Civil Rights

1. Civil Rights

2. A. Civil Rights Movement Brainstorming • MLK • Malcolm X • Rosa Parks • Thurgood Marshall • Fannie Lou Hamer • Ella Baker • Segregation • Emmett Till • Integration • Suffrage • Court cases • Freedom Summer of 1964 • March on Washington

3. Constitutional Rights • Voting Act of 1964 • 13th-15th Amendments Role of Government and Courts in Preserving / Denying Rights Then and Now • Brown v. Board of Education • Plessy v. Fergueson • Executive Orders Political Activism and Activists Then and Now • Martin Luther King Jr. • Sit-ins • Freedom Rides

4. MLK’s Birthday • I Have A Dream Speech • Bus Boycott • Walk from Selma to Montgomery Diversity • White Flight • Integration • Racism • Affirmative Action • Quotas

5. Urban America Then and Now – Problems and Possibilities • Reparations • Black Power Champaign-Urbana and Illinois During the Civil Rights Movement • Bigotry • KKK • Black Power on Campus

6. B. Key Perspectives Making choices and taking action:We will look at how people took a stand (some died, some were beaten, some were put into jail, etc.).  Students will discuss how important it is to stand up for what you believe in and some of the ramifications for doing so.  Students will learn about various approaches to taking a stand (i.e. non-violent approach). Diversity and difference:Students will learn of the struggle of African American people as they fought for equal rights.  Students will get a close-up of how life was for African American people.

7. Justice, rights, and responsibility:Students will learn about the laws and bills surrounding equal rights fro African Americans.  They will go over the constitutional rights of African Americans before and after the Civil Rights movement, amendments that were changed/ratified during/after the Civil Rights Movement, and important court cases during that time. Historically excluded people: Students will learn about the different ways that people are excluded. They will learn about social, economic and racial discrimination, both then and now. Students will learn about the different ways in which people justify racism. They will also identify ways in which exclusion has negatively affected that group of people.

8. C. Background Information and Perspectives • Interview with a Student • Interview with a Principal • Interview with a Teacher • Interview with a Community Member

9. Background Information on Unit Topic Essential Questions: 1) What motivates a movement and how does one take place? 2) What is racism and how does it originate?

10. Enduring Understandings • Racism is an ongoing problem in our society with roots that extend back to the beginnings of the nation. • The present social climate is a result of past events and decisions, but social change can and will occur.

11. Perspectives from Academic Readings Takaki • Gives history of how the Civil Rights movement came to be • Starts when the first Africans were brought over • End of slavery did not vitally change things for African Americans • Migration to the North and the acquisition of jobs did not translate into equal social status • Employment consisted of jobs of servitude and other jobs created by the onset of war • Still felt enslaved, although technically free • Students need to know why African Americans didn't have equal rights from the beginning, so Takaki gives them insight into the history of the Civil Rights movement. (p. 340-369)

12. Zinn: Zinn is a good source, because Zinn feels that students need to understand every aspect of what they are studying. Students won't just learn about Martin Luther King Jr. from Zinn's perspective, they will learn about Fannie Lou Hamer and why she was an important part of the movement; they will learn about the court cases that surrounded the Civil Rights movement; they will learn why African Americans were being lynched because they whistled at a white woman, and so on.  Zinn will give students a clear view of the event and not the sugar-coated version. We do not expect students to actually read Zinn, but we will use it as teachers to inform our instruction. (p. 435 – 459)

13. E. Rationale This unit is designed for 5th grade students. It is important because these students are at a very impressionable age and it is important to understand other perspectives to make them well-rounded citizens. This theme is also very recent; its effects are still felt today. The students in our classrooms may feel some of these effects. Diversity is an overarching theme of social studies. Right now this theme is an undercurrent of society, but is rarely discussed except in relation to Affirmative Action. People are very uncomfortable with it, and as a result it is not really discussed in classroom setting except as a “flavor of the month” during Black History month.

