.2, W.6-12.4, W.6-12.9
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

Problem Solver

Problem Solver asks students to demonstrate their argumentative skills when identifying problems and solutions in writing.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
W.6-12.1, W.6-12.4, W.6-12.9
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

So What?

So What? asks students to demonstrate their explanatory and informative skills when writing to gain the understanding of others.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
W.6-12.2, W.6-12.4, W.6-12.9
July 19, 2014
Write to the Source

Where I Stand

Where I Stand asks students to demonstrate their argumentative and analytical writing skills.
Grade Level
6-8 9-12
CCSS
W.6-12.1, W.6-12.4, W.6-12.9
July 19, 2014
Plan Built By
Elasaid0714

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