TGC Unit Plan and Lessons
One major component of the TGC Fellowship was an online class that helped us learn to globalize our curriculum. Included below are a unit on Environmental Justice and lesson plans that incorporate global threads.
Unit Plan
The unit below is on Environmental Justice, beginning in the South Bronx, widening to the United States, and then expands globally. Through examination of a local environmental issue that concerns and effects students directly, they quickly learn that others are also impacted by choices that others make and these choices often impact those living in poverty at a disproportionate rate. Some resources used to generate and implement these plans are the documentary Gasland (Part 1), an Indigenous People Role Play developed by Rethinking Schools, and a Ted Talk given by environmentalist Majora Carter.
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Lesson Plans
The first lesson plan I would like to share is a final research project on a Social Justice Issue. Students get a brief introduction in class to several different topics and then choose one that they would like to explore. To extend globally, students research the topic in another country: in what ways are the challenges similar/different? What steps does that country take to work to solve the problem? Students conduct research, write a research paper, and create a video to educate others. Below is a sample of a student-created video.
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Next, I would like to share is a staple in both in my Economics and Government classes, current events. Every Friday, students have a current event article analysis due, and students rotate sharing out articles and facilitating a class discussion about their article. To globalize this lesson, I often require students choose an article from another country. One resource they may use is Newspaper Map. There are many modifications that can be made to the assignment, including having students relate a current events issue to another from a different country, have the students research the issue in another country, or reflecting on the potential world-wide effects of the news item. To the right, there are three different versions of the assignment: for students who are approaching standards, meeting standards, and exceeding standards. The first document is the lesson plan and the in-class worksheet.
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The last series of lesson plans are centered around the crisis between Russia and Crimea. The lesson plans were developed in conjunction with resources from The Choices Program, Unrest in Ukraine. These are only the beginning in an ongoing series of lesson plans that will undoubtedly be revised as current events progress. There is also a corresponding PowerPoint which I have included to the right. The series of lesson plans culminates in a Socratic Seminar. To learn more about conducting a Socratic Seminar, click here and here.
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