14. This unit uses research and anecdotal evidence highlighting “best practices” to inform instruction. It relies heavily on Doing History and If This is Social Studies, Why Isn’t It Boring?, both of which detail multiple “best practices” of social studies in real classrooms. Our instruction will also be informed by our own practice; we will discover in the course of this unit what techniques work best for our particular group of students.

15. II. Instructional Strategies • Using Oral History • It is important for students to be exposed to primary sources and students can ask questions of their choice. • Using Role Play/Debate/Simulation • These activities allow students to experience multiple perspectives. • Small groups • Learning in this format allows students to hear the perspectives of others and allows for more in-depth discussion. • Structured Brainstorm • The students get to organize their thoughts and it lets the teacher know what misconceptions the students possess.

16. Show connection to modern-day events through modern media • This is a prevalent tool that students can use to show that this theme is relevant to their lives. • Multimedia • Students will build a lasting understanding through multi-sensory exposure to dramatic material • Think-pair-share • Learning in this format allows students to hear the perspectives of others and allows for more in-depth discussion. • Field Trip - Boxes and Walls • Fields trips have been demonstrated to promote lasting impressions of a given topic and they foster active engagement.

17. Instructional Strategies – Background Information • From school • From students • From teachers • From community members

18. Instructional Strategies - School Although the school does not teach a unit on the Civil Rights Movement, it does have a wide variety of resources to teach it. The library has a whole section dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement, including literature, movies, and lesson plan activities. They also encourage bringing experts (or people who have experienced the Civil Rights Movement) into the classrooms to give presentations or interviews on the subject. Many of teachers in the school use KWL’s as a way to ascertain what students already know and what they want to know. The school recognizes this strategy and important and necessary for effective teaching.

19. Instructional Strategies – Students In interviewing a 5th grade boy I learned that students enjoy hands on learning better than sitting at their desks listening to the teacher talk for a long time. The student also said that he enjoys participating in field trips and activities where the class goes outside. He said that group work was fun, but sometimes he does not like working with certain people.

20. Instructional Strategies - Community “I think making connections is important when working with the students in Champaign.  They are taught a lot of things that they can’t apply to their outside life and therefore they don’t retain it.  I’m not a teacher, so I don’t know many more.  I would assume that letting the students work in groups would be effective.  I work with children and the big thing now is kids learn better from one another.  When they work together they reinforce what they know by explaining it to their group and the people who don’t understand might learn better from their peers.” - Urban League Worker

21. Instructional Strategies - Teachers • Oral histories/interviews • Connects history to real life • If something that they know and love has experienced something then can learn through storytelling • Discrimination Simulation • Connects history to their own real life • History is so abstract that any time you can make it real • Their world is so small, they are still so self-centered • Small groups • Especially if it’s a heterogeneous group it works really well • They can learn from each other and bounce ideas of off each other

22. Structured Brainstorms • If you follow through with them to the end • Eighty percent of the time, teachers don’t follow it through to the end • Activates prior knowledge • Show connection to modern-day events through modern media • Text-to-world • Their world is so small, any time you can show relevance it brings it alive a little bit or makes it more relevant • Multimedia • The students can be told about something, but if there’s a really good image it can conjure up other images and help them make connections • Think-pair-share • It makes them better listeners to their partners • More effective than just pair share • Powerful, makes them accountable • Field Trip • Always great, but always costly

23. Instructional Strategies – Academic Readings • Doing History • If This is Social Studies, Why Isn’t It Boring?

24. Instructional Strategies - Doing History • KWL charts are a great and easy way to ascertain what the students know as well as setting the tone for the rest of the unit. The teacher can base the rest of the lesson based on what the students want to know. Finally, KWL charts can be used as a way to document the students progress by comparing what they know to what they have learned. • “To understand information – not simply repeat it – students must connect it to their previous understanding…. KWL charts, in which students discuss what they know, what they want to know, and (later) what they have learned, are one way to activate this prior knowledge.” Pg. 12

25. Role Play and Simulations • “Using role play and simulations as opportunities to play out different interpretations or constructions of events can support the development of historical perspective-taking.” Pg. 145 • Simulations can help students understand why some people acted the way they did during the 1950’s and why these actions led to the Civil Rights Movement. Levstik, Linda, and Keith Barton.  2001.  Doing history: Investigating with children in Elementary and Middle Schools.  Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

