John Lewis, Civil Rights, Graphic Novels and Comic Books

John Lewis, February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020, civil rights activist and leader

will be remembered for many things including the three  volume graphic novel, March, that he co-authored with Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell

Teachers guide at 
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/guides/march-book-one-teachers-guide.pdf
http://cbldf.org/2014/02/using-graphic-novels-in-education-march-book-one/

https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/education-outreach/book-of-the-month-march-book-one.pdf

 https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/education-outreach/book-of-the-month-march-book-one-parent-guide.pdf
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw8T5fEOI3YsNnNjQVE4WVVJR28/view

Teachers guide at 
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/guides/march-book-two-teachers-guide.pdf
http://cbldf.org/2015/02/using-graphic-novels-in-education-march-book-two/
https://www.diamondbookshelf.com/Home/1/1/20/1282?articleID=159876
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw8T5fEOI3YsTTJQU2dHbzQ4NkU/view

Teachers guide at 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw8T5fEOI3YsVVJUUjhiVmlwZzA/view

http://cbldf.org/2017/07/using-graphic-novels-in-education-march-book-three/

People  may wonder why John Lewis chose a graphic novel form to tell his life story. The precedent was set many years ago by Martin Luther King Jr. see here for the background story

https://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2013/07/martin-luther-king-jr-1956-comic-book.html

Teaching Black Lives Matter

Lesson plans  for teaching about Black Lives Matter

A colleague, Brandi Warren, shared this resource:
https://districtadministration.com/black-lives-matter-free-curriculum-george-floyd-protests-racism-diversity-social-justice/

https://blacklivesmatteratschool.com/teaching-materials/

Other lesson plans can be found at the

Teachable Moment site
https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment

https://www.morningsidecenter.org/black-lives-matter

Teaching Tolerance
https://www.tolerance.org/

https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/lessons


Please also see
https://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2018/01/national-day-of-racial-healing-11618.html for books on Social Justice

And the Black Lives Matter Comics Reading Lists from the American Library association:
http://www.ala.org/rt/gncrt/-black-lives-matter-comics-reading-lists?fbclid=IwAR3DEh1uTOUGhMp6s--Dyy2rWiAn0eVeiy52pPyEzMjHiVe2NolIWibuXqQ
(Many of the titles are in the Guarini Library's print collection)

Teaching Slavery

Recently a Bronx teacher was removed from the classroom, after choosing three Black students to demonstrate the conditions on slave ships. Allegedly, when one of the students giggled, the teacher stepped on her back. Not an effective lesson.
Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/teacher-stepped-black-students-back-slavery-lesson-798405)

A similar incident occurred in 2008, and was blogged about on this site.
http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/teaching-african-american-history-and.html

The Southern Poverty Law Center's -Teaching Tolerance Project has released a report on " Teaching the Hard History of American Slavery"
https://www.splcenter.org/teaching-hard-history-american-slavery

Because:

• schools are not adequately teaching the history of American slavery.
•  Educators are not sufficiently prepared to teach it. 
• Textbooks do not have enough material about it.

Take the Quiz- How much do you know about slavery?

https://www.splcenter.org/data-projects/how-much-do-you-know-about-american-slavery

The SPLC found that:

Slavery is not simply an event in our history; it’s central to our history.

American enslavement of Africans shaped our country's sociopolitical institutions and formed the cornerstone of our industrial revolution. Today the persistent disparities African Americans face — and the backlash that seems to follow every African-American advancement — trace their roots to slavery and its aftermath.

To understand the world today we must understand slavery. But SPLC research shows our schools are failing to teach the hard history of African enslavement. 

They surveyed U.S. high school seniors and social studies teachers, analyzed a selection of state content standards, and reviewed 10 popular U.S. history textbooks. They found:

• High school seniors struggle on even the most basic questions about American enslavement of Africans.
• Teachers who are serious about teaching slavery struggle to provide deep coverage of the subject in the classroom.
• Popular textbooks fail to comprehensively cover slavery and enslaved peoples.
• State content standards are timid and fail to set appropriately high expectations. 

