Breaking the Single Story

We have been studying immigration for several weeks now. All of the work we have done is listed on the top of each class's "Breaking the Single Story Brainstorm" document. We brainstormed that list from all of the work that we have done together so far. All of the links are there in case anyone has lost the hard copies of documents or forgotten some of the work we've done. Below that is a brainstorm of a few ways we could set up paragraphs to answer our question: "How has your single story of immigration changed/grown?". Underneath that is our rubric we created together in class. Finally, there is a sample essay (on another topic) but it could still be a helpful model for organizing ideas. 

We began this unit with this idea that "single stories" (stereotypical, one-sided stories that we are fed by media, etc) are dangerous and that we need to read more widely and have discussions to break through those stereotypes. The students' assignment is to explain how their thoughts about immigration have changed since we began this work, since we began with mainly negative stereotypes about immigrants and immigration. I believe that rather than just have the students write an informational essay that is merely a list facts that they have copied down, it is important for them to think metacognitively and be able to name what they have learned. This is a challenge for them developmentally, but that is why we have been thinking through that process together as a class!

The students will have 3 class periods this week to work on it and the final draft will be due Wednesday 11/23. I can't wait to see what the students have to share!

Immigration Sources

Level 1 Source - Easiest to read, links to additional pages in the sidebar on the right, but provides the least detail and doesn't always cite sources

Immigration: Moving Towards Hope, published by PBS

Level 2 Source - A bit more challenging, but provides sources like the U.S. Census Bureau

Myths and Facts about Immigrants and Immigration, published by the Anti-Defamation League

Level 3 Sources - Most challenging because it provides lots of questions and answers, questionable biases of creators

Facts about Immigration and the US Economy, published by the Economic Policy Institute

Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States, published by the Migration Policy Institute

Other Sources of Interest

Infographic: The Screening Process for Refugee Entry into the United States, published by The White House

How do Syrian Refugees Get Into the US?, published by CNN

How to Integrate Quotes and Conversation Cheat Sheet!

THIS CHART is a fantastic tool to use to ensure that you are integrating quotations smoothly into your writing!

THIS CHART is a fantastic tool to use to ensure that you are integrating conversation/dialogue smoothly into your writing!

Recognizing Stereotypes and Speaking Back through Memoir

After reading some memoir-like short stories, the students have had a great week starting to brainstorm memories and lessons for their own memoirs! Today we watched this video (see below) from the WNYC series Being 12. In this particular video, the 12 year olds tell brief memoirs about stereotypes they have faced in their lives. The students did an amazing job discussing the unfairness of the situation, making connections to our human rights work. This video is also serving as a launch point for many of their own memoirs where they will tell a story about themselves that breaks a stereotype that has negatively affected them. I can't wait for more drafting and digging into their life stories!

Voting Rights and Issues

Essential Questions: 

1. What did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 say?

2. Why was the Voting Rights Act necessary? What effects has it had?

3. Why have some people challenged the Voting Rights Act in recent years?

4. How are voting rights threatened today? How can we protect those rights?

Sources to Explore:

• Signing the Voting Rights Act (1 1/2 minutes) and transcript of the video
• The Right to Vote (14 minutes) and transcript of the video
• Number of Black Legislators in the South (1868-1900 and 1960-1992) (PDF)
• Percentage of Registered Voters in Black Voting-Age Population (PDF)
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (PDF)
• Supreme Court Re-Examines 1965 Voting Rights Act and transcript of the video
• Supreme Court Narrowly Allows 1965 Voting Rights Act to Stand and transcript of the video
• States With Voting Restrictions (PDF)
• Percentages of People Who Lack a Government-Issued Photo ID (PDF)
• Voting Issues Today (PDF)

Please explore these sources and posts your response to the essential questions in a blog post!

Zooming In and Out

This quarter, we will be exploring the question...

How do stories shape our understanding of ourselves, others, and the world? 

As a way to start thinking about this, the students participated in a team challenge, putting together the pages of the picture book Zoom. Here are some pictures of the teams in action.

After they applauded their hard work, they debriefed and came up with some important reflections about what happened as they did the activity. Can't wait to start zooming in and out of texts with them!

First Week of Sixth Grade, 2016

Welcome to Sixth Grade Language Arts! I'm excited for our year ahead of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and growing.

This week, we have been thinking about the question, "Who are you?" We started by creating "Stick Figure Me" portraits which families will see displayed at Open House. We also personalized our Reader's/Writer's Notebooks and started creating our Heart Maps. As we launch our reading and writing for the year, I want to share a Langston Hughes poem for some inspiration.

Over the weekend, students will be gathering their materials for the Brown Bag Bio projects. The students have a paper packet with all of the information and rubric, but in case you want to check it out, you can click here for the Google Doc version. Students will be practicing their presentations and receiving some feedback at home in order to help prepare for their presentation at school. We will use these as a benchmark for our presentation skills and work on what's needed as the year continues. Can't wait to see all of the unique contents of everyone's bag!