26. Instructional Strategies – If This Is Social Studies, Why Isn’t It Boring? • Inquiry is stressed - students are encouraged to to explore and investigate topics, sometimes of their choosing • “I describe how I began to move away from textbook-dominated teaching and teacher-dominated learning to a more learner-centered approach” (Page 46) • Students explore primary and secondary sources and make connections to their lives • “…I knew that one of the surest ways to help children make new information meaningful is to connect the new information to their lives” (Page 4)

27. Learning is accomplished through presentations and group projects • Primary assessment based on presentation and communication of knowledge • “In the democratic classroom, there is a deliberate component of social action, a social agenda to improve and change classroom life. This is achieved through classroom activities that reveal social inequalities and encourage student participation in the design of alternatives” (Page 100)

28. III. Literacy Link • Books (fiction, non-fiction, poetry) • Newspapers/Journals • Writing • Speaking/listening

29. Primary Sources

31. Books • Fiction – It is a great way for students to get a deeper understanding of how someone would have felt or acted during that time period. • Non-fiction – It is a good source of background information. It contains factual information that students can analyze and use for other activities, such to prepare for interview questions. • Poetry – Poetry written at that time is a great primary source that students can use to analyze the feelings and concerns of people during that time.

32. Newspapers and Journals • First, students can look at newspapers and journals from the 1950’s and 1960’s as primary sources to read what events were going on and the media’s interpretation of these events. • Second, students can look at newspapers and journals from the present day and find examples of discrimination that still occurs today and other civil rights issues.

33. Writing • Students will conduct an interview where they will write down the questions they will ask and will write down the person’s answers. They will then analyze the information and write down what they learned. • Students can also write in a journal about interesting facts they learned and how they feel about the events and people they are learning about.

34. Speaking/Listening • Students will conduct an interview where they will practice the skills of both speaking and listening. • Students may give a presentation where they will explain an event or person. The rest of the students will listen. • Students will also use their listening skills when watching movies or listening to music during that time period.

35. Critical Perspectives • Teacher • Literature: Motivating for children, but should not be overused • Newspapers and Journals: Helps connect the students to the world around them and shows them the relevance of the past to their lives • Librarian • Picture books: Get the students engaged into unfamiliar topics, get straight to the point of the book without having to sift through minor details. • Chapter books: Can also be good for older learners, can keep a child’s interest over an extended period of time. A student will be engaged in a good book and anxious to find out what is going to happen next. Also, they go into detail a lot more than picture books, and older learners can practice identifying story elements.

36. Community Member - Urban League Worker “I think children’s literature is important because students get tired of reading text books, so adding non fiction and fiction texts to the curriculum can engage them.  Students also need to see books with characters that look like them, so African American texts would be a nice addition.” • Academic Readings “A variety of good literature, combined with careful teacher facilitation, can help students see and understand…historical perspectives” (Doing History, p.

37. Doing History - Books • “The structure of narrative encourages readers to recognize the human aspects of history and, with some help, to develop a better sense of its interpretive and tentative aspects.” Pg. 120 • Books are useful and interesting resources that help students to personalize historical events.

38. Doing History - Speaking/Listening “Interviewing…is an accessible and comfortable way for students to move beyond their own experiences, and yet it allows them to see how accounts may differ, how sources can vary in reliability, and how conflicting accounts can be reconciled.” Pg. 48 Through interviews, students can personalize what they want to learn about and get a personal and first-hand account about what happened during the Civil Rights Movement. This experience will make the events more real and concrete if they hear about stories from someone who actually experienced them.

39. Doing History - Writing “Writing is an important way in which …classmates construct their own historical interpretations…. Writing encouraged students to think about what they knew and could support.” Pg. 11-117 Writing is a great way for students to critically analyze, interpret, and synthesize what they have learned about a specific event or person during the Civil Rights Movement.

