Incorporating the Ideas of Power and Change in our Curriculum

Two Driving Questions were posed during the year for Room 19: What makes change? and What is power?

We looked at these big ideas of Power and Change in all of our curricular areas:

• In Science, we noticed what made states of matter change and the power of weather.
  
• In Literacy, we kept track of how characters changed over time, studied the power of words in poetry and determined what were important, key facts in our stories.
  
• In Math, we found new powerful strategies to solve problems and changed our strategies to be more efficient and organized.
• In Social Studies, we considered these ideas of Power and Change by looking at our role as students and as community members. We launched our unit by beginning to study “People Who Make a Difference.” We researched Wilbur and Orville Wright and their dream of flight, through the eyes of historians. We began to study other people the students were interested in like Martin Luther King Jr., Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and Jackie Robinson.
  

It was in presenting the students with images and primary sources that led up to Jackie Robinson’s 1947 crossing of the color line in Major League Baseball that our timeline began to form. The students created this to help them understand what happened before, during and after the time of Jackie Robinson. It led them down many paths of inquiry and through many meaningful conversations on topics such as segregation, fairness, change, slavery, world history and how these topics have affected their own lives.

Using Primary Sources

Using primary sources (letters, photographs, maps, documents, drawings, artifacts) from the Library of Congress, we studied the Habits of Historians to think deeply and critically about what the sources taught us about these people who made a difference in our world.  We used contextualized our primary sources, situating the documents in its time and place.  We read closely, making detailed observations.

We used our background knowledge to read and understand the documents.  We sourced the information, noticing who made it and why it was created.  We corroborated, asking questions about multiple sources to find agreement and disagreement.  And we read the silences in the photographs, noticing who was not represented and who was left out or excluded.

Jackie Robinson

The students worked in small groups looking at two to three different images from the Library of Congress representing the history of baseball in the United States.  The students started to see how the teams were segregated until Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey changed the history and look of Major League Baseball.  From the initial group discussion the students started lining up the images on the rug, putting them in chronological order, making sense of the primary sources.  They would debate where something should go or why they thought it came before or after something else.  They were doing exactly what historians or archeologists do when putting together relics they have discovered. 

Mentor Texts

To build background knowledge about segregation, prior to studying Jackie Robinson, we read the picture book The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson. The book talks about a friendship that develops between two young girls in the segregated south.

We used different social justice lenses to look at the deeper meanings of this book through “Stop and Jot” reflections.

Shared Reading

As a class, we read together the lyrics of songs sung Sam Cooke and Michael Jackson to introduce themes of change and making a difference.  We visualized what they lyrics said and sketched the pictures it created in our mind.

Read Alouds

Students were inspired to bring in books from home that connected to our timeline. Toussaint read his book Sit In; How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkey, about the Greensboro lunch counter peaceful demonstrations, teaching our whole class about another part of the civil rights movement.

Art and Technology

Students sketched and painted portraits of people you would find on our timeline.  They did these portraits in the style of various artists we have been studying throughout the year.  They also identified important words and phrases about people you find on our timeline and used the computer to create a Wordle art pieces.

Our Words Have Power

Throughout the year we took notice when the students in Room 19 said particularly insightful and meaningful things.  We often had them quickly write down what they said so we could post it in our board of quotes.  This honoring of their important words led to amazing discussions, with students agreeing and disagreeing with their peers in respectful ways. 

Students spontaneously asked to record our classroom conversations.  It became common place in Room 19 for students to read back their written classroom conversations and to work as partners to reconstruct the words of their peers.

Often our conversations led to new questions to research and new ideas to explore.

One of our most important discussions came at the beginning of the year when we were establishing classroom norms and talking about how to respect and support each other in our learning and friendships.  Students starting saying that we should use respectful words and a kind tone of voice with each other because no one likes to be put-down or yelled at.  They said we should give "put-ups, not put-downs."  Then a student named Toussaint said, "Words have power, they can hurt people."  I was amazed by the phrasing he chose and asked him to go write that down so we could remember his important words forever.  I then asked the class to explain what Toussaint meant.  This moment was a turning point for our classroom, because at this moment they began to see themselves people who had important and deeply thoughtful things to say.  The simple action of stopping our class and saying, "write that down before we forget your important words" empowered our students and motivated them to reflect on a more personal and deep level.  We had to make a clipboard that anyone could grab to record our words if they felt our class was starting to say important things.  The following year we started using our iPads that we bought with our TIIP funds to video these conversations.  

