Syllabus
Curricular Calendar
Sample Curriculum Timeline
August: Padlet set up + Unit One
September: Unit One cont. + Unit Two
October: Unit Two + Three
November: Unit Four + Unit Five
December: Unit Five
January: Unit Six
February: Unit Seven + Unit Eight
March: Unit Eight + Unit Nine
April: Unit Ten
May: Unit Eleven
Unit One: Native American and Indigenous Conceptions and Care for the Land now known as the United States of America (4 Weeks)
Week 1: Native American and Indigenous Conceptions of Land
Monday: Who lived originally on this land?
Visit https://native-land.ca
Look for your address and/or city. Can also look up where family and friends live.
Write a list of who has lived on this land.
Look at an Indigenous Land Acknowledgement - read and highlight what stands out to you
The University of Texas’s Land Acknowledgement is:
We would like to acknowledge that we are writing this curriculum on the indigenous lands of Turtle Island, the ancestral name for what is now called North America.
We would like to acknowledge and pay our respects to the Alabama-Coushatta, Caddo, Carrizo & Comecrudo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, Tigua Pueblo, Tonkawa, Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo all the American Indian and Indigenous Peoples and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in Texas
Tuesday + Wednesday: Why does it matter where you get your information?
Learn about Primary and Secondary Sources
Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=67&v=LV7aZiJABag&feature=emb_logo
Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=84&v=cqXHO7bTPnw&feature=emb_logo
Write:
What are the differences between primary and secondary sources? What kinds of different information and understanding can you get from each?
Look at example of Primary Source http://www.tonkawatribe.com
Look at example of Secondary Source: Look up Tonkawa in Index of Social Studies Alive Textbook.
Write: What differences do you notice in a) the information, b) the perspective, c) the details
Thursday: Who lived here?
Write a list of who has lived on this land (from Monday’s website)
Write/Draw/Explain: How did/do the original caretakers conceptualize the land we live on?
Write/Draw/Explain: What is an example of how they honor and think about the land now?
Friday: Discussion, Create Padlet and Update
Week 2: Relationships with the land for Native American and Indigenous Regions in the U.S.
Monday: Who lived where across the U.S. pre European contact?
Study map of Native Northern America topography without current state boundaries (can be purchased for download):
Watch: http://www.tribalnationsmaps.com/store/p343/Native_America_-_Topographical_-_24%22x36%22.html
Post to Padlet and Write: What are different land types across the U.S. and what are 1-2 tribes you have heard of living in each type of color/land type
Tuesday: Does it matter who makes the maps? Who tells the story of America’s beginning?
Read: https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/new-pre-contact-map-transforming-understanding-of-south-america-ZwQqEgjcEEOkfiBCD7xyKw
Make a 1-2 min video summarizing what you learned from the article and the map
Wednesday: What is Counter Mapping?
Watch: https://emergencemagazine.org/story/counter-mapping/
Post to Padlet and Write: What is counter mapping? Why is it important?
Thursday: Native American Knowledge of the land comes out forming relationships
Watch again: https://emergencemagazine.org/story/counter-mapping/
Post to Padlet and Write: What does he know about the land? What do you learn about the land from him? What parts of the land does he care for?
Add to your video or make new showing how your knowledge has grown since Tuesday.
Friday: Discussion and share movies
Week 3: The Relationship between Land, Culture, Language and Lives for Indigenous Americans
Monday: Actively working against maps
Post to Padlet and Write: What did you learn? What does this make you realize?
Tuesday: Counter-Map Where YOU Live
Walk from your house to the end of the street. What do you notice?
Take pictures of all that you notice about the land - as many as possible.
Brainstorm on paper: What do you learn about the land when you pay attention as indigenous people do?
Brainstorm on paper: What do you learn about yourself?
Wednesday: Print out pictures and a create a map on large paper
Thursday: Continue with map project
Ask 2 neighbors to point out what they notice and think about from our house to the wedge.
Take pictures of what they point out.
Print out pictures and compare to yours
Friday: Present and Share Maps; Gallery Walk
Week 4: Indigenous Communities pre-European contact and how maps changed over time
Monday: U.S. Map changes over time
Post to Padlet and Write: What do you notice? What is missing?
Post to Padlet and Write: What do you notice?
Tuesday: Compare Native American Map to U.S. White-Centric map
Look at US “traditional” map usually referenced at school
https://www.thoughtco.com/capitals-of-the-fifty-states-1435160
Compare to Tribal Nations Map from the first week
Post to Padlet and Write: What do you notice?
Wednesday: Post to Padlet and Write: How do Native American communities account for the land becoming owned and “claimed”?
Thursday: Preparing for Native American Project
Post to Padlet and Write: Did you get schooled? Be honest!
Friday: Introduce Native American Community Unit; Update Padlet
Unit Two: Native American Nation/Community Research Project (2 Weeks)
Over the next two weeks you will learn from and about a Native American nation/community in Turtle Island/North America. Keep in mind that the information you take in and use should come from the community themselves or written about from a positive viewpoint. No one group is perfect so our emphasis on strengths and positive representations of Native American nations doesn’t mean that Native American communities don’t have problems or that there is not continued suffering because of the ongoing effects of colonialism and genocide. What our stance means is that in order to show respect and account for how negatively and stereotypically they are portrayed in movies, TV, internet, books and textbooks we will focus on positive representations so we can learn FROM them about how they see the world.
