February

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay in writing! I want to give you an update as to where we’re at in class and where we’ll be going through the end of the trimester. I’d also like to start a conversation about our class book—A People’s History of the United States—because I notice few students actually reading the text. So, here’s the order of topics:

1. What we’ve been doing
2. Where we’re going
3. Upcoming homework
4. Book discussion

1. What we’ve been doing
For the past two weeks we’ve been continuing our study of Protest and Rebellion. We learned about slave experiences and protests through our creation of “primary source poetry” and we’ve studied the causes of America’s biggest rebellion—the Civil War. We just wrapped up studying Reconstruction—the period of rebuilding following the Civil War—and began looking at labor and race protests of the early 20th century. Students did a nice job during an in-class simulation on the Chicago Race Riots of 1919—if you get a chance, ask them about what they did.

2. Where we’re going
In the remaining weeks we’ll be looking at women’s struggles for suffrage, Great-Depression era strikes, the Civil Rights Movement, the Delano Grape Strike led by Cesar Chavez, and finally the women’s liberation and Gay-rights movements of the 1970s. If time, we’ll also look at the conservative protest movements of the 1990s and today.

Our next unit will be based on the theme “Leadership in Government” and we’ll start that after Spring Break. We’ll also take the Constitution Test at the end of that unit (probably early May). The Constitution Test is a graduation requirement and I will do my best to prepare students and have review sessions. Students will be able to retake the exam if necessary.

Our final unit is “Conflict and Reconciliation” and that will begin in mid-May and carry us until the end of the year. Essentially it will be a study of war and peace.

3. Upcoming Homework
• Due Monday 2/22: Complete “Race Commission Recommendation” form from our simulation. The documents and forms can be viewed and downloaded from our class page at: http://www.mrpond.org/forstudents_ushistory.html
• Due Wednesday 2/24: Recipe for Rebellion #5
• 5 page essay on Protest & Rebellion due Friday, March 4
• There will be an in-class Assessment for the unit on Monday, March 7th

4. Book Discussion
This is my second year using Zinn’s A Peoples History of the United States at LMSA. All of the other U.S. History teachers use it as well. It is a big, intimidating-looking, 900 page college-level book. An extensive vocabulary (or a willingness to look up words) and some basic historical knowledge is needed to read it.

It is evident from class discussions and homework that few students are actually reading the book—or even attempting to. In meetings with students the arguments I have heard against the book are: “its too hard,” “it’s too long,” “it’s too big,” “it’s too boring.” Ironically, I chose to use Zinn because I find him so much more interesting than a traditional textbook and because of his pop-culture appeal (he was referenced in “Good Will Hunting”).

I do agree with student sentiments on the book (just not the “too” part). It is hard, it is long, it is big, and it can be boring (if you don’t know the vocabulary, anyway). I’m not ready to scrap the book just yet (although I may next year—after some feedback and reflection).

I used A Peoples History at my old school with greater success. My last school was not a selective enrollment school, but rather one where many students struggled to read and write at a high school level—and for that matter many struggled just to stay in school. They bought into the book, I think, because so many people in their lives told them they couldn’t do it. They weren’t smart enough to read a college-level book. So they read and struggled through it as their form of protest—or at least that’s what I’d like to believe.

I need to make some changes to better convince students they can succeed in reading this book and I probably need to create better tools to support their efforts. But I’m curious as to what you think—and as to what they tell you about the book. What changes do you think need to be made? Feel free to post your thoughts for the community to comment on, or email me if you’d prefer them to be private.

All the best!

Mr. Pond