2020-Liberty & Equality

Essential Question

What is the difference between being treated unfairly by another person and receiving unequal treatment under the law?
Why is it important to judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, as Dr. King said?
What effect does injustice have on people and groups?

Texts

Informational

Always Running

In this excerpt from his memoir, Rodriguez provides a stirring recollection from his adolescence: the first time he experienced racism as a result of being an immigrant in America. As he says, the experience "stays with [him] like a foul odor."

Luis J. Rodriguez

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Topic

Class Immigration

July 2, 2014

Literature

What If There Were No Black People?

In this poem, the speaker explores how our culture would be lacking—in people, in music, in movements, in contributions—without contributions of African Americans.

Sean Mauricette (aka SUBLIMINAL)

Grade Level

3-5 6-8

Subject

History

July 3, 2014

Literature

Sure You Can Ask Me a Personal Question

In this poem, the speaker--who is Native American--responds to a series of unspoken discriminatory questions. The reader can deduce the missing questions based on the speaker's responses.

Diane Burns

Grade Level

6-8

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

July 5, 2014

Multimedia

Knock Knock

Until Daniel Beaty was 3 years old, his father would "knock knock" on his door every morning. This performance explores the shaping of personal identity in an incarcerated parent's absence.

Daniel Beaty

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Topic

Class Gender & Sexual Identity

October 30, 2014

Informational

Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglass: The Story Behind an American Friendship

This text explores the relationship between Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two self-made men whose lives intersected near the end of America's Civil War.

Russell Freedman

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Subject

History

Topic

Class

July 10, 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.

Jessica Kobe

Grade Level

6-8 9-12

Subject

Civics

History

Geography

Topic

Religion Class Immigration Gender & Sexual Identity Rights & Activism

September 26, 2016

Teaching Strategies

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

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

Plan Built By

demartinez

2020-Liberty & Equality

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