For Teachers: https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/about/understandings
There are Six Steps to this project
Think about, brainstorm and research native nations/communities you would like to learn from.
Native Americans by state
http://www.native-languages.org/states.htm
http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps/print-collection/north-american-indian-cultures.html
Brainpop
https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/nativeamerica/americanindians/
National Museum of the American Indian
https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360
Spend time on the nation or community’s website and look for books by community members.
Make a list of 4-5 books and websites that are written by community members (primary source)
Make a list of 3-4 books and websites that are written by respectful outsiders (secondary source)
Create a 3D project to represent something important to the community or an important issue to the community
Present project, paper and list of resources to other students and, if possible, multiple generations (parents, grandparents)
There are three ways to demonstrate your new knowledge.
Each will take time, planning and organization!
You will need to prepare a 3D representation of the land they take care of or deeply respect and how they lived before white people and how they live now. Most likely now - they live in lots of different ways. Can you find a way to represent this somehow?
You will also keep a list of resources that you used and put them on Padlet. Each resource you put on Padlet - you need to write a) primary or secondary source and b) what you learned from them. Be specific - if you learned from a person put their name. If you learned from a group, put their names.
You will write a 1 page essay (typed or written) about how you are different after the last 8 weeks of learning from Native American communities. Be specific and thoughtful.
*We also recommend an online journal to write and keep track of links that will be used to research. Make sure to label resources (books, films, websites, videos, art) as primary or secondary sources.
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Unit Three: Freedom in Central and West Africa AND THE ENTRANCE OF WHITE SUPREMACY (2 Weeks)
Week 1: Diversity and Freedom in West and Central Africa
Monday
African Cities and Civilizations Thrived while Europe was dealing with the Middle Ages
Watch: Meltrek: Exploring Ancient Africa
OR
http://www.pbs.org/weta/africas-great-civilizations/watch-video/
Post to Padlet and Write: Screenshot a part of the movie and comment on three ways this video changed your mind
Tuesday
African Cities and Civilizations as Homelands
Explore Senegal, Benin, Ghana or Mali (read how formerly enslaved men and women described their homelands)
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/freedom/freedom.htm
Wednesday
Mali Empire (1230-1500)
Post to Padlet and Write: Screenshot something from one of the videos and write what you learn about Mali or appreciate about Mali. What kinds of beauty did enslaved people miss out on by being captured and forced to leave their land?
Thursday
Songhai Empire and Timbuktu
Friday
Discuss the diversity and achievements of West and Central African Civilizations
Post to Padlet and Write: https://www.npr.org/2018/02/16/586513016/black-panther-costume-designer-draws-on-the-sacred-geometry-of-africa
Watch: Mandika https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dBVuTbjy6I
Post-It Notes (in person or on note.ly.com) to share all of the things you have learned about the homelands of people that White enslavers captured and killed
BONUS: Movie Night with Timbuktu or Black Panther
Week 2: White Colonialists Begin Indigenous and Transatlantic Slave Trade
Monday
Indigenous Communities Were Enslaved too by White Invaders and Colonists
Post to Padlet and Write
Tuesday
White Supremacist Justification for Slavery
Read Letter: The Manner How These People Become Slaves - 1734
Post to Padlet and Write - What stood out to you in this letter? What all seems wrong?
Wednesday
Slave Ships - White Lion in 1619
Read:https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-african-slave-ship-arrives-jamestown-colony
Post to Padlet and Write: What did slave ships look like? Pictures of some? Did people revolt on slave ships?
Thursday
Slave Ship Manifests
Browse: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Slave_Manifests_-_National_Archives_Catalog
Make a video and post to Padlet: What are you doing with this knowledge? How do you want it to change you as a person, as a citizen?
Friday
Why did White Colonists Enslave?
Listen and Stop Activity:
Unit Four: American Colonies Past and Present (2 weeks)
Week One: Who Were the Colonists?
This week we will begin learning about the European settlers (colonizers) who came to the indigenous land of Turtle Island beginning in the early 1600's. As these colonizers began taking over the land and displacing the indigenous people, the land known as Turtle Island became the United States of America.
Watch this video to see how the indigenous land was taken for the United States.
Monday:
Draw a picture of the image that comes to mind when you think of "colonists." Take your time and try to be detailed. You may also use words to label or add to your drawing.
Write down your understandings of the words colonists, colonies, and colonization
Where do your ideas about these words come from? What information do you think is missing from your current understanding? Whose stories might be missing in your current understanding? Write down the questions you have leading into this unit.
Tuesday & Wednesday
read: Zinn ch. 3 "Who Were the Colonists?"
As you read, think about how your understanding of who "the colonists" are might be shifting. Record this new information and changes in your thinking.
