10/9 - Class Recap

Students shared their racial autobiographies today in class - I am sure that many of our backgrounds are related to people who immigrated through New York City. Photo taken in 2010.

Hello everyone,

Welcome back to another week of DSJ! We had plenty to do with our continuing work. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place, or region.

Soundtrack: "Thugz Mansion" by 2Pac. Selected for today by Harley, who suggested it last class.

AGENDA 10/9/17:
Check In/Review Agreements
Current Events
White Like Me Debrief
Racial Autobiography Work

Homework: Read the blog! Make sure you have everything turned in, especially your Where I'm From poem and Racial Autobiography!
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Check In/Review Agreements: At the beginning of class, we went over the Courageous Conversations Agreements, as always, to begin our work together for the day.

Current Events: After checking in, we talked for a bit about Indigenous Peoples Day (vs. Columbus Day) today. Jay shared a great list of resources and links with us - check them out here if you want to learn more about the experiences of First Nations people today, especially in Oregon.

Here was the slideshow (courtesy of Bernadette, the PSU professor for Senior Inquiry) that we went though in class today:

Google Drive - Indigenous People's Day in Oregon

White Like Me Debrief: The next part of class was diving into a book that I (Mr. Fritz) talked about last class as a part of my racial autobiography, White Like Me by Tim Wise. Link to buy the book from Powells here.

Last class, we read and annotated this, and this class, we used a new protocol for sharing our thoughts, in the hopes of getting more students involved in the discussion. I really enjoyed hearing from some newer voices today! We will continue to do this in the future, as well as take volunteers.

Racial Autobiographies: The rest of class was devoted to sharing our racial autobiographies in what we call "affinity groups" where students selected where they felt like they identified most with, in the hopes of having some commonality in the discussion. Here is the assignment for students who want an electronic copy or who missed class:

Google Drive - Racial Autobiography Assignment

We shared the racial autobiographies and developed a list in the affinity groups about top issues that the group felt like they were facing. Next class, we will have a discussion about these issues (I know many groups did not finish with this), with the hopes of engaging everyone in meaningful dialogue.