9/21 - Class Recap

Today, we started a mini-unit on The Black Fatherhood Project documentary. The filmmaker is Jordan Thierry, who is a Beaverton School District graduate. Photo credit: Ifayni Bell/OPB.

Dear class,

It is nice to feel a bit more in the swing of things with what we are doing with such a big class of students! Here's what happened today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Explains the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.

Soundtrack: "A Change Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke. Selected for today because this song is about the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/21/17:

Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions

Debrief Implicit Bias Test

Family Structure

Moynihan Report

Vocabulary Timeline

Atlantic Article

Homework: Read the blog! Post a comment if you have not. Start reading the Atlantic article on the Black Family in the Age of Incarceration.

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For in class work and activities today, please see the PowerPoint we went through together, here:

Google Drive - 9/21 Lesson PowerPoint

To recap:

Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions: We will always do this at the beginning of class, as it sets the foundation for how we want class to approach the issues we are studying.

Debrief Implicit Bias Test: The first part of class was devoted to trying to understand the results of the implicit bias test we took at the end of last class.

Harvard.edu - Project Implicit

As we defined Implicit Bias last class, it is really unconscious attitudes and stereotypes - basically, there's not a ton we can do to counteract them, aside from knowing more about how we perceive others and adjusting our filters to compensate.

Family Structure: The essential question for our unit on the Black Fatherhood Project is: “How has family structure changed though conflict, power, and policy?" We will be investigating this by looking at the history of black families in America and governmental policies that have impacted black families.

Moynihan Report: To start this section of class, we asked students within small groups to read the abstract of the Moynihan Report (without actually saying what it was or when it was made) and to try and find current event articles that relate to the topics addressed.

The full Moynihan Report is here:

BlackPast.org - The Moynihan Report (1965)

When this came out, it was ULTRA controversial that the government of the United States was saying that black people were in this position of structural inferiority in American society. Of course, as we know, this has continued to result in inequitable outcomes to this day. Basically, we wanted to start the unit by linking the past to the present.

Vocabulary Timeline: Continuing this theme, we handed out a fill in the blank timeline for some vocabulary that we wanted students to define in small groups. The vocabulary words/terms that will be used in The Black Fatherhood Project that we will watch next class are:

Chattel slavery and colonialism

Introduction of Christianity

Sharecropping / Jim Crow

Menial jobs

Welfare

Redlining

War veterans

Drug use

Drug trafficking

The goal here was to get ready for next class in watching the documentary, so we know some of the key terms addressed. Then, next Wednesday, Jordan Thierry will (hopefully!) be joining our class for a discussion of his film, during a Socratic Seminar breakdown!

Atlantic Article: At the end of class, we had students start reading/breaking up into sections this article by Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic in 2015:

TheAtlantic.com - The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration

This is a very lengthy article, so that is why we are starting to deconstruct it now - by the start of class next Wednesday, you will be responsible for reading a section of the article (it is split up into nine chapters) and coming to class with annotations and discussion questions ready.

That was class for the day! Lots to get into, for sure. Have a great weekend, everyone!