Thursday: Draw a new image to show your new understanding of who the colonists were. This can be a drawing like you did before, or it can be a video, poster, google slides, writing, Padlet etc.
Friday: Discussion, 1:00pm on Zoom
Be prepared to share your drawings from the week and to share how your understanding has grown.
Week Two: American Colonies Today?
Monday:
What do you know about colonies that exist today? Do colonies exist? If so, what are they? Does the United States have colonies? Take a few minutes to write down everything that you know, think you know, or want to know.
watch John Oliver segment on American Territories (file edited for fifth grade audience)
Tuesday:
Update your Padlet with a few things that you learned from the John Oliver video yeserday.
Visit VoteSaveAmerica.com, and make note: which territories were able to vote in this presidential election?
Who do you think might want citizens living in US territories to be able to vote? Who does not want these citizens to vote? How do you think presidential election results might be different if these citizens could vote?
Wednesday:
Read the Slate article, "The Biggest Issues in the Places Where Americans Can't Vote for President"
What are some of the issues that American citizens living in these territories care about?
Thursday:
update Padlet with new learnings about American colonies/territories/colonization
If you have extra time, take a look at this article Washington Post article, "Most countries have given up their colonies. Why hasn't America?"
Friday: Discussion, 1pm on Zoom
Be prepared to discuss what you learned this week. We will be talking about:
Should the United States have colonies? Why or why not?
How does racism and white supremacy impact America's relationship with its territories?
What should we do about it?
Unit Five: The Transatlantic Slave Trade (3 weeks)
Week 1: European-created Conditions for Enslaved People
Monday: What did it mean to be enslaved?
Watch: Portrait of a young girl (Priscilla)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/video/page/2/#241
Watch: Portrait of a young baby (Rachel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n58wc8lzR_k
Write: What stands out to you about Rachel's and Priscilla's stories and the stories of hundreds of thousands of children who experienced slavery?
Tuesday & Wednesday: Who Came First and Why?
Watch: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/video/page/2/#271
The first people of African descent who came to what became the U.S. were free.
a) http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/timeline/index.html
b) http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/timeline/index.html?iframe=true&width=100%&height=100%
c) http://sharondraper.com/timeline.pdf
Create: Timeline
Blank/Butcher paper with dates and lines already on the paper
- Juan Gurido (1513)
- Esteban in (1538)
-Isabel de Olvera (1600)
- Portuguese ship follows direction of Spanish Crown to capture people from Angola and then gets taken over at sea by English Ships with Dutch flags. Enslaved people are violently divided up with one ship arriving at Point Comfort, Virgina in August 1619. (see: https://www.historyisfun.org/sites/jamestown-chronicles/angela_more.html)
- Mayflower (1620)
- Declaration of Independence (1776)
- Constitution (1787)
- Fugitive Slave Law 1793
- Trail of Tears (1831)
- First Meeting of the National Anti-Slavery Society (1837)
- Civil War (1861-1865)
- Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
- 13th Amendment Abolishing Slavery (1865)
- 15th Amendment Black men can vote (1870)
- Women’s right to vote (1920)
Thursday : What is the transatlantic slave trade?
Write a list (at least 20 long): What did you learn from Anthony Hazard?
Friday: What is the middle passage?
Watch together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IJrhQE6DZk
Write: Impressions and questions
Week 2: Researching and Learning from Enslaved People
Monday: How many people?
Discover: 12 Million Enslaved People
http://www.inmotionaame.org/education/lesson.cfm?migration=1&id=1_001LP
Tuesday: Impact of Slavery on Africa
Read: How did European-led slavery do to African people, communities and governments?
http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm?migration=1&topic=9&tab=image
Wednesday: How do we learn about their lives and value each enslaved person as a human being?
Watch: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/memories/index_flash.html
Read through: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/community/community.htm
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/identity/identity.htm
Make a movie: What does it mean to see enslaved people as full human beings? When you let yourself do this - how does this impact how you think about European-driven slavery?
Thursday: Who will you research and learn from?
Look up: Names and choose someone who you would like to learn from and about
North American Slave Narratives (Documenting the American South): http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/texts.html
Names for Enslaved People Project: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15263/15263-h/15263-h.htm#resurr
(This is the book by William Still – each chapter is a short narrative from an escaped enslaved person. He was in Philadelphia or wrote peoples’ stories down when they were able to escape.)
North American Slave Narratives: http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/ (Alphabetically by name – just look up people or click on someone to see their narrative.)
WPA Slave Narratives: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html (Alphabetically by name – just look up people or click on someone to see their narrative.)
Friday: Research Field Trip
Example: Local History Center to see documents, historical sites for enslaved or freed people
Example: Black Austin Tours
*These tours should be led and informed by the Black community of your local area with appropriate compensation from schools and thank you notes from students. Students need to be prepared to show respect and honor those whom they will learn about and from.
Week 3: Lives of Enslaved and Formerly Enslaved People
Monday: Preparing to Research
Guest Speaker (Video)
Dr. Daina Raimey Berry on Lives of Enslaved Families and Communities
Share the person you will research and find any additional resources you can.
