June 21, 2021
*This blog post is an assignment for one of my iTeach classes.
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| Hello, I am Mr. Chanin. I am standing in front of the only remaining building on the Texas Presbyterian College campus in Milford. TPC was one of the first junior colleges for women in Texas. |
Welcome to U.S. History! I am very excited to have y'all in my class!! I am Mr. Chanin, your teacher. U.S. History in 11th grade is a chronological survey of the significant political, social, cultural, and economic issues in the history of the United States from the end of the Civil War in 1865 to the present. The class will move rapidly through the over-arching study of successive time periods. Each student will have the opportunity to explore and gain a greater understanding of the second half of the American historical study through the examination of readings and various primary documents. Students will acquire knowledge on citizenship. The class will also stress the development of historical reading, note-taking, writing, studying, test-taking, as well as oral communication skills, all of which will be useful in a student's academic studies and post-academic career. Phew, that introduction was long... now let's have fun and learn some history!
Warm-Up Assignment - Battle of the Speeches
In this warm-up assignment, students will compare Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech and Bobby Seale's 1968 speech at the Kaleidoscope Theater. The civil rights speeches (found below) are different in motive, tone, and approach (was it is peaceful speech or a violent one?). Each student will fill in a Venn diagram, labeling the similarities and differences of the speeches. Students will have the opportunity to examine the powerful and emotional rhetoric that was written by two of the greatest orators in the 1960s. Students will need to be prepared to share their Venn diagram with the class. This introductory activity will be a launching pad into the day's lesson about the different protest approaches during the American civil rights movement.
MLK's speech: https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety
Bobby Seale's speech: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/blackspeech/bseale.html
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| Martin Luther King Jr., minister, educator, civil rights activist (1929-1968) |
Writing Prompt - Will You Join Us?
The civil rights movement was a testy period in American history. As previously seen from our warm-up activity, there were peaceful and violent approaches during the movement. Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters followed Mahatma Ghandi's non-violent strategy (Ghandi had led a successful non-violent revolution in India after World War II). Bobby Seale and the Black Panthers advocated for civil rights using a hostile approach, where they would publicly carry weapons and have a reputation for violence on the streets. In this next activity, students will further develop their written communication and persuasion skills. Half of the class will be MLK supporters, while the other half will be Bobby Seale advocates (the teacher will split the class). Each student will then write a 1-page letter to a family member, persuading that person to either join MLK's non-violent movement or the Black Panthers' hostile campaign (depending on the students' assignment). There may be time during the class where students can read aloud and share their letter with their peers.
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| The Black Panthers were a hostile civil rights group. |
Group Project - Protest For Justice!
There were many different protests during the American civil rights movement, some peaceful and others were more hostile. Activists would march and chant while holding flags and posters. In this group project, students will imagine that they are in the middle of a civil rights protest, and collaborate on creating a poster and chant. Students will be divided in groups of four, and will work together to produce a poster and chant for an upcoming civil rights march in Washington D.C., the nation's capital. Group may choose to either be MLK supporters or members of the Black Panthers. Students may need to research on what kinds of posters appeared at the protests. The chant has to be at least 30 seconds, and the poster needs to be colorful and on large poster board. Groups will need to be prepared to share their poster and chant with the class. Students will further develop their creativity, oral communication and teamwork and research skills.
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| March on Washington D.C., August 1963. Some 250,000 people attended the peaceful protest. |
