Takaki 9: Teaching about Indian removal and the Dawes Act

After students have a brief summary on the “Indian Question” they will have some background on the Indian removal acts of the late 19^th century and especially the impact of the Dawes Allotment Act. To use a new method of teaching this week I will try to use popular music as a bridge to the understanding of what happened to the Native Americans in this period, and the real life impact it had on their lives and the future of their tribes.

I will use the song “Don’t Drink the Water” by the Dave Matthews Band. The Dave Matthews Band is pretty popular amongst young people, so it could show students that someone who is very popular today is still concerned about what happened to the Native Americans over a century ago. Students will be given a copy of the lyrics to the song and then will be asked to work (either in groups or on their own) to interpret the lyrics and write in the margins what they think he means with the lyrics and how it relates to what they learned about Indian removal from their text. This will be a good bridge into a larger lesson/ unit on the impact of Westward expansion, the elimination of the frontier, and it’s impact on Native Americans and their heritage.

The lyrics to the song can be found here.

Performance Assessment on Media Literacy

Performance Assessment on Media Literacy

Level: 12^th grade

Connections to Curriculum: This summative assessment will be given at the end of their two week curricular unit on media literacy. This assessment is designed to measure the students’ ability to critically interpret the media, examine media spin and bias, and understand the important role of the news media in our democracy.

Inquiry Question: Based on your understanding about the role of the media in American society and the necessity of critical media literacy skills, how have you been able to find valid and reliable sources and how have you interpreted their trustworthiness?

Standards:

Content standards-

12.7. Broad Concept: Students evaluate and take and defend positions on the influence of the media on American political life.

Students:

1. Discuss the meaning and importance of a free and responsible press.

2. Describe the roles of broadcast, print, and electronic media, including the Internet, as means of communication in American politics.

3. Explain how public officials use the media to communicate with the citizenry and to shape public opinion.

Example Students watch and analyze television political commercials and describe how they have changed over time (livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/index.php) (12.7.3).

12^th grade skills standards- 1. Students distinguish valid arguments from fallacious arguments in historical interpretations 2. Students identify bias and prejudice in historical interpretations.

Overview: This take-home final assessment will consist of several sections. First, students will be asked to compile a list of their favorite and most reliable news sources. Among these sources the students must have at least 3 television or radio programs that they trust, 3 print publications (newspapers or magazines), 3 internet news websites, and 3 blogs. Below is the beginning of creating a rubric based on what qualities make a news source reliable. It is important to note that not all of the students’ sources need to be objective. As we have discussed in class, there a valid arguments both for and against objective and balanced media. Students must choose 3 sources to provide a complete annotation for. For these three sources students must explain why they find the source to be reliable, how it contributes to their understanding of issues that matter to them and their community, and finally how that source helps them fulfill their role as a citizen.

Criteria:

Diversity of sources – Is there a mix of objective and bias sources? Do all or most of the sources have a similar ideology or agenda? Do all or most of the sources have a similar type of news (“straight news”/ commentary/ investigative, etc…)?

• Have they explained whether the source is objective or bias? Have they explained whether the source is balanced or fair?
• Have they explained which points of view are presented by this source? Do they usually present two sides to every story? Multiple perspectives? One perspective?
• Have they explained if the source has any corporate ownership that could influence how it presents the news?
• Have they explained the investigative/ research qualities of the sources presented?
• Do they demonstrate the ability to appropriately match issues of importance to them and their community with the most appropriate sources?
• Do they explain how the source backs up assertions with evidence?

Time Allotment: Students will have one class period to answer the short answer questions below. The annotated list of media sources part of the assessment will be explained to students at the beginning of the unit so that they can progressively work at it. It will be due on the day of the in-class assessment.

