Classroom Project

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"Developing an awareness of the link between history and personal stories is a crucial component in students of literature or history. Understanding the forces that create powerful nonfiction is a critical step on the path to college. The 11th and 12th graders in my AP English and English III classes... MORE

"Developing an awareness of the link between history and personal stories is a crucial component in students of literature or history. Understanding the forces that create powerful nonfiction is a critical step on the path to college. The 11th and 12th graders in my AP English and English III classes know they're building skills that will enable them to achieve their dreams. Our KIPP school, a small rural high school in North Carolina, focuses all students on success in college. The community is resource-poor, but rich with aspiration.

Our school is built on a peanut field. This is land that is rich in an ugly history of racism and poverty. Our school is going to extreme lengths to begin to correct the educational injustices that have come along with this place and this history. We go to school from 8-5 every day and occasionally on Saturdays. We have all the effort and passion that we need. What we don't have is enough money to purchase all of the necessary supplies to truly expose our students to the local history that they need in order to truly understand not only this place, but themselves.

We will study "Blood Done Sign My Name", by Tim Tyson, the story of a white man killing a black man in 1970 in a town down the road from here. This is an event that spurred race riots and which echoes through the decades. An understanding of this event and an in-depth analysis of the forces that produced this piece of nonfiction will give our students the perspective and nonfiction reading skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond. More importantly, however, it will enrich their own understanding of the context in which they are closing the achievement gap between whites and blacks, both here and nationally.

You will make it possible for my students to engage a powerful nonfiction text, to increase their local consciousness, and to begin a dialogue with each other, their teachers, and their community. HIDE