Read the Report- https://www.splcenter.org/20180131/teaching-hard-history

Use these resources:

A comprehensive guide for teaching and learning this critical topic—

A Framework for Teaching American Slavery.

Here are a few key elements of the framework and the accompanying resources:

• Key Concepts and Summary Objectives — Important big ideas and critical content students must know to understand the historical significance of slavery.
• Primary Source Texts — The Teaching Hard History Text Library features over 100 sources, all with text-dependent questions.
• Teaching Tools — Browse six sample Inquiry Design Models, based on The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards.
• Podcast — Hosted by Professor Hasan Jeffries, this series brings us the lessons we should have learned in school through the voices of leading scholars and educators.
• Student Quiz — Use this 12-question quiz as a formative assessment.
• Webinar — Join us live on February 13 or learn on demand.

Some other resources
Books

Maroon teachers : teaching the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans/ Sandra Gift (HT1072 .G55 2008)

Trading souls : Europe's transatlantic trade in Africans/ Hilary Beckles (HT1322 .B434 2007)

Saving souls : the struggle to end the transatlantic trade in Africans / Hilary Beckles (HT1322 .B27 2007)

Inhuman traffick : the international struggle against the transatlantic slave trade : a graphic history/Rafe Blaufarb (Juv. 306.3 .B645i)

Websites

African Passages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/africanpassageslowcountryadapt/introductionatlanticworld/trans_atlantic_slave_trade

In Motion: the African American Experience

http://www.inmotionaame.org/home.cfm?site=html

Environment and Elections-Lesson Plans for Earth Day and Beyond

As Earth Day approaches, lesson plans on the Flint Water crisis provide an interesting perspective

Flint Water Crisis 

Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center has a lesson plan on Progressive City Planners
http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/progressive-city-planners  with these objectives:

Objectives:

Students will:

• Consider how our society is divided by race and class and consider the stark differences in treatment within communities
• Evaluate previous biases against people of color and working-class communities.
• Analyze the impact of environmental racism on the health and well-being of communities of color
• Create a vision of a more just and equitable society

Another environmental lesson plan was included in this blog's post

http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2009/04/earth-day-research-project.html

The Teachable Moment

The Teachable Moment a project of the Morningside Center

has the following lesson plan  and readings specifically on the crisis

http://morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/flint-water-crisis-environmental-racism-work

Elections 

The Teachable Moment also has lessons on the current elections
http://www.morningsidecenter.org/search/node/elections%20type%3Ateachable_moment_lesson

Teaching Tolerance has lesson plans on past election and voters' rights concerns
http://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources?keys=elections&type=All&topic=All&grade=All&domain=All&subject=All

For more lesson plan websites and other materials   check this bibliography
http://www.njcu.edu/guarini/department/EdServiceBib/LessonPlans.pdf

New Common Care Resource for NJ educators!

New Resource on Common Core to be Introduced from the NJ Department of Education.

The NJDOE, in partnership with the Common Core Learning Engine, has released the New Jersey Educator Resource Exchange, a website that provides instructional materials aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards (NJCCCS).

Currently over 2,000 resources are "tagged" to particular standards and the NJ model curriculum student learning objectives (SLOs). This is a free resource to New Jersey educators, which will allow them both to download instructional resources to use in the classroom, and to upload resources for other educators to use in their own classrooms.

The Educator Resource Exchange website will allow educators, parents and community members to navigate the standards, search for and download instructional resources, create a library of resources for later use, and establish a "resource feed" that will notify them when new resources are added to the site.