Prior Learning (from 2 week unit):

1. Ability to critically analyze a news source for validity, objectivity, fairness, reporting standards, and bias
2. An understanding of the traditional role of the press in a democratic society
3. How to decode media spin and break through the filters to
4. Ability to understand both what is being told by a news story and perhaps more importantly, what story is not being told.
5. Understanding of media consolidation and its implications
6. Advantages and disadvantages of different types of media (ex- tv, blogs, etc…)

Short Answer

1. Please explain the consequence and implications of the following: “According to one estimate, the number of communication professionals in America (150,000) now exceeds the number of journalists (130,000), and the gap is growing (Bennett 130).”
   
   
2. Should the media strive for objectivity? Should they strive for balance? What is the difference between the two? If you think the media should strive for objectivity, should they try to achieve it in each story or over time?

3. Respond to this evaluation of the effects of media consolidation: “…although information outlets are undeniably proliferating, their ownership is increasingly concentrated, and the first effect of concentration is to push small media promoting noncommercial values out of the way (Bennett 233).” Explain some of the major effects of media consolidation and take a position on it’s effect on the media’s ability to perform it’s democratic function.

Teacher Administration:

1. The teacher will introduce this assessment during the first day of the curricular unit as part of the objectives. Give students a clear idea of how their final assessment will fit in and accurately measure what they have learned throughout the unit.
2. Provide students with the rubric for how this end of the unit assessment will be evaluated.
3. Give students reminders throughout the week that they should be collecting and beginning to evaluate their news sources.
4. Ask students to narrow it down to the 3 they want to evaluate in depth by the start of the second week, ask them to come to class with that list so you can simply check it off to make sure they have begun the process.
5. At least a few days before the testing day students should be given the rubric fo
6. On test day, the teacher should has several responsibilities:
   

• Collect students’ annotated sources project
• Explain that they have approximately 40 minutes to answer the short answer questions presented to them.
• Make sure all students have a pen and have cleared their desk of everything else
• Collect student work at the same time with one or two minutes remaining in class time.

Takaki ch 8- teaching through art

One of the methods of teaching that I do not typically use and am less comfortable with is artistic. Some students however are not only good at art, but find it a great outlet for expressing both their passions and their knowledge. Art can be both fun and expressive at the same time. From a work of student art the teacher can also, I believe, get a very good sense for s student’s comprehension of the issues based on how extensive and analytical the art work is. So in order to teach Takaki chapter 8 “Searching for Gold Mountain,” I will have the students draw a mural in teams of 3 in order to express what they have learned about Chinese immigrants in America in the second half of the 19^th century. Below are some of the things that could prove valuable parts of a mural on Chinese life in America as discussed by Takaki:

• their role as laborers
• agricultural contributions and troubles (floods)
• gold rush
• mining/ miner taxes
• building of the central pacific railroad
• the dangerous nature of the work
• formation of Chinese urban communities
• anti-Chinese riots
• angered white workers / unemployed
• the Chinese Exclusion Act
• Chinese fighting back against discrimination
• The very small representation of Chinese women in America
• Working as prostitutes
• Building of Chinatowns
• Underground associations
• Chinese wives writing letters to their long removed husbands in America

Students will have the full period to work with the students in their group to decide which topics are most important and should be covered in their mural, how to visually represent, in a cohesive matter, the life and struggles of early Asian immigrants to the United States. Students will be practicing cooperative skills as well as learning artistically, and will not only benefit from their own projects but I think they will learn a whole lot from the work of their classmates as well!

Learning Process blog- update

September 16, 2007

For my class on “Effective Instruction” we were assigned a reading on understanding white privilege. As I read through the article and the author listing her ideas of white privilege I found myself continually asking the same question…”is this really about race or is it about class or race AND class?” So I decided to test out my theory as I read. Next to each item she mentioned I wrote an “R” for race, a “C” for class or a “RC” for race and class. But after doing that for the rest of the first page I stopped myself and my theory had been refuted by the reading. It turned out that after that I point I was writing only an “R” for each item. It turns out she really was talking about privilege based on race and not class issues disguised as race issues. What I noticed here is that from prior experience I tend to be suspicious when anyone argues that there are a plethora of things that set us apart based on race because what I have so often found is that they are really talking about class and falsely equating black or Hispanic with poor. Because of this I have become (and I think in a positive way) concerned with dispelling simplistic logic when it comes to issues of race and class.

