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.
----
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!