Among others, these resources include lesson plans, videos, and assessment items. Access to the website is free for all users and requires only a quick registration.  Educator Resource Exchange
Website:  http://njcore.org/

Central Park Five- Issues and Lesson Plans

Curricular connections for the Central Park Five

The recently released Central Park Five documentary concerning the 1989 Central Park jogger case and trial in which five teenagers were interrogated, arrested, tried, convicted and many years later found innocent, raises many questions about social justice, race, and the criminal justice system.
 It could be a great starting point for interdisciplinary class room lessons and discussions

VIDEO
The Central Park Five
on PBS. See more from Central Park Five. The video of the documentary currently shown on PBS is available  at http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/centralparkfive/

DISCUSSION
The discussion about the film with all members of the Central Park Five  is available here https://livestream.com/accounts/15501555/centralpark5/videos/150835805

CONNECTIONS
Some curricular connections can be found in these links:

Primary Documents:
YCTeen story "The Central Park Five:Teens served time for a crime they didn’t commit" by Jovon Ferguson
(Note : This story also contains instructions for teens and their rights and what to do if stopped by the police, as well as a link to  their original coverage of the case  and a poem by Ray Santana one of the accused. http://www.ycteenmag.org/issues/NYC235/Voices_From_the_Archive.html?story_id=NYC-2013-01-13b)
 
Time       

I’m wasting time for a serious crime

A crime I didn’t do

A crime that traps black people like me and you

Teens having dreams but not going to the extreme

Peer pressure from friends that will lead you to a dead end

I’m not a follower. I was just with the wrong crowd

The type of crowd that could have left me on the ground

The white man tries to put us down

But we as blacks, could turn that around

I just want to go home and get my head out of this dome

I wish I could disappear and get out of this jail atmosphere

This is not a rhyme—it’s just time.

—Ray, Spofford Voices, September 1991

Lesson Plans

Media/News Literacy Lesson: The Central Park Five
Reading Comprehension, Discussion, and Written Response (some based on archival articles)
http://www.ycteenmag.org/issues/NYC235/Voices_From_the_Archive.html?story_id=NYC-2013-01-13b&lesson=1

Presumed Guilty: Protecting the Accused  (Grades 6-12)
http://www.pbs.org/pov/presumedguilty/lesson_plan.php
(In this lesson, students will analyze a criminal case in Mexico involving an innocent man convicted of homicide. Students will identify and explain the protections for the accused that are outlined in the United States Constitution and infer how such protections might have affected the case in Mexico.)

What Happens Inside Prison?- Lesson Plan ( High School)
http://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/what-happens-inside-prison
(Three student readings offer a case study of what happened to one mentally ill prisoner; a summary of a critical report on America's prisons; and some additional facts and figures. Discussion questions, a writing assignment, subjects for further inquiry and suggestions for citizenship activities follow.)

To Kill A Mockingbird and the Scottsboro Boys Trial: Profiles in Courage ( Grades 9-12)
http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/kill-mockingbird-and-scottsboro-boys-trial-profiles-courage
(Two part lesson: Lesson One asks students to read To Kill A Mockingbird carefully with an eye for all instances and manifestations of courage, but particularly those of moral courage. Lesson Two also requires students to study select court transcripts and other primary source material from the second Scottsboro Boys Trial of 1933, a continuation of the first trial in which two young white women wrongfully accused nine African-American youths of rape.)

Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach Social Justice ( Grades 6-8; Grades 9-12)
http://www.tolerance.org/activity/using-editorial-cartoons-teach-social-justice ( Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach Social Justice is a series of 14 lessons. Each lesson focuses on a contemporary social justice issue. These lessons are multidisciplinary and geared toward middle and high school students.Students enjoy editorial cartoons. Visual, engaging and often funny, they’re great learning tools. However, editorial cartoons can be challenging because they often require a lot of prior knowledge. These lessons provide strategies for using what students already know to analyze cartoons that may seem difficult to interpret.In addition, these lessons will expand students’ knowledge of social justice issues. They can be used to supplement another lesson or readings, or they can stand alone.)

A Study Guide for Place in the World Prepared by Roberta McNair for CFI Education
Film Discussion Guide of Ken Burns Documentary (Grades 10-12)
http://cfieducation.cafilm.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Central_Park_Five_Study_Guide1.pdf
A PLACE IN THE WORLD is for grades 10-12. Participating schools are chosen from different Bay Area locations and with as much diversity in the student body as possible. Study guides and clips for all films are provided and sent out two weeks prior to an event for class preparations. CFI staff also visits the schools prior to the program’s start to familiarize students with the program and to answer questions. On the event date: the film is shown; discussion conducted with director or principal speaker; small group break-out with adult discussion leaders for personal reflection.

