Lesson Plans for grades 9-12
Critical thinking, Multicultural Education, and Solutions for the future
Curriculum Area of Focus: Humanities
by Dr. Rebecca Weissman
Intro/Overview:
The lesson plans for Florida 2100 were developed to foster critical thinking to examine the past and present through the lens of socioenvironmental injustice, inequity, Multiculturalism, and technological innovation within Southern Florida and America at large. Students will then apply their knowledge to developing positive actions and innovative solutions for the future.
They embrace a multicultural educational approach and learning though and with the arts. Specifically, the modalities of drama/theatre, creative writing, film, storytelling, and music are strongly incorporated throughout as pedagogical tools. Not only are these art forms inherent within the humanities but research confirms that the more senses we use to learn the better (Page, 1995) therefore, when learning involve various senses such as visual and auditory learning, the student’s experience is greatly enhanced. Additionally, this caters to Howard Gardner’s (1993) multiple Intelligence styles.
Critical literacy and critical media literacy are also key focuses of these lesson plans. Critical Literacy, a type of critical pedagogy and involves students learning how to simultaneously ‘read’ texts as they learn to question text and images for unfair and harmful representation and ideas (Freire & Macedo, 1987) and thus, read both the “word and the world.” These are thus situated within a critical theoretical framework and also draw from Multicultural Education. Specifically, the definitions of Multicultural Education I draw from are defined by Sonia Nieto (1993) and James Banks (1993/1994). According to Nieto (1993) Multicultural Education is more than just additive content, it involves structural changes in content and processes. According to Banks (1993/1994). the structure of the curriculum needs to be altered to show diverse perspectives and allow students to take action and work towards solving problems (see appendix for more).
These lesson plans deal with a variety of the themes from Florida 2100 such as Latinxfuturism, Technologies of Survival, Cultural Adaptation, Multilingualism, Intercultural Exchange, Virtual Communities and Digital Identities, and Indigenous Resurgence & Environmental Justice. These lessons are tied to Florida Humanities State Standards for grades 9-12 and dovetail into some life science, history, and psychology standards as well.
Lesson Plan # 1:
The Great Gatsby, Critical Literacy and Writing in Role
Curriculum Area(s): Humanities, Psychology
Art Modalities included: Drama/Theatre, Creative Writing (writing in role)
Targeted Humanities Standard:
SS.912.H.2 Respond critically and aesthetically to various works in the arts.
Indicator:
SS.912.H.2.4 Examine the effects that works in the arts have on groups, individuals, and cultures.
Targeted Psychology Standard:
Standard: SS.912.P.10 Sociocultural Context Domain/Social Interactions
Indicators:
SS.912.P.10.1 Define culture and diversity.
SS.912.P.10.6 Discuss how privilege and social power structures relate to stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.
Students will know and/or demonstrate understanding by being able to:
-Define Intersectionality/Intersectional Identities
-Apply Intersectionality/Intersectional Identities to their own identity
-Analyze a historical work of fiction through the lens of Intersectionality
-Evaluate how life would have been different for individuals of varying intersectional identities during the 1920’s.
-Understand privilege and inequality
-Understand discrimination
-Create a counter-narrative of the 1920’s for those other than wealthy and heterosexual whites
-Demonstrate their ability to embrace the drama/theatre and creative writing technique of writing in role
Lesson Rationale and Directives:
After reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby students will contextualize it within the roaring twenties and Intersectionality. Intersectionality is a tool for understanding issues related to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other identity statuses, how these identities intersect, and form multiple layers of power and oppression (Cole 2009 et. al; Crenshaw,1989; Dill and Kohlman, 2012; Weber, 2010).
As The Great Gatsby paints a picture of a lavish American life in the twenties for an elite white heterosexual male.
Day 1 Activity #1
Students will read learn about Intersectionality. They will then discuss Intersectionality as a tool for understanding issues related to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other identity statuses, how these identities intersect, and form multiple layers of power and oppression.
Day 1 Activity #2
Students will create their own intersectionality/Intersectional Identity statements in a journal to apply their knowledge. Students who would like to share their statement with the class are able to afterwards.
Day 1 Activity #1
Critical Literacy Questions
The Teacher will ask students critical literacy questions to contextualize the roaring twenties of the Great Gatsby era and Intersectionality and inequality. Questions may include:
How might the story be different if someone else told it?
What could life have been like in New York during the 1920’s for a poor African American female?
Were all groups allowed to participate in the same activities as the narrator? Were there laws prohibiting them? What about laws in the previous decades?
How do you think someone else may have felt living in this place and time period?
In what way does this story give a one-sided look at life in America during this time period?
Day 1 Activity #2: Extension Art Activity:
Part 1: They will then use the drama technique of writing in role for to create snapshots of various characters that were left out of the book (see appendix) to develop their understanding of life during this time from the perspective of other individuals (looking at multiple identity statuses). In this case writing in role as missing characters would involve students looking at civil rights over a wider period of time such the 1800’s-1920’s to get a deeper historical sense of the privileges granted/ not granted to other groups. Using this knowledge, students can then construct characters of multiple identities for their scripts and begin to conceptualize how the story could have been different. “While not claiming to be ‘in the shoes of’ the other, compassion for another’s experience becomes part of the conversation, an intercultural learning shared through dramatic (re)play” (Fells,& McGivern, 2002).
By writing in role students can see conflicting views on the same topic, exploring different experiences due to macro societal factors of the time or micro/psychological interpretations the character may have experienced.
In this case writing in role for characters missing from the book would involve students looking at civil rights over a wider period of time such the 1800’s-1920’s to get a deeper historical sense of the privileges granted/ not granted to other groups. Using this knowledge, students can then construct characters of multiple identities for their scripts and begin to conceptualize how the story could have been different. With the teachers’ help students can start to develop a deeper understanding of differences based on race, class, sexuality, gender, age, etc. and how they interlock to form multiple layers of oppression/privilege.
