Self-sacrifice for the Common Good

1. Anchor Text: The Autobiography of Malcolm X, novel excerpt

Lexile: 1120

Summary: This well-known autobiography, written largely by Malcolm X but organized and published posthumously by Alex Haley, narrates the rise of the Black Power movement in the United States through the eyes of a famous Civil Rights leader, Malcolm X. I chose Malcolm’s story because students often learn about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks in school, but often Malcolm X is excluded. The value of this story is that in the beginning of his life, Malcolm describes himself as an angry, criminal-minded, troubled person who hated all white people. After his conversion to Islam and a trip to Mecca, where he saw unity among a diverse group of people, Malcolm changed his ideas and preached unity instead of division. Starting out with a few chapters from Malcolm’s early life sets the tone for reading about how people can develop an attitude of fear and racism. Ending with his renewed thinking about race and culture as we return to the anchor text at the end of the text set will create a paradigm for students to critically analyze how life experiences and activism can lead to change.

2. Bridge Text: We Rise, We Resist, We Raise our Voices by editors Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson, collection of poetry, prose, and art

Summary: This amazing collection of poems, quotes, stories, poetry, and artwork by some of the leading authors, poets, and artists of today are a great way to bridge the learning for students of all reading levels to begin to think about protest. There are contributions by Kwame Alexander, Sharon Draper, Joseph Bruchac, Jason Reynolds, and at least 50 others. The collection helps students to engage with the hard issues of systemic racism. It also provides a context for students to have the courageous conversations they need to empower them to use their voice, via protest and civil disobedience, instead of resorting to bitterness and violence. This is truly a multimodal collection, and the artwork alone is worthy of reading as text with because it is full of positive, powerful messages.

3. Mentor Text release to small groups: “Jihyun Park: Defector. Refugee. Survivor. Freedom Fighter for North Koreans” by Anne Hannah Foong, Newsela informational text

Lexile: 1070

Summary: In this article, students will learn how in a government with an authoritarian regime, defection is a powerful means of resistance. The article is part memoir and part informational text. The author tells the true story of one North Korean defector, Jihyun Park, and includes her early life in North Korea. It is a stark tale of famine and horrible atrocities committed under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, the president of North Korea. The article traces the history of North Korea’s reliance on Russia, and how when Russia fell, the North Koreans endured deep deprivation of basic needs. Although she held degrees in both mathematics and science, Park’s life under the regime in North Korea was little better than that of someone with no education at all. It is a harrowing tale of escape, a struggle for survival, and one of a courageous woman defying all odds to find a better life for herself and her son. As students read this text in small groups, the teacher can utilize Guided Reading questions to help students better understand the text.

4. Bridge Text: “Poems of Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment,” 61 poems by diverse poets

Summary: With this collection of poetry, students will continue to build their understanding to answer the essential question: How does confronting inequities and practicing civil disobedience result in systemic change? I would spend time introducing students to different poems through a teacher read-aloud, focusing on how each poem contributes answers to the essential question. For example, I would start with the Maya Angelou poem“Caged Bird.” Pairing the poem with the Nearpod lesson, “Poetry Analysis: Caged Bird,” students can view a virtual shop in Jakarta where people build bird cages. The poem sets the stage for understanding the theme of inequity and how a person who faces inequity might feel as if she or he were living in a metaphorical cage. Another good poem for a teacher read-aloud is “We Are Not Responsible,” by Harryette Mullen. Using powerful imagery of people whose rights can be violated over the most trivial, common situations, Mullen creates a shared sense of responsibility for our current state of systemic discrimination. Finally, working in groups, pairs, or individually, students can choose other poems to read to build their knowledge of the essential question.

5. Mentor Text release to strategic pairs: Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik, biography; “RBG,” documentary movie clip

Lexile: 1030

Summary: Both the book and the movie are excellent examples of how women in the United States have had to fight for equal rights in the workplace. Ruth Bader Ginsberg is one such person, and her goal of reaching the Supreme Court to effect powerful change is a story worth reading. Many students do not fully understand the power of the Supreme Court to either perpetuate systemic inequities or overthrow them. In both the book and the documentary movie, it is clear how Ginsberg used education, her voice, and her actions to challenge inequities and advocate for change.

6. Stretch Text: “Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King” by Robert F. Kennedy, speech and audio with transcript; “”That Stain of Bloodshed’: After King’s Assassination, RFK calmed an angry crowd with an unforgettable speech”, newspaper article

Lexile: 1100; 1300 respectively

Summary: One of the best speeches about non-violent, civil disobedience came from Robert F. Kennedy when he was on the campaign trail for president. After the assassination of his brother, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy was going to a scheduled stop in Indianapolis when he heard the terrible news about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Making a very brave decision to continue his stop in Indianapolis, to a crowd that was predominately African-American, Kennedy delivered a powerful speech asking the crowd to honor King’s memory by choosing to fight via non-violent methods. Students will have a transcript of the speech and watch the actual video, which is powerful and emotional. Being a white man in an African-American crowd was dangerous for Kennedy, but his commitment to Civil Rights compelled him to take the risk and speak that day. As a result of his speech, there were no riots in Indianapolis that night even though violent riots broke out in many major cities across the United States. The updated article from the Washington Post gives good background information about Kennedy’s speech and lauds it as one of the best examples of nonviolent civil disobedience throughout history. Little known, the speech is now getting recognition, and it is a powerful example of rhetoric for students to read. It is also a shocking connection for students to learn that Robert Kennedy was assassinated just two months after delivering his speech. Tying this fact to the idea of self-sacrifice for the common good, it becomes apparent to students that powerful action that leads to change is not without risk.

