4/30 - Class Recap

Time is ticking away until the end of the school year! Today in class we talked about Asian American experience. This is a clock in a park in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo taken in 2011.

Hello everyone,

Today we investigated Asian American experience as we get closer to turning in the Racial Autobiography assignment. Here's what happened in class:

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: "Jai Ho" by A.R. Rahman. This song is from the "Slumdog Millionaire" soundtrack and selected for today because of our look at Asian American experience (an enormously broad category, we know). Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/30/18:
Check In/Review Agreements
What Can I Do Today?
Asian American
Racial Autobiographies

Homework: Read the blog! Racial autobiography assignment due at the start of class on Friday, May 4.
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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 also asked what students were up to outside of class since the last time we checked in.

What Can I Do Today?: We also asked students if there was anything they wanted to add to the "What Can I Do Today?" poster up at the front of the room, in terms of actions outside of class. We also noted that the list is live on the blog here on the upper right corner, with links!

Asian American Experience: As with our other mini-units on Race, we started this off by by watching this New York Times short documentary on Asian Americans and Race:

NYTimes.com - A Conversation With Asian-Americans on Race

Next, we read excerpts from "Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White" by Frank Wu. Amazon link here.

We wanted students to breakdown the chapter we assigned and then have a larger group conversation about it. Thank you for your engagement here!

Racial Autobiographies: We did not have time in class to get to this, but please continue to work on it outside of class! Here is this assignment for students who want an electronic copy or who missed class:

Google Drive - Racial Autobiography Assignment

This will be due at the start of class on Friday, May 4. See you on Wednesday!

4/26 - Class Recap

We talked about Native American experience today in class. This is a photo of Monument Valley, which is a part of the Navajo Nation on the border between Arizona and Utah. Photo taken in 2007.

Dear class,

We are continuing our overall focus on Race in class, by discussing Native Americans in society. 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: "Eagle Spirit" by Charles Littleleaf. Selected for today because the artist is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, here in Oregon. Listen to the song here.

AGENDA 4/26/18:
Check In/Review Agreements
What Can I Do Today?
Native American Experience
Racial Autobiographies

Homework: Read the blog! Racial autobiography assignment due at the start of class on Friday, May 4.
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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 also asked what students were up to outside of class since the last time we checked in.

What Can I Do Today?: We also asked students if there was anything they wanted to add to the "What Can I Do Today?" poster up at the front of the room, in terms of actions outside of class. We also noted that the list is live on the blog here on the upper right corner, with links!

Tomorrow (Friday, April 27) is the GLSEN Day of Silence, which we made sure to highlight for interested students.

Native American Experience: This part of class came from this presentation, which we went through together:

Google Drive - Native American DSJ Lesson

During this lesson, we talked about the concepts of "blood quantum" and cultural appropriation. We also asked students to identify current examples of cultural appropriation and share them with the class.

Racial Autobiographies: We did not have time in class to get to this, but please continue to work on it outside of class! Here is this assignment for students who want an electronic copy or who missed class:

Google Drive - Racial Autobiography Assignment

This will be due at the start of class on Friday, May 4. See you next week, everyone!

4/24 - Class Recap

Part of my (Mr. Fritz's) racial autobiography today in class was about my experiences with one of my best friends in life, Ryan. Here we are in 2007! I can't believe this was 11 years ago!

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to another interesting (hopefully!) week of Diversity and Social Justice! 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: "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" by AC/DC. Selected for today because we started the racial autobiography assignment today in class! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/24/18:
Check In/Review Agreements
What Can I Do Today?
Racial Autobiographies

Homework: Read the blog! Racial autobiography assignment due at the start of class on Friday, May 4.
----
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 also asked what students were up to outside of class since the last time we checked in.

What Can I Do Today?: We also asked students if there was anything they wanted to add to the "What Can I Do Today?" poster up at the front of the room, in terms of actions outside of class. We also noted that the list is live on the blog here on the upper right corner, with links!

Racial Autobiographies: After this opening section, we moved on to our next major assignment of the semester, which is called a Racial Autobiography. Both Ms. Labossiere and I have done this activity ourselves with colleagues on the Beaverton School District Equity Leadership Team, but I have never before read mine before students (except for last semester in DSJ), and I don't think Ms. Labossiere had, either! Thank you for your patience as we introduced this assignment. Here it is for students who want an electronic copy or who missed class:

Google Drive - Racial Autobiography Assignment

This will be due at the start of class on Friday, May 4. Writing a racial autobiography forces us to consider all of the ways that race has impacted our lives. We asked students to identify major themes from our shared autobiographies, and then we asked students to start working on the assignment for the rest of class.

See you on Thursday, everyone!

