ELA+Social+Justice+Intro+1

ELA Assignment 1: Awareness

__Time needed__: One 90 minute Project block

__Key Idea__: Developing a meaningful understanding of awareness

__Key Vocabulary__: Social Justice, Racism, Poverty and Abuse of Power, Awareness

__Procedure__: The teacher will begin class by reviewing with the students the definitions of Social Justice, Racism, Poverty and Abuse of Power. The class will then discuss the concept of awareness, based around the questions “What does it mean to be aware?” and “How does one create or raise awareness”?

The class will then watch the PBS Frontline documentary “A Class Divided”, available online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html. The teacher will lead the class in discussion based around the following questions:

· What causes Mrs. Elliot to undertake this experiment? · How does the teacher insure that these white students experience racism and discrimination? · Mrs. Elliott describes this as a “concrete way” to teach about racism. Do you agree with her? What would be another “concrete way” to teach about racism?

The whole class will then break up into smaller groups and discuss the following questions:


 * What are the parts that make up awareness?
 * How can we raise awareness in our region about social justice issues?

The teacher will record the answers on a whole group brainstorm page which will be referred back to in later days.