2/26 - Class Recap

Today in class, we continued talking about the different roles people have in stories regarding social justice work.

Dear class,

Welcome back to the blog! 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: “i" by Kendrick Lamar. Selected for today by Paysen, who pointed out that the song discusses discrimination. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/26/18:
Check In/Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions
Acting for Justice
Story
Narrative Writing

Homework: Read the blog! Turn in your Where I'm From Poem if you have not already!  Post a comment if you have not.

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Check In/Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions: Here are the Courageous Conversations Agreements. We will always review this at the beginning of class, as it sets the foundation for how we want class to approach the issues we are studying. We checked in about the weekend and what people were up to, before moving on.

Acting for Justice: This was the handout that students worked last class with Ms. Labossiere on:

Google Drive - Acting for Justice Roles and Story

Today in class, we reviewed the terms and definitions students created last class.

Story: Next, I read another story ("The Music Lesson") to students as we analyzed the piece. What role did the narrator take? Who was the target? Perpetrator? These were all notes on the Acting for Justice worksheet.

Narrative Writing: The rest of class was spent telling the stories that students identified in their own personal lives, last class. Here is the assignment, which we would like a paper copy of next class period to edit and share:

Google Drive - Writing for Justice Prompt

That was it for class today! Thanks for your continued hard work and engagement. See you on Thursday!

2/23 - Class Recap

Dear DSJ students,

It feels like it has been a really long time since we last saw you! Because of the long weekend and the snow on Wednesday, today was the first time we had class since last week. I (Mr. Fritz) was out with the Westview Global Studies teachers at a meeting in Salem today, so Ms. Labossiere ran the class and did an activity regarding allies, bystanders, targets, and perpetrators.

Here are some materials that were used and will help if you missed class:

Students were asked to define the terms ally, perpetrator, bystander, or target and think of times that they took on those roles in their lives.

This clip was used in the discussion:

Then, Ms. Labossiere used this reading to have students identify the roles at place in the story:

Google Drive - DSJ Ally, Perpetrator, Target, Bystander Reading

If you were not in class, please complete this reading and try to identify the different roles!

Next week, Ms. Labossiere will be out of class at trainings and meetings, so we will be continuing the work we started today. See you then! Have a great weekend!

2/16 - Class Recap

This is where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address in Pennsylvania, after one of the most vicious battles of the Civil War, in 1863. Photo taken in 2014.

Hello DSJ students,

We continued our beginning of the year unit on race today. 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: “Land of the Free” by Joey Bada$$. Selected for today by AJ, who wrote to us to suggest it. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/16/18:
Check In/Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions
Small Groups
Present

Homework: Read the blog! Turn in your Where I'm From Poem if you have not already! Prepare for the Socratic Seminar next class by reviewing the readings! Post a comment if you have not.

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To recap:

Check In/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. We also discussed the most recent school shooting in Florida for a while. We said we would post this article for everyone to see, as we want students to feel like there are actions that can be taken: NYTimes.com - How to Reduce Shootings.

Small Groups/Present: Last class, we started going through the "White Fragility" article by Robin DiAngelo. In today's class, we split the rest of the reading up into smaller sections for groups to read and then report out on, as we continued our look at the role of "Whiteness" in our society as a concept.

The small groups were reading, annotating, discussing, and creating a 1-page summary that was shared with the class.

Thank you for your work today! We will keep at it on Wednesday when we will have a Socratic Seminar. See you then! Enjoy your long weekend!

2/14 - Class Recap

Photo from a subway station at Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, in 2011.

Dear DSJ students,

Another great day of learning! Here's what happened today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:

I can communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.

I can demonstrate an understanding of how individuals and non-governmental institutions interact with each other and the government in shaping politics.

I can apply an understanding of ideas and concepts to a new context or problem.

Soundtrack: "Differences" by Ginuwine. Selected for today because it's Valentine's Day, an old school throwback, and because we are continuing to talk about differences in America. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/14/18:
Check-In
Review of Four Agreements and Six Conditions
White Fragility

Homework: Read the blog! Be prepared for the Socratic Seminar next class on the two articles! Post a comment if you have not. 

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Check In/Review Agreements: 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.

White Fragility: This section in class was centered around this reading that we passed out and assigned pieces of to small groups:

Robin DiAngelo - White Fragility

As with last class and the excerpt from "White Like Me" by Tim Wise, we wanted students to read, annotate, and ask questions from the text, in preparation for a discussion in class about the concepts being expressed.

Due to it being a short Wednesday schedule, today was mostly an in class working day. Please come prepared for next class having read both articles and with main points and questions to talk about! Thank you!

2/12 - Class Recap

The Courageous Conversations Agreements, Conditions, and Compass that we went through today in class.

Dear class,

Our first day with us all together! Thanks for your patience as we develop this new structure and team teaching model. Here's what we did today in class:

Soundtrack: “Comin’ From Where I’m From” by Anthony Hamilton. Selected for today because students are continuing to work on the Where I'm From poem (due next Tuesday). Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/12/18:
Introduction/Attendance
Where I’m From
Courageous Conversations
Whiteness

Homework: Read the blog. Post a comment if you have not. Complete “Where I’m From” assignment if you did not already.
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Introduction/Attendance: For now, with the open walls, as we get to know all of the students in the combined class, we will take attendance by passing around a sign in sheet. Please make sure to sign in during class!

Where I’m From: The Where I'm From poem was assigned to Ms. Labossiere's class last week and it due today in class (she asked for a paper copy, but there is also a turn in box on Google Classroom). Here is a copy if you forgot to grab one in class:

Google Drive - Where I'm From Poem Assignment

Courageous Conversations: This is the framework for our ground rules and expectations with what we are doing together this year. As we noted, we use this same framework in our own equity meetings and with staff here at Westview. We went through the picture linked to above at the top of this post, point by point.