4/20 - Class Recap

Rafael Nadal, who is a Spanish tennis player. Photo taken in 2010.

Hello everyone,

It was great to spend the last few minutes of the week together! Here's what happened today in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Explains the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.

Soundtrack: "Caraluna" by Bacilos. Selected for today because of the Spanish lyrics and the group, which is from Miami. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/20/18:
Check In/Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions
What Can I Do Today?
Stereotypes and Statistics

Homework: Read the blog!

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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 also asked what students were up to outside of class since the last time we checked in.

What Can I Do Today?: We also asked students if there was anything they wanted to add to the "What Can I Do Today?" poster up at the front of the room, in terms of actions outside of class. We also noted that the list is live on the blog here on the upper right corner, with links!

Stereotypes and Statistics: Next, we split up the class back into three smaller groups and went through the rest of this lesson (adapted from a PBS resource connected to the Latino American documentary episode we watched last week):

Google Drive - Latinx Americans: Stereotypes and Statistics Activity

This was on Google Classroom for students to run through (each small group was then further split up into five smaller groups to do the different activities).

We ended class with a discussion about the stereotypes and statistics we identified, as well as students turning in their work for the unit. That was it for the day! Thanks, everyone!

4/18 - Class Recap

My friend Ryan and I, in Bogota, Colombia in 2009.

Dear class,

We are continuing our very timely look at Latinx Americans. Here's what happened today in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Explains the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.

Soundtrack: "Es Por Ti" by Juanes. Selected for today because of our continuing unit involving Hispanic and Latin culture. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/18/18:
Check In/Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions
What Can I Do Today?
Immigrant High
Stereotypes and Statistics

Homework: Read the blog!

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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 also asked what students were up to outside of class since the last time we checked in.

During this time, we talked about a recent post on social media and some statistics regarding crime rates and undocumented immigrants. This link helps explain a bit:

PolitiFact.com - Trump leaves out context in claim about immigrants and crime

What Can I Do Today?: We also asked students if there was anything they wanted to add to the "What Can I Do Today?" poster up at the front of the room, in terms of actions outside of class. We also noted that the list is live on the blog here on the upper right corner, with links!

Immigrant High: We finished this shorter (we had about 3 minutes left in class) documentary from PBS called "Immigrant High" about a high school in New York City:

PBS.org - Independent Lens: Immigrant High 

Stereotypes and Statistics: To end class, we split up the class into three smaller groups and went through this lesson (adapted from a PBS resource connected to the Latino American documentary episode we watched last week):

Google Drive - Latinx Americans: Stereotypes and Statistics Activity

This was on Google Classroom for students to run through (each small group was then further split up into five smaller groups to do the different activities).

We ended class with this activity today and will return to it next class! Thanks, everyone!

4/16 - Class Recap

My favorite restaurant in Portland is probably Pambiche, which specializes in Cuban cuisine.

Hello everyone,

We now have six straight full weeks ahead before Memorial Day! We have lots to do in the second half of the semester. Here's what happened today in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Explains the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.

Soundtrack: "Livin' La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin. Selected for today because the documentary we watched in class featured Latin American music. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/16/18:
Check In/Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions
What Can I Do Today?
Peril and Promise
Writing
Short Stories
Immigrant High

Homework: Read the blog!

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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 also asked what students were up to outside of class since the last time we checked in.

What Can I Do Today?: We also asked students if there was anything they wanted to add to the "What Can I Do Today?" poster up at the front of the room, in terms of actions outside of class. We also noted that the list is live on the blog here on the upper right corner, with links!

Peril and Promise/Writing: Last class, we continued watching this documentary which is from PBS, called "Latino Americans: Episode 6 - Peril and Promise." It is available to watch here:

Thirteen.org - S1 E6: Episode 6: Peril and Promise

We finished this in class today (we only had 5 minutes left) and then had students do some writing as far as what they had learned from the documentary.

Short Story: Next, we had students read an excerpts from an book about Latin American experiences. The book is here:

Amazon.com - Latinas: Struggles & Protests in 21st Century USA

We read the introduction, called "Latina Activism" in class together.

Immigrant High: At the end of class, we watched this shorter (17 minute - we have about 3 minutes left in class) documentary from PBS called "Immigrant High" about a high school in New York City:

PBS.org - Independent Lens: Immigrant High 

We will pick back up here next class! Thanks, everyone!

4/11 - Class Recap

The documentary we watched in class showed the impact of the bilingual debate in Miami. This is a picture I took of South Beach, Miami in 2009.

Dear class,

We continued talking about Latinx Americans in class as we start our new focus. Here's what happened today in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Explains the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.