Tuesday-Thursday: Research and Preparation Days
Wednesday: Research and Preparation Day
Friday: Present and Share: Shoebox Movies
Unit SIx: The American Revolution (3 weeks)
Week One: Book Club Introduction
For the next seven weeks, you will be reading the Young Readers Edition of "Never Caught: The Story of Ona Judge," by Erica Armstrong Dunbar & Kathleen Van Cleve alongside your social studies assignments. This week will be devoted to getting to know the book, the authors, and the context of Ona's story.
Monday:
Make a new column on your Padlet and title it "Ona Judge." This column will be where you keep track of all of your work for book club.
What do you know about George Washington? What do you know about Ona Judge? Take a few minutes to write down everything that you know, and the questions that you have. (You can either write directly on the Padlet, or write on paper and insert a picture of it.)
Preview the book-- read the back, flip through it. read the cover. what do you think you might learn from the book? what's the genre? what's it going to be about?
Watch this video clip of Erica Armstrong Dunbar: Translating History: Erica Armstrong Dunbar
Explore Dunbar's website
Watch History in Five: The Slave Who Escaped George Washington
Tuesday:
Read the New York Times article, "In Search of the Slave Who Defied George Washington"
Wednesday:
Explore the Mount Vernon website to learn more about the enslaved people at Mount Vernon.
Thursday: Time to start reading! Please have the first three chapters read in preparation for our discussion on Zoom.
Friday: Discussion, 1PM on Zoom.
Week Two: Class Conflict Leads to the American Revolution
Monday: Today is reserved for you to get started on your book club assignment. This week, please read chapters 4-7 of Never Caught: The Story of Ona Judge. (You don't have to read it all today!)
Tuesday:
What do you know about the American Revolution? What do most people know about the American Revolution? Survey your family/neighbors/etc. (in person or on social media) to find out what most people know. This is important and we will come back to it later! Try to talk to as many people as you can.
After recording your findings, think and write-- what information do you think is missing from this story? whose stories are missing? what might be more of myth than truth?
We will come back to this work next Friday.
Wednesday & Thursday:
Read Zinn chapter four, "Tyranny is Tyranny"
As you read, write down new understandings, shifts in your thinking. Particularly, pay attention to things you learn that can be connected to current events. Try to come up with 3-5 connections to current events/our country today.
Friday: Discussion, 1PM on Zoom.
Week Three: The American Revolution
Monday:
Ona Judge ch. 8-11
Tuesday:
Read Zinn chapter five, "Revolutions," pg. 71-83 (we will read the last four pages of this chapter another week). As you read, write down new understandings and shifts in your thinking.
Wednesday:
Add a new column to your Padlet, titled "perspectives on the American Revolution." Using your reading from yesterday, add one box for each of the following groups of people, and write down how this group of people was impacted by or responded to the American Revolution.
1. Indigenous peoples
2. Black people
3. Rich, powerful, elite white Americans
4. Poor white farmers
Can you find any additional resources about how these groups of people responded to or were impacted by the Revolution? If so, add them to your Padlet.
Thursday:
Last week, you researched what most people think about the American Revolution. You have now spent two weeks learning some stories that may stand in contrast to what most people know. Look back at what you found out that most people know about the American Revolution, and think about the information that you've learned that might challenge or add to this story. Come up with a way to teach people the new stories that you have learned about the Revolutionary time period. This could be a blog post, a poster, a video, a comic, etc. Spend 30 minutes today creating this resource, and be ready to share it tomorrow.
Friday: Discussion, 1PM on Zoom.
Unit Seven: THe Constitution (3 weeks)
Week One: Writing the COnstitution
Monday: Create a new column on your Padlet where you will record notes for this unit. In this column (either type, or write by hand and take a picture) write down everything you know about the Constitution, and questions that you have about it.
Book club assignment: read Never Caught chapters 12-15
Tuesday: The Iroquois Great Law of Peace
We often think about the Constitution as the beginning of democracy in the United States. That's not the case! Today you will learn about the Iroquois Confederacy.
Watch:
Write on Padlet: what did you learn?
want to learn more about Hiawatha and the Great Law of Peace?
read Hiawatha and the Peacemaker, by Robbie Robertson
read: Uplift, What is the Great Law of Peace?
read New York Times article, "Iroquois Constitution: A Forerunner to Colonists' Democratic Principles"
Wednesday:
Read A Young People's History of the United States,pg. 84-88
Who wrote the Constitution? Whose input was considered? Draw a picture of what you imagine this room looked like. Think about who was included in this meeting, as well as who was excluded.
Thursday: "We the People?"
read chapter three, "Who Were 'We the People'? of the "Rights Matter" curriculum (pgs. 8-11)
if using the online curriculum, explore the links highlighted in red
Watch "Structural Racism Theater Presents: A Pernicious Compromise"
Friday: Discussion, 1pm on Zoom
Week Two: What does the Constitution Say?
