De Anza College Entering High School 9th Graders Paper

Assignment1

Points:30

Read Chapters 11 and 12 Common Rebuttals and Putting it all Together.

Your task is to develop a critical social justice lesson plan OR professional development workshop (YOU GET TO CHOOSE WHICH ONE YOU WANT TO DO) that focuses on teaching some of the specific critical social justice perspectives and skills listed. It is also to describe how you would handle the rebuttals that occur in your case study.

****Write up the lesson plan/proposal in detailed bullet points and include your responses to the rebuttals at the end. It should be comprehensive enough so the reader knows what it is you are trying to achieve and how you plan on achieving it. Be detailed.

Here’s an example.

Example“Reflection 11&12

The district has told you to prepare a proposal for three-hour training. They are expecting some push back from parents and students with the following rebuttals: “it’s not a school’s place to teach values” and “politics has no place in schools.” (page 186). Your job is to write up a proposal for how you would handle the training based on the perspectives and skills you deem relevant and how you would handle the rebuttals.

The available demographics of the incoming 9th graders are: 51% female, 45% male; 4% gender fluid; 43% White, 25% African American, 15% Latinx, 14% Asian American, 3% Native American. 30% on free and reduced lunch.

WRITE UP WHAT YOUR THREE HOURS OF TRAINING WOULD ENTAIL. AT THE END, IN PARAGRAPH FORM, DESCRIBE HOW YOU WOULD HANDLE THE REBUTTALS.

Lesson Plan:

Total students: 400

Total adults: 16 total

8 separate rooms needed (50 students in each room)

Plan:

Intro (30 mins)

• Bring incoming students into the auditorium for check in. Explain what is going to happen so that everyone is on the same page.
• During their check in, they will receive a sticker with a color and their name.
• Overview: introduce why they are here, have the adults introduce themselves.
• After the introductions, students will be asked to find an adult holding a sign with their color to be taken to their assigned room.

*Students leave*

*Once in the classroom* 30 mins

• 2 adults in the classroom sitting in the circle with the students
• Have students set down their things and take a seat

*chairs arranged in a circle so that everyone is included*

• Adults lead students in sharing:
• Names and pronouns, something they are excited about, how they are feeling
• Adults go over brave space guidelines

Brave space guidelines:

• Confidentiality.
• One mic rule.
• Step up (talk) and step down (talk less).
• Acknowledge that everyone is trying their best.
• If someone feels offended by what someone has said, pause and resolve that before moving on.
• No one will be forced to share if they do not feel comfortable doing so.

Round 1: 50 mins total

Perspective (what they need to know): see at the level and understand the saliency of your group memberships. *this will be explained to students*

• Highlight that the group identity has a lot of importance.
• Therefore, it is important to honor and support the individuals of the group so that it adds to the identity and culture of the group.

• In a different context, this could be viewed as allowing people to choose groups they feel connected to in order to have these difficult conversations is how they can feel comfortable and find that sense of ‘belonging’.

Activity related to perspective: 15 mins

• Have the students write what they value in a group and what they would need from their peers to feel best supported during these difficult conversations.

Skill: lower defensiveness you may be feeling *this will be explained to students*

One can lower defensiveness through

• By not blaming (in a general sense)
• Approaching the subject from a broad perspective
• Building consensus
• By focusing on educating instead of blame.

Activity related to skill: 30 mins

• Offer the ideas (from above) to the students and get their reactions.
• Have them write a 3 bullet pointed list with the skills they are willing to practice today and why.

*BREAK 10 mins*

Round 2:

Perspective (what they need to know): Recognize what is lost in homogeneity *this will be explained to students*

• Loss of unique and diverse perspectives
• Loss of opportunity to learn about others in our community who are different

Activity related to perspective: 20 mins

• Have the facilitator ask questions such as, “step into the circle if you come from a family with two moms or two dads”. “Step into the circle if you identify as ___.”

Skill: educate yourself about groups you have been separated from*this will be explained to students*

• Example: white people needed to educate themselves on what it means to be white and how their privilege affects their life and those around them.

Activity related to skill: 30 mins total

• Have students write a short story on how their race, gender, socioeconomic background, religion, ableism, and sexuality affects them. 15 minutes to write.
• Do this anonymously
• When finished, place paper in the circle and have students read others’ stories for 15 minutes

*10 min break*

Round 3: 60 mins total

Perspective (what they need to know): Work from the knowledge that the societal default is oppression; there are no spaces free of it. Thus, the question becomes, “how is it manifesting here” instead of, “is it manifesting here?”

Activity related to perspective: 20 mins

Have students suggest the ways in which they see oppression in their community.

Skill: Build authentic cross group relationships. Authentic means committed on- going in mutual relationships and does not mean seeking out a loan member of a minority group to educate you.

Activity related to skill: 40 mins

10 minute conversative in groups of 2 where each person gets to talk about themselves and their life.

Closing:

5 mins with an online survey

• What they learned and how they will apply it to their life moving forward, and especially in their school community.