September 23, 2007

Today I did the reading from Takaki for class on Monday and I noticed a pattern as I went through and wrote my notes in the margin. The one thing that I seem to do (and I have noticed the same thing about how I think in life as well) is I very easily zoom out to capture the larger concept that the author is trying to get at. As I go through Takaki however this trend has accelerated greatly, in large part I think because I always have in the back of my mind “what can I teach from this chapter?” I think one of the most critically important parts of every lesson is providing students with the conceptual framework so they have the ability to transfer and use this knowledge to be better citizens in today’s world. Anyway, it was clear as I was taking notes that I was trying to fit each argument into a broader historical trend. Here are some of the many comments I wrote in the margins:

• “he’s hiding behind state’s rights” (in reference to Andrew Jackson not protecting land treaties with the natives.
• “ I could ask students, what do we owe to the Indians? Is there really any way to pay them back?” (in reference to a quote about Andrew Jackson being concerned about the welfare of the Indians).
• “once again…a strategy to turn them against each other in order to secure white/ elite dominance.” (in reference to a quote about President Jackson trying to create divisions between the natives).
• “compare to Israel/ Palestine…plenty of land available but not THAT land.” (in reference to “removal meant separation from a special and sacred place.”)
• “the beginning of railroad tracks dividing the races.” (in reference to running rail lines through Indian territory led to a recomposition of race)
• 
  
• I think that my pattern of trying to fit arguments into broader conceptual schemes or historical trends is very helpful for me in learning because I clearly learn best when I have a reference. The only downside to this is that I obviously need to be aware of what may be false connections, or situations that seem analogous but the complexities make it clear that one must approach them each on their own merits and not simply by comparison. I think this will mostly be a helpful skill as a teacher however because I can use it to draw parallels that students might better understand and it gives me multiple avenues of trying to approach any given content. One additional approach to take this to the next level would be to try and teach history by conceptual units and common narratives as opposed to chronologically. This has been tried before by some teachers and I have read about both significant upsides and downsides.

September 29, 2007

Separate from my social studies learning that is being done for classes, I have decided to spend as much “free time” as I can trying to study up not just on my American history, but on alternative version of history. The goal is not only to bring myself back to the point where I have a basic understanding to communicate to my current and future students, but so that I can present them with as many perspectives as possible. As part of that effort I am reading Howard Zinn’s well-known “A People’s History of the United States.”

As I read through the first couple of chapters this week I noticed a trend about how I was approaching the process of dissecting his interpretations. As Prof. Lawrence’s professor once said, “history is all selectivity and narrative.” Based on that premise I take a very critical approach to any historical account. I ask myself “what are they leaving out?” and “what kind of history are they trying to show?” and so on. Because it is clear both from the introduction and from popular media accounts and reviews of this book that Howard Zinn definitely has an objective in mind when writing this history, despite agreeing with him most of the time, I have put myself in an even more critical than normal frame of mind. Questioning is always good, regardless of source; but what I have found is that I tend to more meticulously criticize those that largely agree with me. The point of reading about history is not to practice shaking my head up and down…so I try to question the motives, agenda, and reasoning process of those who agree with me ideologically even more strongly. But what is the process? How do I do this? First it is important to match up alternative histories to textbook histories and determine what is most valid about each interpretation. Can they be meshed together? Where do they contradict each other? What context do the evidence and anecdotes exist in? Anecdotes are great and I love to use them, but you must often take them with a grain of salt, because one story is not always representative of the time or setting it takes place in. As far as evidence, especially quotations used to back up the author’s argument, it is important to build context so I usually go digging (even if it’s just wikipedia) for some basic information about that time period and what was going on socially, culturally, etc… It’s easy to use quotes to build up any argument you want to make. If you want to make white people look like the bad guys (and most of the time they were), but you can selectively choose to paint a picture without defining the spectrum of what was considered progressive for the day.