Monday:
Book club assignment: read Never Caught chapters 16-19
Tuesday: An Overview of the US Constitution
Watch one minute video, "The Articles of the US Constitution"
Read chapter four, "The Blessings of Liberty", of the Rights Matter curriculum
if using the online version, explore the links in red
Wednesday: Three Branches of Government
Think: The government is separated into three branches so that the branches can "keep each other in check" and make sure that one branch doesn't have too much power. Can you think of an example of the branches keeping each other in check recently? How have the branches worked together over the last four years? How have they been in conflict? How must they work together for impeachment proceedings?
Thursday: Local, State, and National Governments
Two very important principles that the Consitution lays out are the separation of powers between the three branches of government, like we learned yesterday, as well as the separation of state and national government. State governments have different responsbilities than the national government, but they can't make laws that contradict the national government.
Watch this video to learn about the responsibilities of state, county, and city governments in Texas.
Can you think of arguments you've seen between state and national governments recently? What about local and state governments? (Think about handling of and arguments about the pandemic!) Find one news article that you think gives an example of this argument, and post it to your Padlet. Be ready to share tomorrow.
Example: Abbott vs. Adler: The Fight for Austin's Future, Texas Monthy
Friday: Discussion, 1pm on Zoom
watch Khazir Khan's speech at the 2016 DNC
Different people and different groups of people feel differently about the Constitution. Some, like Khan, uphold the Constitution as the opportunities of the American promise. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison called it "a Covenant with Death and an Agreement with Hell." Some people in power wield it as a weapon. How do you think we should view and use the Constitution?
Week Three: THe Bill of Rights
Monday:
Book club assignment: read Never Caught chapters 20-22
Tuesday: The Bill of Rights
read chapter five of the Rights Matter curriculum
if using the online version, explore the links in red
watch Griot B video, The Bill of Rights
Wednesday: play iCivics game, "Do I Have a Right?"
Thursday: Amendments
Watch: Amending America: how do we amend?
Watch: Reconstruction Amendments
Explore "Amending America" ebook from the National Archives (the poster to the left can be found on page 45)
Friday: Discussion, 1pm on Zoom
Unit Eight: Resistance to Enslavement (3 weeks)
Week One
Monday: What did escaping mean?
Look at and read: Enslaver’s Ad
http://www.academia.edu/1955519/Missing_Dolly_Mourning_Slavery_The_Slave_Notice_as_Keepsake
Write: What do you think about when you look at and read the notice for Dolly? What do you think happened when/if she was caught? How do you feel reading/looking at this?
Tuesday: Why did people risk their lives to escape?
Watch: Reading Rainbow (Season 10: Episode 6 Follow the Drinking Gourd)
Purchase at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B01M3MQ243/ref=atv_dp_season_select_s10
OR
Find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFR-t_RIunc
Write: What does this mean to you? What do the experiences of enslaved people inspire in you? How do their examples impact the way you think about yourself?
Look through auction block sites to see how the US has covered and tried to ignore the spaces where people were bought and sold by white enslavers: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/12/magazine/1619-project-slave-auction-sites.html
Wednesday: Why did people risk their lives to escape cont.?
Look through: https://peoplenotproperty.hudsonvalley.org/choosing-resistance.php
Read: Henry Box Brown
Record: A Book summary like in the Reading Rainbow episode from Tuesday
Thursday: What kinds of skills and intellect did enslaved people use to free themselves?
Look through stories of enslaved people trying to free themselves: https://peoplenotproperty.hudsonvalley.org/running-away.php
Write or Record: What story stood out to you the most and why? What attribute did you see in the stories that you could learn from or see as an example for your life?
Friday: Escaping
Discuss: What did you learn about the journey and the risks of trying to free yourself? What do you admire? What do you worry about or fear while watching this film?
Week Two
Monday: Slave Revolts
Watch: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/andry-s-rebellion-1811/
Write: How did revolts happen and why? Why are they significant to US history?
Watch: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/largest-slave-revolt-in-u-s-history-lives-on-in-reenactment
Write: Why are people trying to remember Andry's Rebellion?
Tuesday: Underground Railroad
Watch: Video about Williams Still http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/underground-railroad/home/
Call: A grandparent or family member who is older than your parent and tell them what you learned about William Still. Share with them about the book you looked at that had so many stories of people who had escaped from White American enslavers.
Wednesday: Underground Railroad cont.
Play: Mission U.S. https://www.mission-us.org/
Read: https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/texts/jd-green
Thursday: Becoming Free and Helping Others
Friday: Becoming Free and Helping Others
Write: What are five words to describe Harriet Tubman and what do those five words inspire in you about yourself?
Week Three
Monday: Institutions and Systems did not help
Discuss: What were enslaved people escaping from? Who were they escaping from?
Discuss: Why couldn't they go to the authorities or leaders where they lived?
Tuesday: Creating Communities
Study: http://www.slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/638
Write: What do you see looking at this picture? How are they a community?
Wednesday and Thursday: Education and Intelligence
Watch: https://www.ted.com/talks/daina_ramey_berry_the_electrifying_speeches_of_sojourner_truth?language=en
Listen to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdkBdJOfH6o
Write: How did Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass recognize their worth and intelligence? What kinds of messages from white enslavers did they have to overcome and not believe? How can you learn from their example?