Paragraph is response to the rebuttals:

Schools have an obligation to teach from multiple perspectives. The school environment also offers a great opportunity to have these challenging conversations among students. If these conversations are not being had, there will be lack of awareness and understanding among peers that will ultimately cause division within the community. Ultimately a student will choose what they want to believe in, and how they will conduct their life, but it is important that they learn from multiple perspectives, so they can develop social and critical thinking skills while engaging in difficult and uncomfortable conversations. In a parent’s responses to “it’s not a school’s place to teach values,” I would kindly explain that it is a school’s responsibility to teach values so that students can aid in their own understanding about themselves, what they believe in, how they want to conduct their lives, and the world around them. A school environment provides a place where students learn values not just through their educators, but from their peers. Does a parent really want their child in an environment that disregards the importance of teaching values? Why not provide a child with many options of how they want to live their life? In another parent’s response to “politics has no place in schools,” I would like to offer the perspective that politics is taught as part of history. It is important to educate students on the foundations that our democracy is built upon as part of their education. It is important to give an honest account of what has happened throughout history in the United States. Claiming that politics has no place in schools is disregarding the years of systemic racism that has promently occurred throughout history. Those who do not believe in addressing this issue as part of education are simply perpetuating racism within our communities. “

Actions

This exercise builds on your prior knowledge and applies your knowledge to an outcome in the real world.

Submit a lesson/proposal here.

CHOICE 1: Case study: Entering High School 9th graders

You are being considered by the school district to do a training for all incoming 9th graders. You are being asked to submit a proposal for how you would train the 400 incoming 9th graders on some of the perspectives and skills on page 203. YOU CHOOSE WHICH OF THESE YOU WANT TO FOCUS ON TEACHING. CHOOSE AT LEAST 3 THINGS YOU WILL TEACH TOTAL FROM THE PERSPECTIVES AND SKILLS LISTED. WHAT DO YOU THINK 9TH GRADERS NEED TO KNOW?

The district has told you to prepare a proposal three-hour training. They are expecting some push back from parents and students with the following rebuttals: “it’s not a school’s place to teach values” and “politics has no place in schools.” (page 186). Your job is to write up a proposal for how you would handle the training based on the perspectives and skills you deem relevant and how you would handle the rebuttals.

The available demographics of the incoming 9th graders are: 51% female, 45% male; 4% gender fluid; 43% White, 25% African American, 15% Latinx, 14% Asian American, 3% Native American. 30% on free and reduced lunch.

WRITE UP WHAT YOUR THREE HOURS OF TRAINING WOULD ENTAIL. AT THE END, IN PARAGRAPH FORM, DESCRIBE HOW YOU WOULD HANDLE THE REBUTTALS.

OR CHOICE 2- Adults in a local community prevention center

A new alcohol and other drug abuse prevention center has just been created in Richmond, CA. You have been hired to teach the new staff and volunteers some of the critical social justice perspectives and skills on pages 206-7. Make sure to include skills for the dominant group, and intersectionality for both White women and women of Color.

Demographics of the group include: Two affluent White women, one affluent Black woman who is the Director, one middle-class Hispanic gay man, two lower SES Latina women, and two middle-class Asian men.

Some members of the group are pushing back by claiming the following rebuttals (page 189-190): insisting on immunity from socialization and ignoring intersectionality. How would you handle that within the scope of the training?

WRITE UP WHAT YOUR THREE HOURS OF TRAINING WOULD ENTAIL. AT THE END, IN PARAGRAPH FORM, DESCRIBE HOW YOU WOULD HANDLE THE REBUTTALS.

Assignment2

points:25

DIRECTIONS: Watch this deliberation video and write a DETAILED, bulleted summary of the key points within the video. Usually, that means 2 pages.

You will be using this process in your project. THE GRID THAT YOU WILL BE USING FOR YOUR FINAL PROJECT IS IN THIS VIDEO. YOU WILL NEED TO WATCH IT TO SEE WHAT I’M REFERRING TO.

Assignment3:Research articles

1. Find a minimum of THREE relevant articles to help you understand the nature of your topic. For instance, if you are researching the question of how we can reduce sexism, you would be researching what has been accomplished toward that end already. What’s the current research say on what is being done to lessen or address this system of oppression?

2. Bullet point the relevant aspects of each article. You should aim for one page of bullets per article.

The objective is to get background and current knowledge on your topic area.

You will take this information with you into your deliberation process. It will inform your final solutions sheet. You need to know what has happened or been done regarding the topic so you can think through additional next steps to lessen this type of systemic oppression.

Assignment 4:Interview notes

DIRECTIONS: You will interview at least 3 people who can inform you on your topic either with their first-hand experiences or if they are an expert in the field.

The idea is to find out what people’s concerns are about this topic. These concerns should be taken into consideration when you deliberate to come up with your final three options/solutions for the grid.

TURN IN YOUR INTERVIEW NOTES HERE.

Again, the idea is that you are gathering information that will support your rich deliberation process. All of these factors enter into the three proposed solutions sheet. Remember, a copy of that grid is at the end of the deliberation video.

It lists the solutions, actions that would need to be taken, and any drawbacks that are a result or possibility given the solution.

Assignment5: critical social justice video( this can write up as transcript)

Points:100

lease turn in your critical social justice video here! If you use YouTube make sure the settings allow me to see it.

Thanks! I look forward to watching them!

Culminating and Constructing Knowledge: Social Justice Deliberation Project 175 points

(CHST L.O. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3; Diversity 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, C.E. 1.1, 1.2)

Culminating and Constructing Knowledge: Critical Social Justice Deliberation Project

The outcome of this project is an informational grid and supporting recorded Zoom presentation that educates others on the real experiences of people who have faced institutional and societal oppression and proposes informed solutions that would help counter this oppression, leading to a more just society.

(CHST L.O.1.1, 1.2, 1.3; Diversity L.O.1.2, 1.3, 1.4, C.E. 1.1, 1.2)