Civil Rights broadens middle school students’ abilities to research, present, and document their studies of American civil rights and outline the challenges that lay ahead for the rights and freedoms of all Americans.
Students will:
Understand the meaning of civil rights in America and the contributions different social movements have made to our democracy.
Conduct independent research using primary source documents and identify bias inherent in the “telling” of our history.
Apply lessons learned from historic struggles to emerging civil rights challenges that face our country.
Voices and Choices: Civil Rights was developed with financial support from The US Department of Education and The JP Morgan Chase Foundation.
The six week unit, Voices and Choices: Civil Rights, meets a variety of New York State Content Standards for Social Studies, Learning Standards for Social Studies (Standards 1, 3 and 5) and Skills Standards for Social Studies (Standards 1 - 4). In line with these requirements, students examine critical time periods through many lenses: geographic, economic, civic, global, and national. They analyze primary source documents, photographs, maps, bar graphs, and political cartoons. Through this process, students make connections across time periods and among the many areas of historical analysis (social, political and economic). They draw conclusions about the evolution of civil rights and democracy in our country and apply their newly acquired knowledge to challenging issues of today. Highlights from the New York State Social Studies content that is explored in this unit:
The guarantee of equal rights in the 14th and 15th amendments, for all races except Native Americans
Legal segregation: Plessy v. Ferguson
The changing roles of women, children, minorities, and the disabled over the 20th century
The Chinese experience in the far west
Legal bases for citizenship in the U.S., responsibilities of citizenship
Women's suffrage; 19th amendment
Civil Rights movement's focus on equality and democracy
Important executive and judicial decisions, including Brown v. the Board of Education
Civil Rights activists and leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Civil Rights Movement's connection to greater equality sought by women and Native Americans
The role of ordinary people and famous historic figures in advancing the fundamental democratic values, beliefs, and traditions expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights
Civil Rights also meets several NYC Performance Standards for English Language Arts, and National Educational Technology Standards, preparing students for 21st century learning and achievement.
About the "Tech" in Social Studies and Technology [+]
The teacher’s guide for Voices and Choices: Civil Rights resides in a web-based content management system. The content management system includes all teacher resources and lesson plans. Using the web-based content management system, teachers can communicate with each other through email, weblogs, and discussion boards. Teachers can also set up their own class weblog where they can monitor their students’ understanding of the unit. Most importantly, the content management system gives teachers easy access to the following:
Eighteen lessons
Assessment strategies for each lesson
Strategies for using technology
Tips for differentiated instruction and classroom set up
State and city standards
Animated conversation starters
Web-based guides called e-tutorials
Classroom visuals
Teacher narrative
Online glossary of terms
Printable handouts
Resources for further study
City-wide discussion boards
Weblogs for ongoing dialogue and assessment
Student website with step-by-step instructions
The content management system provides “print-friendly” versions of the entire unit including all 18 lesson plans, handouts, and additional resources. The “tech” in Social Studies and Technology gives teachers and students state-of-the-art tools to conduct historical research, analyze and debate current events, and explore participatory democracy.
