Throughout the year, you will learn that writing is more than completing assignments; it is a tool for thinking, learning, communicating, and creating change. During this course, you will investigate meaningful questions, create for authentic audiences, and publish work you can be proud of and answer the question: What does it take to be an activist?
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Write with purpose by creating engaging pieces that inform, persuade, entertain, and inspire a variety of audiences.
Investigate meaningful questions by researching topics, evaluating evidence, and thinking critically about information from multiple sources.
Grow through the writing process by planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing polished work using feedback from others.
Communicate ideas effectively by collaborating with others, participating in discussions, and presenting writing and creative work with confidence.
Use writing and reading to understand yourself and the world by exploring personal experiences, historical events, global issues, works of long-form fiction, and topics you are passionate about.
Exercise critical reading practices to better understand the perspectives, events, and themes/big ideas that make up the stories we explore.
Become confident, competent writers by learning and practicing the rules of grammar, utilizing the classroom dictionaries, and supporting your peers to do the same by providing them with your readerly feedback.
WE ARE ACTIVISTS
We will begin the year with a gallery walk of various American activists, both historical and recent. Figures will include: Nanye’hi/Nancy Ward, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Harriet Tubman, Abe Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, MLK, Malcolm X, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Susan B. Anthony, Judy Heumman, and Dolores Huerta.
Students will then brainstorm causes and communities that they care about—this can be anything from baseball to social media to the civil rights movement. I will collect their responses, and we will come together as a class to look at the range of interests represented in our classroom.
The primary project of this unit is a five-paragraph research paper on an American activist. Students will choose their activist, learn how to identify a credible source, and then research their activist. As they research, they will build their essays in class, starting with the introduction, all the way through the body paragraphs to the conclusion. The goal of this essay will be to inform the reader about the actions their activist took, and the impact of those actions on the world.
Finally, students will condense their papers into two-minute presentations using Google Slides, Canva, or Prezi. They will present the most important information they found to their peers.
There will also be a fun challenge at the end of the unit that will require students to participate in a Socratic seminar. As a group, they will develop “political” posters and a short “Classroom Constitution.”
I know that essays can be intimidating. Don’t worry! We’ll take it slow, and I will always be here to help if ever you feel that you’re falling behind. By the time we're done, you'll be astonished by how far you've come.
Activist Research Paper
Socratic Seminar
Class Constitution
Two Minute Presentation
The Power of People
Our papers will be available for the community to read during Kreiva’s first exhibition!