Ethnic Studies Unit 6

Essential Questions:

• How have technological and social developments impacted ethnic communities and culture?

• How have ethnic communities, social environments and government policies influenced one another in the United States?

• How has our understanding of ethnicity and culture evolved since the early 20th century?

• What are the contemporary issues affecting ethnic communities?

Texts:

• Reference Texts:

  • Immigrant and Refugee Families by Ballard, Jaime, et al. from LibreTexts

  • Race and Ethnic Relations in the U.S.: An Intersectional Approach by Gutierrez, Erika, et al. from LibreTexts

• Selected Essays 

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• Selected Poems

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• Current Events

Topics:

• The New Millennium

  • How has the dawn of the Information Age changed life for ethnic groups in the United States? 

  • What issues, ideas and movements are shaping our understanding and experiences of ethnicity in the United States? 

• Diversity

  • Is diversity necessary? Why or why not?

  • What role does government play in ensuring diversity?

• Working toward "a more perfect union"

  • What responsibilities do individuals, families, communities, organizations, and states have in ensuring peace, freedom, equality and justice for all?

  • What can individuals, groups and government do to ensure peace, freedom, equality and justice in our society? 

  • Equity & Equality

• Social Justice - How do each of these social issues and movements affect ethnic communities in the United States? 

  • LGBTQ+ rights

  • #MeToo movement

  • Black Lives Matter movement

  • Examining impacts of abortion/anti-abortion policies

  • Gun Violence

  • Addressing Poverty 

  • Education

• Immigration

  • Immigrant and Refugee Families by Ballard, Jaime, et al. LibreTexts

  • Engle, Jeremy. “Lesson Plan: ‘Title 42 Is Gone, but Not the Conditions Driving Migrants to the U.S.’” The New York Times, 16 May 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/learning/lesson-plans/lesson-plan-title-42-is-gone-but-not-the-conditions-driving-migrants-to-the-us.html

• U.S. Federal Government

• Supreme Court Rulings

  • Affirmative Action: "Affirmative action is done. Here's what else might change for school admissions." in Politico

  • What are your thoughts? What questions do you have? What concerns do you have? What opportunities do you see? What research can you do to learn more about the world we live in and situations around us?

  • How might other recent supreme court rulings affect different ethnic communities? -- abortion, student debt, religious views vs. LGBTQ rights, same-sex marriage, free speech vs threats

• Annotation & Note-Taking

  • • Summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, questioning, commenting

    • Questioning

    • Reflecting

    • Analyzing - patterns, perspectives, comparisons/contrasts, defining

    • Synthesizing - consideration, explanation, integration

      • What are the relationships between your sources?

      • What's the relationship between your sources and your own argument?

• Research Process / Methods

  • Outline & Thesis

  • Drafting - organization & structure, introduction, body paragraph, analysis writing - claim, evidence, reasoning

  • Proofreading

Unit Skills:

• Examine and discuss how 21st century technological and social developments have impacted ethnic communities and culture.

• Examine and discuss how ethnic communities, social environments and government policies influenced one another in the United States.

• Describe and explain how our understanding of ethnicity and culture has evolved since the early 20th century.

• Document, analyze and discuss contemporary issues affecting ethnic communities in the United States.

• Gather, analyze and organize information related to your research topic.

• Paraphrase, summarize, quote, question, and comment on information, ideas, and craft/style in primary and secondary source materials.

• Write a one-sentence thesis statement that is focused, specific and provides an overview of the main points you will cover in your essay.

• Write an outline for an essay that states the main idea of each paragraph and lists supporting details that will be used to explain each main idea. 

• Discuss progress on the research process and modify your thesis statement and outline as necessary.

• Write a 300-500 word essay that includes a thesis, lead, clear strategic structure, relevant information and examples, in-text citations, and a works cited section.

• Write using appropriate capitalization, punctuation, grammar and spelling.

• Maintain a bibliography of sources for your research project. (Try using a citation generator such as MyBib.com)

• Cite sources of information using MLA or APA format.

Enduring Understandings:

• Policy debates continued over free-trade agreements, the scope of the government social safety net, and calls to reform the U.S. financial system.

• Economic productivity increased as improvements in digital communications enabled increased American participation in worldwide economic opportunities.

• Technological innovations in computing, digital mobile technology, and the Internet transformed daily life, increased access to information, and led to new social behaviors and networks.

• Employment increased in service sectors and decreased in manufacturing, and union membership declined.

• Real wages stagnated for the working and middle class amid growing economic inequality

• International migration from Latin America and Asia increased dramatically. The new immigrants affected U.S. culture in many ways and supplied the economy with an important labor force.

• Intense political and cultural debates continued over issues such as immigration policy, diversity, gender roles, and family structures.

• In the wake of attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the United States launched military efforts against terrorism and lengthy, controversial conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

• The war on terrorism sought to improve security within the United States but also raised questions about the protection of civil liberties and human rights.

• Conflicts in the Middle East and concerns about climate change led to debates over U.S. dependence on fossil fuels and the impact of economic consumption on the Environment.

• Several new laws and Supreme Court cases have impacted opportunities and rights for ethnic minority groups.

• Literary and artistic movements, as well as individual writers and artists, continue to explore and express the experiences of different ethnic groups in the United States.

Formative Assessment(s):

• Journal Writing

• Notes / Annotations

• Discussion (in-person or online)

• Historical Timeline notes - studying and completing a historical timeline as we go

• Reflection - Check-ins for the summative assignments - drafts, workshop sharing & discussions, individual conferences, revisions

Summative Assessment(s):

• Current Events Infographic - success criteria

• Podcast - success criteria

• Research paper -  (4-5 pages) - nonfiction essay about the topic, event, issue, question or theme that you chose to write about - rubric focuses on thesis, structure, line of reasoning, details, lead, conventions (grammar, capitalization, punctuation and spelling)