Friday: Nature
Read: Moses Grandy pp. 7-8
https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/grandy/grandy.html
Write: How have Indigenous and Black communities and land (the natural world) supported one another in very difficult circumstances? How does land provide rest and support, resistance and escape?
Unit Nine: The Civil War (3 weeks)
WEEK one: Origins of the civil war
Monday: Existing Knowledge of the Civil War
Brainstorm in small groups:
a) What do you know about the civil war?
b) How did it start?
Share ideas with the class and make a poster with all of the ideas.
Tuesday: Why did the north and south go to war in 1861?
Watch and discuss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP0_wnaW-a0
Wednesday: Secession of 5 Southern States
Read the The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states
Make a list of the reasons given in the declaration in groups of 2-3.
Thursday: Individual State Reasons for War
Choose Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina or Virginia and read their statement of succession.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states
Discuss in state groups: What was the motivation for war? What did the north and south disagree on and do any of these disagreements continue today?
Friday: Class Reflection
Discuss: What did you learn that connected with what you knew on Monday? What ideas were new? What ideas did you have that were proved wrong in the primary documents?
Make corrections and changes to the class poster.
WEEK TWO: Women in the Civil War
Monday: What were women doing during the civil war?
Watch: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/videos/women-civil-war
Choose a woman to research who lived through and contributed to the Civil War
a) Susan Baker King Taylor
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/susie-taylor
b) Sara Emma Edmonds
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/sarah-emma-edmonds
c) Lovina McCarthy Streight
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/challenging-norm-indianas-lovina-mccarthy-streight
d) Maria RuĂz de Burton
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/maria-ruiz-de-burton
e) Loreta Janeta Velazquez
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/loreta-janeta-velazquez
f) Lola Sánchez
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/lola-sanchez
Tuesday: Researching women on the battlefield
Read together as a class the letter from Clara Burton to her family. What were the risks of her choice to go to the battlefield?
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss11973.007_0162_0210/?sp=13&r=-1.15,-0.145,3.3,1.639,0
Conduct research
Wednesday: Researching women in the battlefield cont.
Continue research
Thursday: Harriet Tubman was an important spy
Watch: https://america101.com/the-spy-career-of-harriet-tubman-you-might-not-know-about/
Make and post a video in your groups from Monday and Tuesday about Harriett Tubman and the woman you chose. What words would you use t o describe them?
Friday: Film Festival
Finish and share films about women in the civil war including Harriet Tubman and the woman you selected to research.
Post to padlet and share with younger grade class.
WEEK Three: Life during the civil war
Monday: Children in the Civil War
Read https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-kids/
Make a graphic novel about Johnny Clem, or a child you imagine in the civil war.
Tuesday: Children in the Civil War
Watch and Listen: Pink and Say by Patricia Polaco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLf5YJloTGY
Wednesday: Black men were recruited to fight, make sacrifices
Look at this document: https://www.archives.gov/files/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/images/recruitment-broadside.gif
Discuss: What were Black men promised for fighting? Were those promises kept?
Thursday: Why did the civil war end?
Discuss: Why didn't Grant take prisoners? What was the hope when the war ended?
Port Royal Experiment
Read: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/port-royal-experiment-1862-1865/
Friday: Juneteenth
Look at General Order #3 (the Junteenth order)
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/182778372
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/general-order-no-3
Read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/06/19/juneteenth-emancipation-slave-stories/
Write and post to Padlet: Why was the order necessary?
unit Ten: Moving People and Shifting Boundaries (5 weeks)
Week one: MIgration
Monday: Introduction to Book Club: Finding Langston
Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome will be our book club for this unit! This is a fictional story based a young boy's move from Alabama to Chicago during the Great Migration.
Listen to https://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=14970
Read Tea Cup (Young)
Discuss as a class: What does it mean to move? What kinds of emotions are involved with moving? What do people do to survive difficult historical events and situations?
Tuesday & Wednesday: Definitions
Define migration, forced migration, displacement, removal, genocide
What are examples of each - write in columns.
In small groups - write out the following questions and your thoughts:
What are reasons people have to move from one land to another?
Which communities were moving across the U.S. between 1820- 1890?
Thursday & Friday: Start Im/Migration Timeline project
1. Draw large, foundational USA map using a range of materials, support resources
2. Map visualization for the US that that shows where people started and where they moved to. Each migration has a different color if all on same map. Or different transparent pages for each sub project.
3. Determine which communities/groups you will trace across turtle island and over time, especially between 1860-1890.
Browse as a resource: http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/index.cfm.html
Week Two: Forced Removal and Genocide
Monday: Book Club: Finding Langston
Tuesday: Indian Removal Act
Study: https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2017/03/16/on-exhibit-the-indian-removal-act/
Write on padlet How did Andrew Jackson and many Americans justify forcibly removing Native Americans from their lands?
Read Takaki Ch. 4 The Road to the Reservation
Wednesday: Forced Migration
Read: Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom
Post on padlet - make a video shaing three things that surprised or were new to you.