40. Unit Sketch Unit Essential Questions • What motivates a movement and how does one take place? • What is racism and how does it originate? Unit Enduring Understandings • Racism is an ongoing problem in our society with roots that extend back to the beginnings of the nation. • The present social climate is a result of past events and decisions, but social change can and will occur.

41. Unit Standards: Alignment with State Standards • 16.A.2b Compare different stories about a historical figure or event and analyze differences in the portrayals and perspectives they present. • 16.A.3b Make inferences about historical events and eras using historical maps and other historical sources. • 16.A.2c Ask questions and seek answers by collecting and analyzing data from historic documents, images and other literary and non-literary sources. • 16.A.3c Identify the differences between historical fact and interpretation.

42. 16.C.3b (US) Explain relationships among the American economy and slavery, immigration, industrialization, labor and urbanization, 1700-present. • 16.D.2c (US) Describe the influence of key individuals and groups, including Susan B. Anthony/suffrage and Martin Luther King, Jr./civil rights, in the historical eras of Illinois and the United States. • 18.C.3a Describe ways in which a diverse U.S. population has developed and maintained common beliefs (e.g., life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; the Constitution and the Bill of Rights). • 18.C.3b Explain how diverse groups have contributed to U.S. social systems over time.

43. Unit Standards:Alignment with National Standards I. Culture e. Articulate the implications of cultural diversity, as well as cohesion, within and across groups II. Time, Continuity, & Change. b. Identify and use key concepts such as chronology, causality, change, conflict, and complexity to explain, analyze, and show connections among patterns of historical change and continuity d. Identify and use processes important to reconstructing and reinterpreting the past, such as using a variety of sources, providing, validating, and weighing evidence for claims, checking credibility of sources, and searching for causality.

44. e. Develop critical sensitivities such as empathy and skepticism regarding attitudes, values, and behaviors of people in different historical contexts • f. Use knowledge of facts and concepts drawn from history, along with methods of historical inquiry, to inform decision-making about and action-taking on public issues. IV. Individual Development & Identity • a. Relate personal changes to social, cultural, and historical contexts

45. c. Describe the ways family, gender, ethnicity, nationality, and institutional affiliations contribute to personal identity • f. Identify and describe the influence of perception, attitudes, values, an beliefs on personal identity • g. Identify and interpret examples of stereotyping, conformity, and altruism • h. Work independently and cooperatively to accomplish goals

46. V. Individuals, Groups, & Institutions • e. Identify and describe examples of tension between belief • f. Describe the role of institutions in furthering both continuity and change VI. Power, Authority & Governance • a. Examine persistent issues involving the rights, roles, and status of the individual in relation to the general welfare

47. f. Explain conditions, actions, and motivations that contribute to conflict and cooperation within and among nations • h. Explain and apply concept such as power, role, statue, justice, and influence to the examination of persistent issues social problems IX. Global Connections • f. Demonstrate understanding of concerns, standards, issues, and conflicts related to universal human rights.

48. X. Civic Ideals & Practices c. Locate, access, analyze, organize and apply information about selected public issues – recognizing and explaining multiple points of view. e. Explain and analyze various forms of citizen action that influences public policy decisions g. Analyze the influences of diverse forms of public opinion on the development of public policy and decision-making. h. Analyze the effectiveness of selected public policies and citizen behaviors in realizing the stated ideals of a democratic republican form of government.

49. Lesson 1: Tuning In Purpose: • To spark curiosity about the civil rights movement • To begin to talk about racism and its causes. Activity: During this lesson, the students will listen as the teacher reads the book Going North. This activity will be followed by a discussion on the reasons that the family went North and what they encountered on the way. Students will make predictions about what the family might encounter in the North. This will spark their curiosity and give them something look into in the the coming weeks.

50. Lesson 2: Preparing to Find Out Purpose: • The students will gain background information on the Civil Rights Movement • The students will develop their interview skills Activity: The teacher and the students will work together to complete a KWL chart about the Civil Rights Movement. They will also read excerpts from Oh Freedom! and come up with questions for an interview to be completed during the next lesson. Students will also examine other primary sources, including virtual ones that may be found at **library gov**