Soundtrack: "Live Your Life" by T.I. and Rihanna. Selected for today because of a student comment on the blog. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/11/18:
Check In/Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions
What Can I Do Today?
Peril and Promise

Homework: Read the blog! All late work for Progress Reports is due by tomorrow (Thursday).

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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 also asked what students were up to outside of class since the last time we checked in.

What Can I Do Today?: We also asked students if there was anything they wanted to add to the "What Can I Do Today?" poster up at the front of the room, in terms of actions outside of class. We also noted that the list is live on the blog here on the upper right corner, with links!

Peril and Promise: Last class, we started watching this documentary which is from PBS, called "Latino Americans: Episode 6 - Peril and Promise." It is available to watch here:

Thirteen.org - S1 E6: Episode 6: Peril and Promise

We have about 5 minutes left in the documentary in class today (after starting about 10 minutes in). We will continue this unit next week! See you then!

4/9 - Class Recap

Today in class we talked about Latinx Americans. This is a picture of a statue of Simon Bolivar in Bogota, Colombia. Photo taken in 2009.

Hi everyone,

We began looking into Latinx Americans as we continue our unit on race in America. Here's what happened today in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Explains the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.

Soundtrack: "Maria, Maria" by Carlos Santana. Selected for today due to our focus on Hispanic and Latinx Americans! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/9/18:
Check In/Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions
What Can I Do Today?
Questions about 13TH
Latinx and Hispanic Americans

Homework: Read the blog! Turn in your Writing for Justice narrative if you have not yet (grades have been posted for this assignment).

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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 also asked what students were up to outside of class since the last time we checked in.

What Can I Do Today?: We also asked students if there was anything they wanted to add to the "What Can I Do Today?" poster up at the front of the room, in terms of actions outside of class. If you have done something on the list, we invite you to come up and put a star or some other note by it - not a check mark, because our work is never done.

Questions about 13TH: As we started transitioning today to Latinx Americans, we tried to answer most of the rest of the student questions about 13TH. Here they are in Google Drive, for those interested:

Google Drive - Student Questions about 13TH

Thanks for the conversation here!

Latinx and Hispanic Americans: To begin with our next focus in class, we showed this New York Times mini-documentary on Latinos and race:

We then broke down the terms "Latinx" and "Hispanic" so that students had a frame of reference for the conversations we will have in class.

Next, we divided the class in half. One half of the class read this article:

CNN.com - What does it mean to be Latino in America today?

The second half of the class read this article:

LATimes.com - For me, being Latino means living between two worlds

This was all meant as a short introduction to these concepts, and we had a class discussion after reading the articles about what we learned and what we wanted to know more about.

Finally, at the end of class, we watched a longer documentary, which is from PBS, called "Latino Americans: Episode 6 - Peril and Promise." It is available to watch here:

Thirteen.org - S1 E6: Episode 6: Peril and Promise

We ended class about 10 minutes in to this. We will continue watching this next class! Thank you for your focus and engagement today!

4/5 - Class Recap

One of the sunsets from Spring Break in Hawaii, on Maui!

Dear class,

Welcome back from Spring Break! It feels like a very long time since we have seen you! Here's what happened today in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Explains the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.

Soundtrack: "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)" by Nas and Lauryn Hill. Selected for today because the students in our class will be ruling the world some day! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/5/18:
Check In/Review of Four Agreements & Six Conditions
What Can I Do Today?
Questions about 13TH
Small Group Articles

Homework: Read the blog! Turn in your Writing for Justice narrative if you have not yet (grades have been posted for this assignment).

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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 also asked what students were up to outside of class since the last time we checked in.

What Can I Do Today?: We also asked students if there was anything they wanted to add to the "What Can I Do Today?" poster up at the front of the room, in terms of actions outside of class. If you have done something on the list, we invite you to come up and put a star or some other note by it - not a check mark, because our work is never done.

Questions about 13TH: We will try to tackle a few questions from students each class that came up out of our viewing of 13TH. Today's questions were:

Why is ALEC so underground?
Why is marijuana still so criminalized?
Will prisons fill up to the point that they can't hold more prisoners? What'll happen then?

Why do people always say that we have come so far from where our country was in terms of racism when we really haven't?

Thanks for the conversation here!

Small Group Articles: For the rest of class, we had students get into groups of five and assigned the following articles for students to read individually, then share out with the group what they are about and what important takeaway points were:

EdTrust.org - Black Students (and Issues of Race and Perception) Matter

DesignObserver.com - Chain Letters: Jason Murphy

ThinkProgress.com - 5 Things That Make It Hard To Be A Black Student At A Mostly White College

NYTimes.com - Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys

Obviously, there is a lot of material to go through here and points to think about. We will continue this conversation next class!