Thursday & Friday: Trail of Tears
Explore: https://www.nps.gov/trte/learn/historyculture/index.htm
Explore and use maps to fill in details for timeline project: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/may28/indian-removal-act/
Week Three: communities moving west
Monday: Book Club - Finding Langston
Tuesday: Mormons Moving West
Wednesday and Thursday: Gold Rush
Scan: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-california/
Make a video and post to padlet: How did the discovery of gold entice people to move to California? How did these moves impact indigenous people?
Friday: Add to timeline project
Week Four: U.S./Mexico Borders
Monday: Book Club - Finding Langston
Tuesday: Where is the U.S./Mexico Border
Start a new column on your Padlet. In this new column, answer these questions: What do you know about the United States' relationship with Mexico? What do you know about borders?
Wednesday and Thursday: How does War impact borders?
Read Takaki Ch. 7, "War with Mexico"
Take notes as you read. mark things that stick out to you, new things that you're learning, and questions that you have
Read the Washington Post article, or listen to the podcast version
Watch: Coyotlalli Techpanoltih (The Border Crossed Us) short video
Friday: What are borderlands?
Explore the virtual exhibit at the Mexicarte Museum, "Life and Experiences in the US/Mexico Borderlands"
Class discussion and add to the timeline project
Week FIVE: THE GREAT MIGRATION
Monday: Industrialization
Lesson on industrialization written by Pamela Mathai, a high school social studies teacher at Navarro Early College High School, and is informed by the 2009 AP Institute at Rice University.
Watch the Flocabulary Industrialization video
Get a paper and a pen! Put these slides in present mode (this is important! You will want it full screen so that the lines will show up one by one as you click through)
Follow the instructions on the slide to draw your industrialized town.
Reflect (write down on paper or on your Padlet): how did your town change during this process of industrialization?
Tuesday: What were the causes of the Great Migration?
2. Reflect (write down on paper or on your Padlet): what was the "single decision" that these migrants made? How did it change their lives and the lives of their children/grandchildren/great grandchildren?
3. Start reading Takaki Chapter 13, "Blacks Move North" (have the chapter read by Friday, but you don't have to read the whole thing today)
Wednesday: How did the Great Migration happen? (Hint: People made it happen!)
Read Aloud: The Overground Railroad, by Lesa Cline-Ransome (you can check it out from the library or watch this read aloud video)
Look at the artist Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series.
Choose one painting from the series. On your Padlet, or on a Google Doc, paste the painting you have chosen. Find one line from The Overground Railroad storybook to pair with the painting. Write this line as a caption underneath the painting. Be prepared to share on Friday! Activity based on work by Dr. Katherina Payne at The University of Texas at Austin and Dr. Anna Falkner at the University of Memphis.
Thursday and Friday: Trying to Find Loved Ones During the Great MIgration
Finish reading Takaki Chapter 13, "Blacks Move North"
On your Padlet, write down a few things you learned from the chapter.
Browse hundreds of ads that families posted to find family members sold away during enslavement: https://informationwanted.org/mapping-the-ads/
Choose one ad and read it carefully. What do you learn about the people placing the "information wanted" ad? Why did they need to post ads? What do these ads tell you about how people cared for one another?
Post your add and the questions to padlet.
UNIT ELEVEN: IM/MIGRATION (4 Weeks)
WEEK ONE: An Overview of Immigration to the United States
Curriculum surrounding immigration/migration is informed by the work of scholars at UT Austin in the Elementary Social Studies Methods course. Specifically, this work is credited Dr. Noreen Naseem RodrĂguez (University of Colorado Boulder), and Dr. Esther Kim (William and Mary School of Education). A complete list of contributors to the Elementary Social Studies Methods course can be found here.
Monday: Book Club - The Only Road
Use today to get started on your new book club! We are reading "The Only Road," by Alexandra Diaz. This is a fictional story based on the very real journey that many children take traveling to El Norte.
Tuesday: What are the push and pull factors that influence immigration? What is the difference between voluntary and involuntary im/migration?
Let's start by learning about the global history of migration. Watch the Home Planet Video, "Human Migration"
Watch the Flocabulary video on migration.
Play some of the games with this set of vocabulary words on Quizlet.
Wednesday: The United States and Immigration
Watch both of these videos:
Explore the Scholastic Immigration Data
Choose one graph. Copy and paste this graph into your Padlet, and write about what this graph teaches you about US Immigration
Browse extra resources (optional):
Thursday: What are the elements of both truth and misconception within the phrase of America as a "nation of immigrants"?
Watch the Buzzfeed video, "A Nation of Immigrants"
Reflect: Which countries are mentioned in the video? How are the immigrant experiences similar and different? Who is left out of the narrative of the United States as a "nation of immigrants"?
Read the Colorlines article, "For the Millionth Time we are Not all Immigrants"
*If you are working with a grown up today, you can also read the Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz article. This needs adult scaffolding.
