Classroom Activities and Assessments

By and large, students take what they see and hear about the Middle East as fact without considering where those perspectives come from. In order to begin reimagining discourse around Iran and the Middle East, students must first be self-reflexive about the prejudices they hold and the factors that shape their beliefs.

Once they have a foundational understanding of the dominant Western narrative and why/how this narrative exists, they can start to question and evaluate its accuracy against the Iranian narratives they will read across this curriculum.

Activity 1: Understanding the Causes of Iranian Revolution through the Western Gaze

Text Pairing: Funny in Farsi

In order to understand how Western media has framed the Iranian Revolution, students will evaluate a series of digital and print resources covering the events of 1979.

Objectives:

The objective of the activity is for students to critically consider how their knowledge is largely based on the ideological beliefs behind the sources that they are receiving their information from. In this case, American media can also interpret the Iranian Revolution using a Western perspective. This is especially clear in the U.S. textbook chapter, which asks readers to think about "What long-held American principle does the creation of an Islamic state violate?" suggesting that being Muslim is in conflict with what it means to be an American. When publications that privilege Western ways of being and knowing are the only sources of information available, it sets a dangerous precedent for essentializing all Iranians, and Middle Easterners at large, as anti-American, fanatic, and barbaric.

Procedure:

In a think-pair-share format, students will be given a few minutes to review two American print resources depicting the Iranian Revolution (shared below) on their own and turn to their group members to discuss their thoughts. Once all students have had some time to share, the teacher will turn students' attention to a clip from a contemporary U.S. movie, Argo, whose opening sequence briefly outlines the causes of the Iranian Revolution.

After analyzing the two print sources and watching the video, the teacher will engage students in a whole-class discussion on the question:

"What were the causes of the Iranian Revolution?"

The teacher should then jot down students' responses on the board (or a large poster board if they want to preserve these notes for future reference).

Activity 1 Extension: Weaving in Critical Media Literacy

Teachers might also consider using other media outlets - political news networks, for example - to demonstrate how the information they offer viewers is biased by their political ideologies. CNN, a left-leaning network, will likely be more critical of Trump's policies. FOX, a right-wing network, may be more sympathetic towards Trump's policies.

Procedure:

Gallery Walk Round 1: For the first round, students will walk to each picture and take notes on their interpretations/thoughts on the images.

• Stop & Discuss: Once they have all done at least one walk-through, the teacher will lead a short discussion on the students' initial thoughts; they can explain what they believe is happening in the images, how they came to those conclusions, and ask questions about parts of photos they may not understand.

Gallery Walk Round 2: Before students begin the second round of the gallery walk, the teacher should post a caption next to each photo that offers background information/explains what is happening in the images (captions are provided under each photo at the NPR link).

• Synthesize & Debrief: After students have completed their walk-through, the teacher will lead another discussion on how their interpretations of each image had changed based on the context they were given from the captions.

Activity 2 Extension: Reflection on Experience

The lesson can be followed by a written reflection on their experience taking part in the gallery walks. For reflection questions, click here.