You Are the Change: What is Nonviolent Thought?

1. You Are the Change: What is Nonviolent Thought? Samantha L. Miller Secondary English Philadelphia, PA

2. Overview • Students will explore the idea of “nonviolence” via texts, music, videos, and personal experience. • A collection of classroom activities and assignments will enable students to construct an individualized and applicable definition to the term, nonviolence. • The culminating project will allow students to share their newly constructed definition with others and, more importantly, challenge students to apply this concept to their own lives.

3. Rationale Students live, to greater or lesser degrees, in a violent world, with some forms of violence more insidious than others. By introducing students to some of the most revolutionary thinkers of our time, this unit will challenge students’ beliefs about what violence is, how violence spreads, and who perpetuates difference forms of violence. While students explore the topic and origins of nonviolence, via various readings from various authors, I hope to empower them to find their own voice with which to contribute to the discourse of nonviolent thought.

4. Essential Questions and Enduring Understandings BOYCOTT • What is nonviolence, and/or nonviolent thought/theory? • How has nonviolent change impacted the world, both recently and throughout history? • Who are the major players/actors in nonviolent theory? • What vocabulary do we use in nonviolent discourse? • How is violence and nonviolence enacted in students’ everyday lives? • From where does nonviolence draw its power? CREATIVE TENSION AHIMSA SATYAGRAHA NONCOOPERATION STRIKES RECONCILIATION

5. Readings • Walter Dean Myers’ short story, “Monkeyman,” from the book 145th Street • Doreen Rappaport’s picture book, Martin’s Big Words • Rapper, Common’s interpretation of nonviolence, as demonstrated in his song, “A Dream” • Carl Sandburg’s short poem, “Choose” • List of Dr. Seuss books that demonstrate nonviolent conflict-resolution: • Horton Hears a Who! • How the Grinch Stole Christmas • The Cat in the Hat • Yertle the Turtle • The Sneeches • Green Eggs and Ham • The Lorax • The Butter Battle Book

6. Readings (cont.) • Leo Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You (selections) • Mohandas Gandhi’s The Story of My Experiments with Truth (selections) • The Holy Bible, The Gospel of Matthew Chapter 5 “The Sermon on the Mount” • Henry David Thoreau’s essay, “Civil Disobedience” • Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” • Nelson Mandela’s biography, Long Walk to Freedom (selections) • Gene Sharp’s handbook, From Dictatorship to Democracy (selections)

7. Young Adult (students will choose 1 book for independent reading) • Anderson, Laurie. Speak. New York: Scholastic, 1999. Melinda enters the ninth grade after being date raped over the summer. No one believes her story and she feels isolated and hated. Will Melinda learn to speak again? • Draper, Sharon. Forged By Fire. New York: Scholastic, 1997. Gerald has had a tough life. Despite his mother’s drug abuse and abandonment to losing the one person who was there for him, Aunt Queen, Gerald faces every conflict head on and never gives up. • Draper, Sharon. Tears of A Tiger. New York: Scholastic , 1999. Andy falls into deep depression following the death of his best friend in a drunk driving accident. Andy was the driver. • Flake, Sharon G.. The Skin I'm In. New York : Scholastic, 1998. Maleeka desperately wants to fit in at her new school, but the popular girls make her do very mean things in order to be a part of their group. Maleeka must find her true self before she loses control of her life. • Myers, Walter Dean. Scorpions. New York: Harper Trophy, 1988. Jamal learns the consequences of joining a gang. • Terrell, Ruth Harris. A Kid's Guide to How to Stop the Violence. New York: Avon Books, 1992. This book gives countless ideas and suggestions for resolving conflict without the use of violence.

8. Multi-Media Resources • Gene Sharp’s “How to Start a Revolution” (teaser): http://youtu.be/Vk1XbyFv51k • Common’s “A Dream”: http://youtu.be/WxzBG836NrY • President Obama’s reaction to Egypt protests: http://youtu.be/VPTew4WTWIs • Gandhi’s 1931 speech (audio and text): http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=232 • “A Human Rights Project”: http://vimeo.com/36600118 • “Bringing Down A Dictator” (documentary)

9. Culminating Project: Public Service Announcement video • Adapted from “MyTube: Make a Video Public Service Announcement”: http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/activities-projects/mytube-make-video-public-30157.html?main-tab=2#glossary • Students choose an area of nonviolent thought as it relates to the life of a teenager, write a script, add a visual element, and create a video to share with class on YouTube. • Example PSA on nonviolence: http://youtu.be/2OIfGoNfm4w • “The Power of Words” (Maya Angelou) : http://youtu.be/9vIXgBJuphw • “The Power of Words” (Morgan Freeman): http://youtu.be/9_tCtvmAm4M • Charlie Chaplin’s “Let Us Free the World (from The Great Dictator”: http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=2739

10. Resources • Coghlan, Rosemarie.  "The Teaching of Anti-Violence Strategies within the English Curriculum."  English Journal 89.5 (2000):  84-89. • I Have a Dream: Exploring Nonviolence in Young Adult Texts: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/have-dream-exploring-nonviolence-30509.html?tab=1#tabs • Non-Violent Conflict Resolution via Literature for Young Adults, Leah Bienemann, Oliver High School http://www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2006/Bienemann.pdf