Rag and Bone Shop Activity
A young adult novel , The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier is about the interrogation of a an introverted twelve-year-old accused in a high profile murder case.
This discussion guide can supplement issues found in the book and highlight similar issues in the Central Park Five case.
http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/resource/the-rag-and-bone-shop/

http://www.readinggroupguides.com/reviews/the-rag-and-bone-shop/guide

Teaching 9/11- 10 years later

This is an update to two older posts

Teaching 9/11
http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2009/09/teaching-9ll.html

Lesson Plans for 9/11
http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2010/09/lesson-plans-for-911.html

New Resources

(from Leslie Kahn, NPL)
Ground Zero Now
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/30/us/sept-11-reckoning/ground-zero.html?nl=multimedia&emc=focusemb1

(from Leslie Kahn, NPL)
Larry Ferlazzo's The Best Sites To Help Teach About 9/11
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/08/13/the-best-sites-to-help-teach-about-911/
(excellent resources specifically for English Language Learners and others. Includes videos )

(from Julie Greller)
Media Specialist's Guide to Sharing 9/11 with your Students
http://mediaspecialistsguide.blogspot.com/2011/09/sharing-9-11-with-your-students.html
includes a link to What Happened? The Story of September 11, 2001".
and
the Curriculum guide "What Happened? The Story of September 11, 2001."
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/nick-news.pdf

(from Leslie Kahn, NPL)
9/11 +ME
http://www.usatoday.com/news/911/plus_me/index.html
Interactive graphic of events that resulted from 9/11

Lesson Plans for 9/11

9/11 Lesson plan Sources

Elementary

Mr. Donn's Pages has lesson plans on major religions including Islam. (Scroll down on the page)
http://www.mrdonn.org/religions.html

Teaching 9/11 has elementary K-5 lesson plans as well as other grade levels
http://www.teaching9-11.org/categories.cfm?16

Middle/Secondary

Teaching Tolerance has lesson plans for Confronting Islamophobia
http://www.tolerance.org/blog/commemorate-911-confronting-islamophobia
(There is also an note on book burning, even through the scheduled book burning by a pastor in Florida has been cancelled, it may be a worthy classroom discussion. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/US-Church-Cancels-Quran-Burning-102571464.html)

Teachable Moment has a classroom discussion guide on theNew York City Community Center controversy.
http://www.teachablemoment.org/high/communitycenter.html

Please reply with other useful sites!
See http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2011/09/teaching-911-10-years-later.html  and http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2009/09/teaching-9ll.html
for more resources

Getting Ready for September?- A Helpful Website

The Teacher Created Materials Website has an interesting collection of :

• Free activities http://www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/free

and a searchable

• Free Activities archive of materials , lesson plans and activities http://www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/free/#archive

There are also Webinars http://www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/webinars/

and podcasts http://www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/podcasts/

A fun site to browse through!

Teaching African American History and TTEA

On Friday, December 5, 2008, the New York Daily News reported the following:

New York teacher binds black students during history lesson on slavery
By DORIAN BLOCK
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, December 5th 2008, 4:57 PM

A suburban middle school teacher who bound the hands and feet of two black girls, then made them crawl under desks representing slave ships, has sparked outrage by one of the girl's mother and the local NAACP chapter....Northern Rockland School District Superintendent Brian Monahan said he was having "conversations with our staff on how to deliver effective lessons."
Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/12/05/2008-12-05_new_york_teacher_binds_black_students_du.html

Research in teaching the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans (TTEA) has resulted in the development of several educational websites, with global and multicultural perspectives. One site is from the acclaimed Schomburg Center in New York,it is called In Motion: The African American Migration Experience and is located at http://www.inmotionaame.org/home.cfm
It includes text, photographs and lesson plans (http://www.inmotionaame.org/education/)

UNESCO also has an interesting educational website called African Passages http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/africanpassageslowcountryadapt/introductionatlanticworld/trans_atlantic_slave_trade, which shows the connection between African, Caribbean and North American cultures.Lesson plans are available at http://www.cofc.edu/unescoafricanpassages/teaching.htm

Get ready for September!