~ Chris

Thoughts about Freedom and Toussaint’s quote “Words Have Power”…

Following is some of what the students said in this first discussion and subsequent conversations.

“If one person is free than we should all be free.” -Nora (age 8)

“Every word you say is important – even if it’s mean.” -Noah (age 6)

“Words have power,” means to me that you can understand people’s ideas without using your body like pushing or shoving. -Jordyn (age 7)

“Words have power,” means to me if you say someone is stupid it would make them feel bad. They would feel hurt.  But if you say something like “I like you and you are a very respectful person, “ it would make them happy inside and feel good. -Toussaint (age 8)

“I think, “Words have power,” means words can hurt you and make you feel good.” -Liam (age 7)

Thoughts about Change…

“Even though you do different things and you may go a different way – you are still the same person. You just grow and change.” -Jessica (age 6)

“You can do something right all the time to make changes everyday.” -Kana (age 6)

“Some things you can’t change, like a new brother. You can’t pass it but you grow to love him.” -Milan (age 7)

“If you change something it can be to hard to change it back – but at least you made a change.” -Charlie (age 7)

 “When you want to make a change, start in. Then you spread the change like butter. Think before you make change, because if it is permanent you might regret your change. There are some changes in the world you cannot control, so you have to go with them.” -Nicholas (age 8) 

“There are all kinds of changes. Some things you can’t change. You can’t go away from school. You cannot get rid of your teachers. I don’t want to do that though." -William (age 7)

A Conversation about... Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down

by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Toussaint asked to read this book because it connected to our research on Jackie Robinson and the color line. It tells the story of the Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit Ins.

Marley:  They stood up for black people.

Charlie:  They didn’t use weapons.

Toussaint:  They used their words.

Millen:  There was a domino effect. They didn’t use weapons.  They used their hearts and brains.  

Toussaint:  I agree with Millen. They never gave up.

Milan:  They changed segregation in diners. Other people did the same thing in other places.

Jordyn:  They fought with their hearts.

Millen:  They did not use weapons. They used their heart.

Toussaint:  They were surviving segregation.

Thoughts about Jackie Robinson and MLK Jr…

“Jackie Robinson and Rosa Parks were like each other because they both didn’t listen to rules they thought were wrong and made a great change.” -Sam (age 7)

“Jackie Robinson made a difference in the world by getting blacks to play with the whites…Everyone makes a difference because they make changes.” -Alicia (age 8)

“Jackie Robinson didn’t want to be separate – he said if is somebody is a slave, Americans are not free. -Spencer (age 6)

“If Martin Luther King Jr. did not make a difference then Marley would not be my friend.” -Remy (age 7)

“Do not hate, you must be a role model so you will help people not hate…" -Mariella (age 6)

“Don’t underestimate your ability or the abilities of others.” -Andre (age 7) 

“You can do something right…all the time.” -Josie (age 8) 

“Everybody should be free – no one should be judged by his or her color.  No one should be a slave – they should be free!!!” -Jason (age 8)

A Conversation about…The Other Side

by Jacqueline Woodson 

This read aloud tells the story of Clover and Annie, two young girls, one black and one white, that live next door with just an old wood fence separating them and how they found a way to become friends.   Below is a conversation recorded by the students about the deeper meaning of the story.

William:         They were upset that they couldn’t play together.

Toussaint:       It reminds me of segregation. 

                       I think they wanted to be friends but they weren’t allowed. 

Marley:          The sides couldn’t have freedom. 

Remy:             I think the fence never ends.

Millen:            They are not separated only in America. 

                        They are separated all over the world.

 Sam:              Clover is like Martin Luther King Jr. and the rest of the girls are her followers.

Charlie:           They are sad because they can’t go over the fence.

Spencer:          I think they are going to end up being friends because they smiled at each other.

Andre:             The book is about freedom.

Kana:               Before she was scared of Annie, then when they met they were friends.

Milan:            I was like Annie.  When I came to this new class I was scared and didn’t like it, but now that I know everyone better I like it and am not scared anymore.

William:           You were brave to tells us that, Milan.

Jason:            Bad things happen in life, but everything can get fixed.