Anyway…it was just a realization I came to as I was reading Zinn. Despite agreeing with his overall premise and historical assertions, I found myself questioning him more aggressively and through an effort to build context, learned much more about that history than if I just read Zinn.

October 9, 2007

I am doing this entry tonight because while attending my “Effective Instruction” class this evening I realized that I was doing what this journal is all about…catching myself in the process of learning. There is a student in our class named Jill who is deaf and a professor at Gallaudet University. She has actually taught me a lot over the course of this semester and opened up my eyes to some of the possibilities of working with special needs learners, but this time it wasn’t her teaching insights but rather just having her in the class to begin with. I have been doing this for weeks but I guess I just never thought about it until now. There are two interpreters in the class who come and sit in the middle of our horseshoe to interpret the class discussion for Jill. They rotate back and forth. I have been struggling, usually having them right next to me, not to watch them to much and rather focus on whoever is talking, or Jill herself if she is talking. I read the novel “Train Go Sorry” last semester for my special education class and it taught me a lot about working with the deaf, but one lesson was that you should look at them when they are speaking and not at their interpreters. It is definitely an issue of respect and dignity. So I have been trying hard to do that but also battling another urge…to learn sign language! So tonight I really just couldn’t help myself. I wanted to be respectful and watch Jill while she was speaking but while other members of the class were speaking I kept checking back in with the interpreters to see how they signed something. Any time an interesting word or phrase came up, I glanced back to check it out. What this taught me is that one of the ways that we learn is from the needs of peers. It reminds me of the kid who raises his hand and says “I have a stupid question, but…” and inevitably it isn’t a stupid question, they were just the only one with the nerve to raise their hand and ask it. In truth, half of the class probably was wondering the same thing, but didn’t learn it until someone else bothered to ask the question. One of the positives about having students with learning disorders or special needs in a “mainstream” classroom is that ALL students benefit from it. The tools and resources that are used in special education really could be used more often in other classrooms to the great advantage of all of the students. So many unique and helpful technologies have been developed for that purpose, but not much thought given (as far as I know) as to how they could be used in inclusion classes. On top of that there ought to be serious thought given to peer tutoring between learning disabled students and other students. Also classes specifically geared towards this kind of interaction should be constructed. Not only is it good for all students, but could really be empowering for the special needs students to show that they also have something to teach their peers.

October 12, 2007

Today I noticed that my learning process and teaching process have begun to merge in many ways. I was at Kramer books tonight and just browsing around when I came across a new book by political and constitutional expert Larry Sabato called “A More Perfect Constitution.” The book outlines 23 proposals for amendments to the U.S. Constitution. As I began to read through the intro’s to some of the chapters I realized I was seeing both ideas that I had heard before and ideas that I had not and that seemed very creative and intriguing to learn about. The first thought that came to my head though, was not “I can’t wait to read this book!.” Instead it was “I can’t wait to TEACH this book!” Immediately I began thinking of ideas for how I could use this interesting book in the classroom. I could have them debate his proposals, come up with new amendments themselves, and on and on. Anyway this is a quick blog entry but I thought it was worth noting that at the same time I was in the process of learning these new ideas, I couldn’t separate the teaching process.

Takaki Ch 7- Labor expoitation and unions!

Takaki Chapter 7 Method

To teach about chapter 7 in Takaki I would focus on labor exploitation and unions. I would focus on this for two reasons. First, it is important part of the story of manifest destiny and exactly how America came to be what it is today, politically, economically, and culturally. Perhaps even more importantly learning about labor and unions is a good way to advance-scaffold their learning which is coming down the road. This chapter covers most of the second half of the 1800’s, and when you think of the labor movement, it really starts in the early 1900’s with the Pullman-Porter strikes, etc… So not only is this part of learning the lesson about the Mexican-American relations and manifest destiny, but it will prepare them for learning that is coming soon and give them a base of knowledge to work with.