Friday: Class Discussion
Watch TED Ed: Xenophobia
Watch the read aloud: Her Right Foot
week two: Ellis Island and Angel Island
Monday: Book Club - The Only Road
Tuesday: Ellis Island
Take a few moments to write down anything that you know about Ellis Island, and any questions that you have about it.
Complete the interactive tour of Ellis Island on the Scholastic website
Wednesday: Angel Island
What do you know about Angel Island?
Take a few moments to write down anything that you know about Angel Island, and any questions that you have about it.
Watch this video on Angel Island
Watch "Angel Island profile: Tyrus Wong"
Read chapter one of "Angel Island Immigration," by Jamie Kallio. You can read it for free on epic, or you can check it out at a public library.
Thursday: Comparing the Two Entries
Reflect on what you have learned about Ellis Island and Angel Island. What are the similarities between these two entries to the United States? What are the differences?
Examine these two questionairres. One is a set of questions given to immigrants on Ellis Island, and the other is a set of questions given to immigratns on Angel Island.
What are some of the differences between the questionnaires? Why do you think they are so different? What does this say about who is welcome in the United States?
Friday: Angel Island poetry & primary sources
Explore these primary sources on Angel Island.
choose one source. copy and paste it into you Padlet and write down what it teaches you.
Read this collection of poems written by Chinese immigrants on Angel Island.
Choose one poem that stands out to you. Either create a visual to pair with this poem (draw, create a graphic, etc.), or choose a photo from the primary source collection to pair with the poem.
Week Three: Communities and Immigration
Monday: Book Club - The Only Road
Tuesday: Chinese Immigrants and the Railroad
Read Takaki Ch. 8 From China to Gold Mountain
Post on padlet: Why did people leave China to come to California? How did their experience and feeling welcome change over time?
Wednesday: Irish immigrants and Famine
Read Takaki Ch. 6 The Flight from Ireland
Post on padlet: Why did people leave Ireland and what were their experiences like when they arrived in the USA?
Thursday: Tenements Virtual Field Trip!
Tenement Museum Book a virtual tenement tour! $10 per device, schedule in advance, many different options to choose from
Friday: Class discussion and add to timeline project
Week four: Immigration in Contemporary Times
Monday: Book Club - The Only Road
Work in Progress - Culminating Showcase for the Timeline Project + presenting students' and teachers' year long knowledge gains.
Special Unit: ELections (1 week)
Monday:
Take 10-15 minutes to really reflect on what you already know about elections in general, as well as this specific election. Set a timer if you need to. Use these questions to guide your thinking:
What do you know about elections?
What do you know about this specific election?
What do you think is missing from what you know?
What do you want to know?
Add a new column to your Padlet. Title it "Election 2020"
Take a picture of your writing, or record yourself reading/talking about your reflection, and add it to the new Padlet column.
Tuesday:
Watch Season One Episode Seven of Adam Ruins Everything's, "Adam Ruins Voting." (previously available on Netflix but it looks like they've taken it down. Can purchase for $1.99 on Amazon Prime)
Add a note to your Padlet: what did you learn from this episode? What was shocking?
Wednesday & Thursday:
Adam brought up several issues with voting and elections in the United States. Choose one of these issues to research more about.
Please collaborate with each other so that you each select a different topic. We want to be able to teach each other on Friday.
the electoral college
gerrymandering
voter suppression
disenfranchisement of people with felony convictions
You can access all of the resources Adam used for his episode here.
Write down why this is an issue and what you think we should/could do to change it.
Friday:
Be prepared to discuss what you learned this week!
Our big questions will be:
Are elections fair? If not, what do we need to do to make elections more fair?
Despite all of the issues with our current political system, is it important to vote? Why?
Being a "good citizen" is framed around the responsibility of voting. What other civic actions can people, and especially young people, take to be "good citizens"?
We will revisit your original Padlet post to see how your thinking has changed.
Bonus movie night: watch Knock Down the House on Netflix.
Questions to think about as you watch:
How do you feel? Hopeful? Frustrated?
Why is it so hard for people in power to be removed from their positions in government?
Why is it so hard for women and people of color to be elected into positions of power? Why is it important that they are?
Can we change our political system by voting alone? If not, what else needs to be done?
Special Unit: Thanksgiving (1 week)
This week many are off of school to celebrate Thanksgiving! This week is less structured because you are not working on a typical school schedule. On your own time, explore the resources below! There are many more - these are just to get you started.
Update your Padlet with new learning as you go.
What is Thanksgiving and what do the primary sources tell us about whether it is a myth or not?
To learn more about this holiday, explore this journey box created by Jenn Doershuk*. A journey box is a collection of primary and secondary sources designed to help students think more deeply about a historical topic. This is an incredible source of historical data and resources.
UnThanksgiving
To many native people, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated as Un-Thanksgiving Day, and involves a day long occupation of Alcatraz Island. Watch this video and read the article to learn more about the historic occupation of Alcatraz Island and Un-Thanksgiving Day. Watch: Sunrise Ceremony with Alcatraz Island
*Jenn Doershuk created this journey box (Cinthia Salinas, Sherry Field), as an undergraduate student in the UT Elementary Social Studies Methods course at UT Austin.