The unit I will specifically focus on is in an elective for 11-12th graders titled Race, Power and Americana. Each class is an hour and 10 minutes, and we meet three times per week. This is a half-year literature elective that focuses on the concept of being an “American,”its requirements for membership, and the factors that change the ways individuals experience life within this society. It is a blend of history and literature, and an exploration of individual identity. The sequence I outline below will be the first of three units of the course.
I teach 10th-12th grade literature at New Haven Academy. We are a small magnet school of approximately 260 students. Our school demographics are reported, 66% Black, 24% Hispanic, 6% White and 3% Asian. We are affiliated with The Coalition of Essential Schools, and one of the founding schools of the organization, Facing History and Ourselves. Under both of these organizations, our school operates on their principles: depth over coverage in designing curriculum, teaching students to use their minds in contrast to harnessing content, positioning students as workers and teachers as coaches, fostering a culture of democracy and equity, and demonstrating non discriminatory practices and pedagogies. Through Facing History, our school demonstrates a commitment to social justice, ethical reflection,conscious citizenship, demonstrating upstandership in the face of oppression.
In the 9th and 10th grade literature courses, we heavily focus on the ability to communicate an argument through use of evidence in verbal, and written expression. Student craft arguments after analyzing a novel, producing argumentative essays, and using the evidence they gather to also engage in formal discussion. When students advance to the upper grades , they use these fundamental skills to engage in a specific elective. Our courses are not tracked by ability; there is no honors students, and my room consists of students with varying levels of reading and writing.
