Information from Formation

This year I have been experimenting with teaching US History thematically rather than taking the traditional chronological approach. Each term has a theme: Immigration, Foreign Policy, Economics/Race/Social Class, and Power Struggles (the 4th term is purposely vague and may change going forward, but I wanted to have a "catch all" theme in case topics didn't fit neatly into the other themes). Each term many topics are presented in pairs, with past events presented in comparison to a current or more recent event. Truly my students are learning the past to better understand a contemporary issue. Some stellar examples so far have been comparing Mexican immigration in the 1920s and today, US responses to the Holocaust and Syrian refugees, and US actions after Pearl Harbor and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

With this approach every presidential debate provides new opportunities to learn from the past, and current events can take center stage instead of being relegated to "off topic" status. We began term 3's Economics/Race/Social Class looking at family income data for the past 100 years to draw some general conclusions that we could spend the term analyzing. Then we had some lessons on industrial revolution technology, social problems and awareness campaigns, with all the relevant analogies and comparisons to life today which began to merge nicely into the Gilded Age vs today's "1%" when our first two snow days hit before and after last weekend. When we finally came back to school, we had a half day for PD, then 3 full days leading up to a week off for February vacation. I knew the 4-day weekend would have lulled my students into early vacation mode, and this would be a challenging week for student motivation. Then, in the midst of my lesson planning, seemingly as an answer to my prayers, this track dropped:

So here's how the week went:

Tuesday (half day, shortened period):

Activator: We Wear The Mask  Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1896 poem, with discussion about why someone would smile even when experiencing emotional pain, and the implications of this. How do we know when someone else is experiencing pain? Do we have an obligation to look more closely at others' experiences, or can we simply rely on what we see at first glance?

Progressivism then and now, video playlist (with handout to take notes, and answer guiding questions) ‘

      
Closing: What were the concerns of progressives then and now? What concerns were/are not addressed? (Students should recognize that progressivism is most concerned with income inequality--but not specifically gender or racial inequality)

Homework = Désirée’s Baby by KateChopin, draw conclusion about race and gender in antebellum Louisiana.

Wednesday 
Activator: Beyoncé “Formation” listen to just the song, not the video, ask students to predict how this song relates to topics of The Progressive Movement, Women's Rights, Struggle against Jim Crow Laws.

[tbh Classes needed to watch the last 1-2 of the clips from yesterday]

Antebellum South Assessment (because I need data, and this assessment of students' ability to source a document is on point as we consider Beyoncé as a source, plus the topic relates to Désirée’s Baby)

Désirée’s Baby  discussion; connections to Progressivism, Formation, and issues of race and gender.

Women’s Rights, African American Rights, and the 15^th Amendment, primary source analysis think around with table mates, using quotes and ideas from a SHEG powerpoint and lesson.

Closing: Everyone noticed the connection between women doing hard labor, and hard work and attaining the right to vote--first in noticing that western states were the first to grant women suffrage, and then finally the 19th amendment passing in the wake of WWI where many women went to work in place of men who were fighting. So, we all can conclude that there is a precedent in the US for hard work leading to attainment of rights.

Homework = Read excerpts from After Hurricane Katrina, A Man-Made Disaster in New Orleans and write a response essay (3 paragraphs: author’s point, your reaction to author’s point, how article has changed you/your thinking)

Thursday

Activator: Students read The One Formation Lyric That Sums Up The Song's Biggest Theme is Unforgettable ; collect essays from each table group and discuss their thoughts on the reading.

Explain tomorrow's class will be a modified EdCafe, where students will lead sessions of discussions about the themes presented in Formation. Remind students who did not turn in essays of the importance of the reading in understanding one of the main themes of the song.

Background: Ida B. Wells Anti-lynching crusade

Clip #1 from Many Rivers to Cross: Old stereotypes vs new stereotypes for African Americans until 21:15

Attaining Rights through hard work, or education? Compare arguments made in docs from the Booker T. Washington vs W.E.B. DuBois SHEG lesson.

Chris Rock Rich vs Wealthy (until the Bill Gates/Oprah reference)

Clip #2 from Many Rivers to Cross:Harlem Renassaince, to 25:30

Clip #3 from Many Rivers to Cross: Oscar Micheaux films vs D.W. Griffiths' Birth of a Nation to the racial incident in Tulsa, OK in 1921 that destroyed the Black community of Greenwood (37:24)

Closing: Begin to compile list of topics to discuss for Ed Cafe (list will stay on board for other classes to tweak or add to: Hurricane Katrina, Rich vs Wealthy (Bill Gates), Black communities and danger of success, use of art to bring awareness to social problems, African American stereotypes reclaimed/re-imaged in Formation lyrics; "yellow boned" and "bama" in particular, Police/#blacklivesmatter, gender equality/inequality, information vs in formation -- meaning of pun; Getting in formation, before an action takes place what steps are needed? 

Homework: Prepare for Ed Cafe discussions, compile notes, write 5-7 questions to discuss with peers

Friday

Activator: 2 Katrina videos. First an overview from CBS news, then first hand accounts of the horrific conditions after the levee broke, to 5:38 and photo of submerged police car.

Beyoncé's Formation Video (I showed the clean version, but gave students the dirty lyrics. They are juniors in HS, and to me listening to curse words is worse than reading them.

Students take 5 minutes to fill the Ed Cafe Board (just a chart I made on the board); we had 4 discussions, lead by students, on topics from Thursday's list. When I have Ed Cafe, I almost always include a snack break, with some type of food that relates to the topic. I made the students corn bread muffins, which they enjoyed.

The bolded topics above were most popular and were discussed in every class. My honors classes had 2 sessions, my college prep classes could only manage 1 session. Other than having slightly shorter readings (I had shorter excerpts from the Katrina reading, and a different version of Désirée’s Baby that included a plot summary) the college prep students kept pace with honors this week.

Assessment: Students earned 3 grades this week for the sourcing HAT, the Katrina response essay, and the EdCafe rubric (largely self assessed, along with my observations as I eavesdropped on conversations) and notes they passed in with the rubric. 

The students' did fairly well in their discussions, and were clearly able to read much more into the lyrics at the end of the week, than at the beginning. We did not get into the Civil Rights Movement, or any of the references in the Super Bowl performance to Malcolm X or the Black Panthers, that have sparked a backlash. These are really topics for the Power Struggle theme next term. I get the sense that Formation is a gift that will keep on giving--students were motivated and will continue to be motivated to understand what all the fuss is about.