sonja


 * Here is my compilation of Jeff's Rules of Notice (so far) for anyone who is interested.



Civil Rights / Human Rights Inquiry Outline **
 * //__ What basic rights should all human beings have? __//**

I used this survey as a frontloading activity. The questions are fairly specific to our school, but should give you a general idea of types of questions that can be asked. Some of the questions were chosen to specifically address issues that kids were discussing in the halls, in class, or with the counselors. Instead of a paper pencil survey, we used the blue clickers to weigh in on the topics. The kids seemed to really enjoy this and it has the added advantage that they can see the class results immediately. Students became so involved that it became hard to keep this as a survey and not an extended class discussion.
 * Blue Clicker Survey: **



I use this activity for front loading as well. I assign students research topics (see list) from the civil rights timeline. They are not asked to do in-depth research, but just enough to be able to explain to the class about how their topic relates to civil rights. This is a great chance for individualization. To students that need to be challenged, I give topics like Malcolm X. For my more concrete thinkers, I give them a topic like the 14th amendment. I do the first few topics on the timeline and then the students step up and add their information as the timeline progresses. I have put together a slideshow with photos and some basic information that we show in class as the students are sharing their research. They like the slideshow because the class looks at the slide show, not at the presenter and because it helps them remember what they want to say if they forget. We used a variety of sources for information for our research; children’s picture books, primary source documents, our school library, and of course, the internet. I put some links to quality, relevant websites (including Youtube) on my own website so kids could easily find the information. Not surprisingly, the kids loved Youtube, and lots of my students watched many of the Youtube videos that were not related to the topic they had been assigned.
 * Civil Rights Timeline: //(Reading is Seeing – Wilhelm)// **

With the help of our librarian, I selected several books set in the late 50s and early 60s that include racial discrimination as part of the plot. Students were placed into groups primarily based on book choice, each group having 4-5 students. The groups did a number of different activities as they read. At the beginning each group did a **Think Aloud** //(Improving Comprehensions with Think-Aloud Strategies – Wilhelm)// with the first few pages of their book. I asked them to focus on the exposition of the characters and setting. As the reading progressed, I tried to vary the activities for the groups. Sometimes they had small group discussions, sometimes they responded to the reading in their writing journal, sometimes they drew a “snapshot” of their mental movie, and some days they did a **reciprocal reading** activity //(Advanced Reading Handout - Wilhelm.)//
 * Literature Circles: **

The books used in the literature circles: §  Spite Fences by Trudy Kirshner §  Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe §  The Watsons Go To Birmingham by Christopher Paul §  The Stones of Mourning Creek by Diane Les Becquets §  Bone by Bone by Bone by Tony Johnston



I tried a couple of different ideas with different classes. I posed as an alien from another planet while the students from one class tried to explain what human rights all people on the planet share. Students from another class were asked to explain why human beings discriminate.
 * Mantle of the Stranger ** //(Action Strategies for Deepening Comprehension – Wilhelm)//

This is my a version of Carousel Seating //(Advanced Reading Handout - Wilhelm.)// with an added writing component. Even though it is just a pair/share type of activity, the kids nicknamed it speed debating because it is set up like speed dating and they liked the play on words. I set the desks up in two concentric circles with the desks on the inner circle turned to face the desks on the outer circle, forming pairs. I had written a series of questions, which I flashed on the screen one at a time. I asked the students to write detailed responses to the questions in their writing journals. After giving them time to write, I had them discuss their thoughts and opinions with their partner for 3-4 minutes. At that time, I instructed the inner circle to move one seat to the left and discuss the topic with their new partner, hence the likeness to speed dating. We repeated this process with a number of questions and the kids loved it. My students are used to Socratic circles, so we even took a couple of the questions
 * Carousel Seating aka Speed Debating: **

By the time my students had finished their novels, they had a good understanding of the fight for civil rights in relation to race, but I wanted to help them make the connections to other types of discrimination. I put together a packet of short autobiographical vignettes featuring personal stories from people who faced discrimination due to nationality, sexual orientation, gender, weight, physical disability, etc. I gave each student Post It notes. We read the stories together as a class and students were asked them to place a Post It on the part of the story that they could connect to the lit circle book they read, a news story, etc. I gathered the stories from internet sources such as voicesofcivilrights.org and tolerance.org. I had specific students in mind as I selected the stories, hoping to make an impact. As it turned out, I underestimated the impact they would have, especially with our Latino population. I even had students some in after school asking for copies of the stories to take home and share with their parents. Ladder of Prejudice ** The idea of the ladder of prejudice came from **//The Nature of Prejudice//, by Gordon W. Allport. **It uses the terms speech, discrimination, avoidance, physical attack, and extermination to label the progression and stages of discrimination. I first organized the class into groups of 4 or 5 students, giving each group a set of the words listed above. They worked together to come up with a definition, then decided how to order to words (from least harmful to most harmful). We debated the order of the words as a class and then labeled the steps of an actual ladder with the words. Students continued to read their literature circle novels, and, as they read, labeled different stages of discrimination they found in the book with Post It notes labeled avoidance, physical harm, etc. (I tried color coding the words with different colored Post Its with varied success). As a homework assignment, I asked each student to find at three examples of civil/human rights injustice, one from school, one from the community, and one from the world. When they came to class, each student wrote thier example on a Post It, explained it to the class and then stuck it to our “ladder of discrimination”. (see photo)
 * Short Story Connections: **

Students are encouraged to bring in current events articles that relate to civil/human rights. I have found this to be a very important addition to our curriculum because as we talk about the struggle for civil rights and read our historical fiction novels, the students believe that it is just a “history lesson” and often don’t feel that it is a contemporary topic. As they bring in articles, we talk about them, checking the world map if necessary, and place them on the wall. Kids are surprised at how often this comes up in the news and it is a great way for them to connect their literature circle novels to world events.
 * Current Events Wall **

I assigned this as an out-of-class project. I asked students to grab a friend, watch a movie that features some struggle with civil rights, and answer some questions. I provided a list of possible movies with a brief description of each. In order to dovetail with our literature circle novels, most of the movies featured on my list centered around racial discrimination. I did not limit their movie choices to my list. Any movie featuring some sort of civil/human rights struggle qualified for credit, as long as it was OK with their parents.
 * Video Club: //(Reading is Seeing – Wilhelm)// **


 * Culminating activity: A Declaration of Human Rights **
 * 1) Have a class discussion about the Bill of Rights. What rights are we guaranteed just because we are American citizens?
 * 2) Suggest the idea of a similar document that would outline rights that we would be guaranteed as citizens of the world. Have students brainstorm a list in their writing journals. Afterwards, have them pairshare with one other person, then share their ideas with the class.
 * 3) Assign students to write a Declaration of Human Rights. It should be a list of basic human rights that they feel people should have regardless of gender, color, nationality, socioeconomic status, etc., with a preamble type paragraph to serve as a brief introduction to the assignment. (I allowed the students as a group to decide on the final document/presentation format.)
 * 4) After students submitted their declarations, I read the book “Every Human has Rights” (National Geographic) to the class. It is a kid’s version of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was written shortly after WWII in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Students enjoy comparing their own declarations with the one composed by the United Nations.