Whiteness: For this section of class, we went over what a working definition of "Whiteness" could look like (related to the Courageous Conversations guide), by showing the following material:

CNN.com - Trump decries immigrants from 'shithole countries' coming to US

Google Drive - Tim Wise: White Like Me Discussion Guide

The page we showed in class was #12, which goes into some history regarding the social construction of Whiteness.

The second image we showed in class is here:

We wanted students to know what it means when we say, during the Courageous Conversations conditions "Examine the presence and role of Whiteness," what exactly that means.

White Like Me: Awakenings: The next part of class was diving into a book that I (Mr. Fritz) found super helpful in terms of thinking about race when I was growing up, called White Like Me by Tim Wise. Link to buy the book from Powells here.

In particular, we wanted to have students read about Tim Wise awakened to this field of work, as a white man. We read part of an excerpt from the book, and then had students finish reading it, while annotating and making questions. We will be having a discussion on this chapter later.

Thanks everyone! See you on Wednesday!

Introduction Day(s) - Class Recap

A photo I (Luke) took in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2011.

Hello everyone,

Thank you for doing your homework and visiting the blog! As I said in class, I think this is a really helpful resource for students, staff, and parents to be able to follow along with what is happening. After every class, I will write up a recap and post it. Much of the time, your only homework will be to read over the blog and be prepared for what is coming next in class. With that, let's get started!

Soundtrack: "Changes" by 2Pac. I always choose this song to start off a new class with, because I like the idea of our room being somewhat different from your other experiences in high school. This song also has all sorts of lyrics that relate to why this class exists, like the line "instead of a War on Poverty, they got a War on Drugs, so the police can bother me." Check out the full lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/6 and 8/18:
Introductions/Attendance
Syllabus/Grades
The Blog
Letter to Class/Mr. Fritz
Class Unity Activity

Homework: Share syllabus with parents/guardians and have them sign the back sheet to return to us. Read the blog!

Introductions/Attendance: At the start of class, I introduced myself and how the agenda on the whiteboard works. I am absolutely delighted to be your teacher at Westview this semester! I also talked about why this class exists from my perspective and how excited I am that we get to offer this thanks to your participation!

I took attendance and tried to ask everyone how they wanted me to address them. It will take me some time, but eventually, I will know everyone's names, I promise!

Syllabus/Grades: I know that this is not the most exciting content in class. I wanted to make sure to go over some of the real key points to the syllabus (like where I am, how to contact me, how your grade is decided, and most importantly, the need for respect in this class). Here are electronic copies of the syllabus and rubrics:

Google Drive: Westview Diversity and Social Justice 2017-18 Syllabus

The learning targets for the course and rubrics for how you will be assessed/graded this year can be found here:

Google Drive: Westview Diversity and Social Justice Grading Rubrics

The Blog: As part of the syllabus, I introduced this website: the class blog! This is seriously so important for your success in this class. If you are staying up to date on here, reviewing what happened in class to get ready for the next meeting, and asking questions if you need help, I guarantee that you will be more successful than if you do not. Make sure to leave a comment at least once (the easiest homework assignment of all time for most students, I believe), so I know you are able to!

Letter to Class/Mr. Fritz: After the syllabus talk was done, I passed out a letter that I wrote to the class, explaining all about who I am and what sort of expectations I have. Hopefully, most of it was interesting information! I like passing these out and signing them all individually. To me, it represents that I really am interested in everyone in my class.

After reading the letter aloud, I asked everyone to write back to me in a similar sort of fashion. I gave a bunch of possible questions to answer as prompts and the rest of class to complete the assignment. I LOVE reading these and writing back to everyone! Thank you for your effort - I can't wait to learn a little bit more about who you are!

Thank you for your participation and effort today! I am looking forward to seeing you next week!

Welcome to the Blog!

The dawn of a new day and year over Westview!

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the Westview Diversity and Social Justice class blog during the 2017-18 school year! Before we begin with posting updates via class recaps, let us give you a little introduction to this website.

First off, comments can be made on any post by anyone, and they can be anonymous (though we would really prefer that you leave your name, so that we can follow up with you in person) by selecting "Name/URL" on the right, underneath the comment box. Please try to use good spelling and grammar in your comments! We (Mr. Fritz) have to approve the comments before they are posted, so don't worry if you don't see your comment right away.

Secondly, because we will be putting up the class agenda and homework, as well as any interesting links (after class has met), we will attempt to give you ways to download the relevant files and documents you may have missed in class or would be interested in seeing again for your homework (or just because). For instance, here is the syllabus that we passed out in class:

Google Drive: Westview Diversity and Social Justice 2017-18 Syllabus

The learning targets for the course and rubrics for how you will be assessed/graded this year can be found here:

Google Drive: Westview Diversity and Social Justice Grading Rubrics

Finally, to contact us personally (other than leaving a comment - which we may or may not see immediately), please e-mail us at luke_fritz@beaverton.k12.or.us and/or natalie_labossiere@beaverton.k12.or.us. We will get back to you ASAP! Again, please use grammatically correct language and spelling, to the best of your ability. It really is appreciated and will go a long way for you in the future!

We know it might be a lot to take in, but hopefully we will all get used to it! We envision this blog as a place where you will be able to come to converse with your classmates and us, as well as get all the latest assignments, updates from class, and further information.

If you have any questions or comments, please never hesitate to let me know!

Welcome again - thanks for visiting. Please bookmark this site and come back soon! :-)