Ethnic Studies Unit 7

Essential Questions:

• What does ethnicity mean in the Information Age?

• How will ethnic cultures evolve over time?

• How will individuals and communities define and express ethnicity and culture in the future?

• How will technology and environmental issues impact ethnic communities?

Texts:

• "The Future of Race and Ethnicity in the United States" from Race and Ethnic Relations in the U.S.: An Intersectional Approach by Gutierrez, Erika, et al. LibreTexts

• Grand Challenges for Social Work

• Selected poems & songs:

  • "Dark Side of the Moon" song by Lil' Wayne

Topics:

• Trends in Population Growth

  • Future immigration will change the face of America by 2065 from The Pew Foundation

  • The nation is diversifying even faster than predicted, according to new census data from The Brookings Institute

• The Future of Ethnicity Classifications (2009) from Journal of Ethnic Migration Studies  (How can I get access to the full article?)

• The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of the US Population: Emerging American Identities from National Library of Medicine

• "The History, Development, and Future of Ethnic studies" 

• Social Work, Social Issues and Social Services - Grand Challenges for Social Work

• Environmental Justice

  • Empowering Students to Be Part of Climate-Change Solutions by Zachary Herrmann and Taylor Hausburg in ASCD

• Impact of Globalization

• The Future of Immigration - What will immigration look like in the future? What kinds of policies and infrastructure might support future individuals, ethnic groups, immigrants, the land, and the nation/society? How can a society remain welcoming, equitable, prosperous and free without breaking an individual's spirit? How can we ensure that our ideals for our society/nation are extended to all ethnic groups and to all individuals?

• Health and Ethnicity

• Gender and Ethnicity

• Overcoming Bias

• Afrofuturism and other cultural/literary movements

• Research Paper - sharing & feedback, individual writing conferences

  • clarity

  • relevance

  • tone & style

  • organization & structure

Unit Skills:

• Examine, discuss and critique ideas/issues that will impact individuals, society, and ethnic communities in the future.

• Rank and justify your top five most important ideas/issues individuals and society must consider in order to ensure a positive, sustainable future for humans of all ethnicities.

• Discuss and determine five actions, behaviors and policies that you and/or your community can adopt in order to contribute to a positive, sustainable future for humans of all ethnicities.

• Review and critique a classmate's research paper:

  • Identify vague, clumsy, and confusing writing to gain clarity and/or avoid redundancy when editing a text

  • Identify words or phrases inconsistent with the style and tone in a text

  • Evaluate relevancy of a paragraph or sentence in terms of the focus of the essay.

  • Evaluate logical order of sentences in a text when editing/revising

Enduring Understandings:

• The U.S. racial and ethnic landscape is expected to change during the next few decades.

• The future success of American society depends on communities and organizations supporting individuals of all ethnic groups in pursuing ethical scientific and technological development and collaborating to tackle some of our toughest social problems.

• Social and economic empowerment involves individual and family well-being, a strong social fabric, and a just society that fights exclusion and marginalization, creates a sense of belonging, promotes trust, and offers pathways for social and economic progress.

Formative Assessment(s):

• Journal Writing

• Notes / Annotations

• Discussion (in-person or online) - rubric

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

• Reflection

Summative Assessment(s):

• TED Talk - success criteria