7. Mentor Text release to individuals: The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan, novel; “Chocolate: the New Health Food. Or is it?” by Gail Kay Haines, Non-Fiction informational text

Lexile: 810; 1200 respectively

Summary: The novel setting is the modern-day Ivory Coast, and the book is based on the true story of child-trafficking and child-labor in the cacao plantations. Because the novel is at a lower lexile, students can read it independently with a small amount of scaffolding. To place the issues in both a political and scientific context, the teacher will use the article about chocolate to teach students where it comes from, how it is processed, and the many beneficial compounds found in chocolate. When students begin to understand that cacao is often processed under inhumane conditions by children, it will cause them to question their own participation and indirect contribution to the problem. Fortunately, both the article and the book include positive themes, such as how healthy “real” chocolate is, how we can choose chocolate that is sustainably sourced and grown instead of chocolate grown and processed unsafely by children, and the power in collective resistance to systemic inequities in the world. When teaching this lesson, it is always fun to do a blind taste test, giving students a chance to sample chocolate with 93% cacao content, 63% cacao content, and 32% cacao content. Then they can compare it nutritionally to Hershey’s chocolate, which is about 10% cacao content. Students are usually shocked and enlightened when they discover how authentic chocolate is very healthy, and that the version of chocolate that they consume is little more than fat, sugar, and salt.

8. Stretch Text: 13 Colors of the Honduran Resistance, by Melissa Cardoza and Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, translator, collection of narrative biographies

Lexile: 1200

Summary: This is a collection of stories about 13 different women, all of whom formed the Honduran resistance after the coup d'état against then President Manuel Zelaya in 2009. After the military’s successful removal of the president, they instituted an authoritarian regime and began to reverse many of the progressive reforms in Honduras. However, instead of succumbing to the new regime, the Honduran people took to the streets en masse to protest the regime change and insist on the return of their president. Each of the women in this collection of stories shares a portion of how she used the Resistance Movement to protest. The stories are in both English and Spanish, so Spanish-speaking ELLs can read in their primary language. Because this is such a high-lexile text, I am using it as a stretch text. Higher-level readers will be able to read a story independently while the teacher can work with other students to differentiate the instruction and provide scaffolds for readers who struggle or English Language Learners. Since the stories are so recent, and the movement is active currently in Honduras, the teacher can make a connection between what students might see in the news about Central America and the stories in the collection.

9. Disruptive text: Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump, Martha Brockenbrough, Biography

Lexile: NA

Summary: I found this book on the website, “Social Justice Books,” a website that reviews books and gives a rating based on evaluating a book for anti-bias. The book received a “recommended” rating, so after I read about it, I knew it would work well as a disruptive text. The book is a well-researched biography about our current President, Donald Trump. The concept of a president as someone who is a strong, ethical, courageous leader who represents the people of the United States is still a belief that many in America hold dearly. However, as documented in the book, the president is the antithesis of what Americans believe a president should be: racist and misogynistic. The author includes documents, illustrations, photographs, and painstaking research to support her findings. In order to disrupt student thinking about the theme, “Self-sacrifice for the Common Good,” it is important to have read all of the previous texts in this set to establish what “self-sacrifice” looks like, and how people use it to bring about change. In Unpresidented, the author creates a play on words with the title to demonstrate that the book is about the opposite of what a good president should be. Instead of using his executive powers to enact positive change in the United States, the president has used his power to exclude specific groups from the United States, to denigrate women, and to create hostility with our closest ally on our southern border, Mexico. Students can become involved in the political conversation by reading the book and having a classroom debate about what really exemplifies a “good” president who uses the executive branch for positive change.

10. Anchor Text: The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Malcolm X and Alex Haley, memoir and biography, an excerpt

Lexile: 1120

Summary: Students will return to this anchor text, reading excerpts from Malcolm X’s change of philosophy after his Haj to Mecca. They will also read about the events leading up to his assassination. Despite several death threats, Malcolm felt compelled to continue to speak out against discrimination. His faith and his belief in civil disobedience to enact change in society are strong examples of how people have sacrificed in pursuit of the common good, which is a key part of the theme in this Text set. Having read the various multimodal texts in this set, students can reflect on and respond to the essential question: How does confronting inequities and practicing civil disobedience result in systemic change?