The way that I want to teach them this lesson is using a “gateway activity” of one of my favorite movies of all time…the NEWSIES! This Disney classic really never gets old for me…even though I saw it for the first time in 5^th grade I believe. It’s a great way to teach kids about what unions are and their importance and also about scabs and how they have been used. So to preface it I will begin with a more didactic approach of covering the lead up to the Mexican-American war and the idea of manifest destiny. I will then have the class help me compile a list on the board of how the Anglos exploited Mexican labor and all of the means (besides slavery) that can be used as tools for labor exploitation (ex- stripping them of property, bringing in scabs to replace them while on strike, taking away their political power, etc…). Then I will ask the students for their thoughts on how workers, and the Mexicans in this case, could fight back against this injustice. This discussion will hopefully bring us to unions. I will then shut out the lights and show a couple scenes from the movie. After the movie clip I will transition back to the lesson of Takaki ch. 7 by talking about the mutualistas as an early example of the labor rights movement and also the importance of class and racial solidarity.

Takaki Ch 6 method- Irish and African immigrants

What I would like to convey with my lesson about the 6^th chapter of Takaki is the difference in African and Irish immigrants, and how they became part of American society. The question I am driving at with the lesson is- Why were Irish immigrants eventually able to wield such greater influence than Africans even though they were treated similarly upon their arrival. What advantages did the Irish have? Was it all about race or were other factors more important?

I want students to get a real idea of how these two groups progressed differently as immigrants in this country, so I will divide the students in the class based on the proportion of African to Irish immigrants starting in the mid 19^th Century. Each student will represent 1 million immigrants and they will be either African or Irish. The students will be asked to stand in the front of the class with African immigrants on one side and Irish on the other. To demonstrate the differences in their progressions, I will highlight a few indicators so that students can visually see the discrepancies. Among the things I will compare:

1. Number of them who would have been slaves

2. How many would have been unionized

3. Skilled vs. unskilled labor

4. How many were able to vote

5. How many were women

6. How many attended college

7. How many settled in the cities/ how many settled in the country

I think that these visuals will give the students some idea of the vast differences in the two groups. From there I will bring the class together for a discussion on the following topics:

1. How did the elite/ ruling class/ whites keep the other races down by pitting them against each other?

2. Were there attempts to join together in common pursuit of economic fairness and justice?

3. Why couldn’t they organize effectively?

4. Was being white really enough for the Irish to overcome the stereotypes and oppression?

I would end the class by reviewing some of the 7 criteria above and showing students where the two groups stand today. Why do they think that is? Will it change?

Takaki CH 5 teaching method

Working with Takaki Ch 5, I would have students do a text comparison by examining the views (through their writings) of both Frederick Douglas and Pati Delaney about what the right strategies were to pull blacks out of slavery. Did it have to be through the barrel of a gun, or was there a peaceful way to do it? Was economic power/ land ownership really the best way to power and rights, or do you think other rights could have led to equality?

In “Historical Thinking” they talk about building a context around the arguments of the time so that we aren’t engaged in “presentism.” I would use the quote from page 110 about pre-nuclear era thinking to show students what presentism WAS. From that, the first thing I would have the students do it build a social context around the writings. They can use the whole Takaki chapter and I would provide an additional couple of resources that give them an idea of lifestyle and the mindset of the time period. Based on that they would, in groups, work to build a social context for the reading by examining the following:

1. What were the far ends of the debate over these questions at the time? What were the extremes, what positions were more mainstream, and who held each position?

2. What cultural institutions put African Americans at a disadvanatage?

3. What, and who, prevented blacks from having equal access to education and other empowering resources?

4. What types of social relationships were acceptable, which were not?

5. How was the culture of mid 19^th century society different from today?

Then I would have them read excerpts of texts (letters, essays, etc…) of both Douglas and Delaney and do a comparison of their views WITHIN the context of the time period. Then the class would discuss as a whole:

Could freedom only be achieved at the barrel of a gun? Could power only be acquired through land ownership?