Visit the Library!
3rd floor-
Juvenile Books (K-12)
Professional Books (Check OSCAR)
4th floor-
Curriculum Collection for lesson ideas, texts and much more

Interested in creating a wiki?
See this offer from PB Wiki
http://www.backtoschoolchallenge.com/

English/ESL/Reading teachers
Try this interesting site Lessonwriter.com to prepare worksheets and comprehension activities. (registration is necessary)

Don't forget-
September 18, 11-3pm
Study Abroad Fair
Gilligan Student's Union
http://web.njcu.edu/dept/oissa/Content/study_abroad.asp
Office of International Student and Study Abroad
New Jersey City University

Register by September 6th

Study Abroad Fair Registration Form
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
11:00AM-3:00PM


Name_____________________________________

Company __________________________________

Address 1_________________________________

Address 2_________________________________

Phone______________________________________

Fax________________________________________

Email______________________________________

Web Site (optional)________________________



___YES, I will attend this year’s Study Abroad Fair.

___NO, I will not be able to attend but would like to hear about future events hosted by the Office of International Students and Study Abroad.

Registration forms may be faxed to us at 201-200-2326,
emailed to cwhite@njcu.edu,
or mailed to the following address
New Jersey City University
2039 Kennedy Boulevard,
Grossnickle Hall, Room 303
Jersey City New Jersey 07305-1597
Phone: 201-200-3022
Fax: 201-200-2326

International Day of Peace
September 21
Read a peace-ful book:
Ain't gonna study war no more : the story of America's peace seekers
Juv. 303.6 .M528a

The Big book for peace
Juv. 810.8 .B592

Can you say peace?
Juv.K198ca

or
Teach Peace with these books in the Curriculum Collection (4th floor)
I will be your friend : songs and activities for young peacemakers
CMC M1992 .I95 2003

Teaching young children in violent times : building a peaceable classroom
CMC LB3013.32 .L485 2003

War & peace : a guide to literature and new media : grades 4-8
CMC U21.2 .W3446 2007

Banned books Week
September 27 - October 4, 2008
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org

Rev. Wright, Critical Thinking, Summarizing, and Media Representations

Rev. Jeremiah Wright made a speech to the National Press Club today in which he considered "critical thinking", sound bites (summarizing), media representations, liberation theology and Dr James Cone (a recent visitor who addressed our NJCU community)and made references to the Langston Hughes poem, I am the darker brother, and Carter G. Woodson's book, Mis-Education of the Negro among others.


The complete video of Wright's address is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2H1dMbkYa4&feature=share&list=PL22FD99C3C661B688
and here
http://youtu.be/q2H1dMbkYa4
http://youtu.be/-gXnZKUG_ic
http://youtu.be/6aM8VU47pKU
http://youtu.be/SM6-K1MicZU
http://youtu.be/-6BQMQAx0-Y
http://youtu.be/pekVHn2jWYQ

An interesting lesson could be created for middle or high school students in which:

A. Students view the video (it is in six segments)over a period of six days,
B. Students summarize or outline the main points of each segment,
C. Students view the print and video reports created by newspapers and television media.
D. Students compare and contrast their summaries to those of the established media.
E. Students could then examine the accounts for multiple perspectives, bias and subjective language
F. An open-ended discussion of their findings could be the culminating activity.

Some books in the CMC collection that may be of interest are :

Media today : interpreting newspapers, magazines, radios, TV, movies and the Internet (Text 384 .M489)

U.S.-Japan relations : the view from both sides of the Pacific. Part II, The media in U.S.- Japan relations : a look at stereotypes (CMC E183.8.J3 M84 1994)

Students could also take a look at the many theorists, historical events and personages, and literary works that Wright mentioned.

Free Grade 6-12 Lesson Plans

The New York Times provides free Grade 6-12 Lesson Plans on this website
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/archive.html

The plans are interdisciplinary and are keyed to different New York Times articles and resources.