Lansing, Michigan
Co-Creating Student-Centered Curriculum
Teachers and Students Create a Curriculum that is Purposeful, Thoughtful, Engaging, and Student-Centered. If there's an attached lesson plan, make sure to click on the linked title to view it!
As a part of my "Crisis of Industrial Capitalism" unit exploring the interwar period in the United States, I chose to craft a lesson around the effects of the New Deal on African Americans and how we can see the ramifications of those policies in the modern day. Oftentimes my students would inquire as to why certain districts close to theirs had a completely different educational experience, so I crafted a lesson that explored the effects of redlining on our community and how access (or lack of) to government safety nets can dramatically alter the lives of individuals in need of help. In this lesson, students have the chance to interact with Michigan State University's resource on redlining in Lansing. This allows them to see exactly how the city was divided to better explain why there is such drastic differences between the Lansing and East Lansing school districts.
Found Poetry
As the final project for my "Crisis of Industrial Capitalism & Response", students took artwork and poetry from the interwar period and recreated it. The purpose of this assignment was to uncover the connection between artistic expression and societal, economic, and political changes. Students chose poetry and artwork spanning from the Harlem Renaissance through the Great Depression, with artists and poets like Gwendolyn Bennett, Abel Meeropol, Jacob Lawrence, Russell Lee, and more.
Battles of WWII Timeline
For this project, students worked together to research and craft posters detailing the events of multiple battles during World War II. Each hour was assigned a different battle, and as each hour worked there was another poster added to the timeline that hung on the wall in our classroom. Not only was this a collaboration across all four of my hours, but it also provided an opportunity for students to work together with people they would not normally choose for their group. Students were also able to display their creativity and design their posters in a way that made sense to them. By the end of this project, students collaborated in creating a visual representation of the war's timeline, as well as see their own creations displayed alongside their peers.
