While the general layout of our unit can be found in subsequent posts, please find below a more in-depth explanation of certain aspects of the course, including student demographics; the details of recurring daily, weekly, and long-term assignments; and certain relevant artifacts.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Our hypothetical English-history humanities class consists of 25 eleventh-graders, approximately half female and half male. Seven are African-American, seven are White, five are Latino/Caribbean, three are Asian and/or South Asian, and three are biracial. Six students, including one African-American student, were not born in the United States but all speak English fluently. Your students’ achievement test scores range from college level to four years below grade level and half your students do not complete homework reliably or carefully.
DAILY ASSIGNMENTS
Personal Journals
Students will all be given composition notebooks and asked to make an entry every day in response to materials and lessons presented in class. Several times per week there will be a suggested response topic, but students should feel at liberty to respond to anything they feel important or personally relevant. Journals will be collected, read, and graded, but grades will not be based on quality of content.
Timeline
From the outset, there will be a large-scale timeline stretching around the length of the classroom. After each lesson, students will be asked to update the timeline with photos, text blurbs, drawings, or the like reflecting the material just covered such that the timeline grows as does their knowledge of Sudanese history. Daily participation is voluntary, and it's encouraged that students continue to add content whenever they feel compelled to do so, however each student is responsible for at least one contribution by the end of the unit.
WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS
Promethean Responder Quiz
In order to refresh memory and engage students at weeks' outset, each Monday there will be a Promethean Responder quiz held on the material from the week prior. These quizzes will not be graded, but only serve to reinvigorate recently acquired prior knowledge and integrate each unit segment with the others.
Open-Note Quiz
Each Friday, save the last, there will be an open-note quiz held on the current week's material. These quizzes will be graded, but are primarily used to help us assess our teaching effectiveness and gauge the need for change.
To view or download all four open-note quizzes, please click here.
LONG-TERM ASSIGNMENTS
Current events
Beginning the third week and continuing into the fourth, students will begin class with a five-minute presentation of a news article pertaining to current events in Darfur and Sudan. During the week prior, students will sign up for a presentation day, forming groups of one to three people, and will be given options of several online resources to consult to find appropriate news articles, such as Al Jazeera's YouTube channel, Google News results, or one of any papers found on the Sudan Newspaper and News Media Guide (all of which can be found in the sidebar to the right). These reports will be evaluated based upon completion, with extra credit for creativity, resourcefulness, and thorough research.
Book Clubs
Students will be given handouts summarizing each book (which are listed in the sidebar to the right) after which they will be grouped into small clubs - about 5 students per group - based loosely on preference. Clubs will meet each Monday to discuss what they've read throughout the preceding week and to ultimately prepare to present the book to the class in any method they feel appropriate to convey the major concepts. The clubs will present during the last week of the unit, each presentation taking an average of ten minutes. Book reports must address the following four questions, but may extend beyond them:
• What was the most important thing you learned from this book?
• How does it connect to what we've learned in class so far?
• What was the most interesting/surprising thing you learned from this book?
• Why should your classmates read this book?
To view or download the book synopsis handout students will receive, please click here.
Social Action Projects
During week four, we will begin to discuss how we can make a difference in Darfur and Sudan, introducing the social action projects that students will prepare and present during the last day of the unit. These projects are largely self-directed; groups can choose to expand upon earlier current events presentations or use their books as touch points to discuss how we can all get involved for social change in Sudan. Presentation style and delivery are extremely flexible, allowing students to liberally interpret the project parameters so long as they discuss viable and effective methods for student action against Sudanese genocide.
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