My students need the texts "A Long Way to Go" and "American Experience: One Woman, One Vote" in order to make thoughtful connections to other historical events that impact their lives today.
"Miss Congeniality" really does want world peace! Sandra Bullock's character realizes that stereotypes are not truth. When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone? My students need to walk a mile in another person's shoes to make connections from that experience to their own lives.
In a public school setting, I work with a diverse group of fourth grade students in a high poverty district.
By law, I am not permitted to know which students receive financial assistance with school lunch and textbook fees. I do know that our school has a 67% free and reduced lunch population.
Thirty percent of my students are either African-American, bi-racial, or Hispanic. More than 50% of my classroom population comes from single parent households or blended families. Thirty percent of my students had one biological parent incarcerated or arrested on drug charges. Ten percent of my students had one deceased parent. Seventy-five percent of my student received remediation for either math, language arts, or both.
My Project
My students' reading abilities range from kindergarten to sixth grade. Many of my students lack experiences with books and especially non-fiction literature. They need background knowledge of history, cultural experiences, and tolerance of ideas to make sense and connect to the information they read and the non-fiction curriculum the state requires of them to master.
Before National Constitution Day, students learn why and how the constitution was written followed by an analysis of the preamble and what it means to them. Then students begin to build a connection from the constitution to voting rights and especially the Women's Suffragist Movement.
Students will be taught the Six Hats of Thinking, how to identify self, text, or world-to-text connections in literature and apply those skills to these requested non-fiction materials.
These activities foster and build higher-order thinking skills needed by these students to escape their present economic situation upon graduation.
Many students lack the knowledge of the struggles by many groups of Americans for civil rights and how those victories improve their lives today and generations to come.
They lack an appreciation for education and its ability to help citizens achieve true freedom- in work, home, or thought. When studying events such as the Women's Suffragist Movement, the removal of Native Americans, or the Civil Rights Movement, they begin to identify negative behaviors that lead to prejudice and oppression.
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