A great deal of the critical literacy process should take place within the writing component. By giving voices to characters unheard, students can develop a broader understanding of such marginalization. This can also include providing the student with empathy, a better understanding of the issues others have faced, and working towards a classroom atmosphere of social justice. This also fits with Banks’ Level 4 of Multicultural Education.
Part 2: Students will then imagine a future date of Miami in 2100 and a world where individuals of all intersectional identities have equality and equity. They will then select a missing character and write in role creating a snapshots of what a positive future for this individual could be like in 2100 in Miami (looking at their multiple identity statuses).
Lesson Plan #2:
The Silk Road and Afro-Caribbean Futurism
or Latinx Futurism
Art Modalities included: Creative Writing
Curriculum Area(s): Humanities, Social Studies
Targeted Humanities Standard:
SS.912.H.3 Understand how transportation, trade, communication, science, and technology influence the progression and regression of cultures.
Indicator:
SS.912.H.3.3 Identify contributions made by various world cultures through trade and communication and form a hypothesis on future contributions and changes.
Targeted World History Standard:
SS.912.W.2 Recognize significant events, figures, and contributions of medieval civilizations (Byzantine Empire, Western Europe, Japan).
Indicator:
SS.912.W.2.8 Describe the rise of the Ottoman Turks, the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and the subsequent growth of the Ottoman empire under the sultanate including Mehmet the Conqueror and Suleyman the Magnificent.
Students will know and/or demonstrate understanding by being able to:
-Apply understand of how transportation, trade, communication, science, and technology influenced the past to describe possibilities for the future between Miami and nearby countries.
-Understand the silk road and the contributions made by those in the Ottoman Empire.
-Create innovative future scenarios for a rich cultural exchange between Jamaica, Colombia, and Miami.
-Understand Afro-Caribbean Futurism and Latinx Futurism
-Apply concepts of Afro-Caribbean Futurism or Latinx Futurism to a futuristic Miami scenario
-Understand storytelling as a pedagogical tool
Rationale and Directive:
Day 1: During a humanities unit students will watch the Black Panter to explore Afrofuturism.
Day 2 Activity #1: Shortly after the film students will take a field trip to the Florida Renaissance Festival and visit the Ottoman Encampment and learn about the Silk Road and how trade and cultural exchange was made possible between the east and west during medieval times. During this they will see the actors utilize storytelling as a pedagogical tool.
Day 2 Activity #2: Extension Art Activity: After an interactive and dramatic reenactment with the actors students will then be instructed to find a spot on the grass at the fairgrounds and write a piece of micro Afro-Caribbean futurism or Latinx Futurism about what a future trade and cultural exchange between South Florida to the Caribbean Islands and South America in the year 2100 could look like. For this student will formulate a unique hypothesis of a positive future between Florida and the nearby countries. The story should be around 300 words. Students will think beyond what already exists and imagine a new form of language, music, clothing, dance, etc. that does not exist yet based on this hypothesis. Students will not only describe the aesthetic of this culture but also the means in which the cultural exchange takes place (e.g. via social media, travel, immigration, etc. ).
Day 2 Activity #3: Students will then read and share their story with the class.
Points to Consider:
-The story must draw from current and historical richness of Afro-Caribbean or Latinx culture.
- Needs to show how has cultural exchange between South Florida and the selected country (e.g. Haiti, Jamaicia, Colombia, etc.) has resulted in a resurgence of ancient afro Afro-Caribbean or Latinx cultural components combined with futuristic elements
-Needs to include science fiction or speculative fiction elements
-Needs to show a liberatory and positive future
What aspect of South FL culture has been changed by this new acculturation (e.g. clothing, dialect) describe how this has created a more vibrant and culturally rich South Florida.
Materials:
Pens, pencils, poetry notebook or paper
Lesson Plan #3:
Transcendentalist and Sustainability Haikus
Art Modalities included: Creative Writing (Poetry)
Curriculum Area: Humanities
Targeted Humanities Standard:
SS.912.H.1 Identify and analyze the historical, social, and cultural contexts of the arts.
Indicators:
SS.912.H.2.1 Identify specific characteristics of works within various art forms (architecture, dance, film, literature, music, theatre, and visual arts).
&
SS.912.H.2.2 Classify styles, forms, types, and genres within art forms.
Students will know and/or demonstrate understanding by being able to:
-Understand some of the key components of Transcendentalism
- Apply and analyze Transcendentalism focus on nature to what a current back to nature movement might look like.
-Understand the basic components of a Haiku poem
-Create their own Haiku poem building off Transcendentalist values
Rationale and Directive:
Day 1: During a humanities unit students will read the classic Transcendentalist literature Walden Pond by Henry David Thoreau.
Day 2 Activity #1: They will then engage in a brainstorm about environmental sustainability and valuing of nature.
Day 3 Activity #1: As a class students will also explore, understand, and appreciate the technique of Haikus as a form of poetry and read some Haikus.
Day 3 Activity #2: Extension Art Activity: They will then go off to their own spot in nature and write a haiku that focuses on nature, sustainability, and/or environmental justice. This will involve a back-to-nature approach, imaging the new modern world of 2100 and juxtaposing it against nature preserves that would still exist in a primitive way.
Day 3 Activity #3: Students will then get back together with the whole class and share their poetry with others.
Materials: Pens, pencils, poetry notebook or paper
Lesson Plan #4
Bob Marley: One Love
Art Modalities included: Visual Art (painting, illustration), Music, Creative Writing (song lyrics)
Curriculum Area: Humanities
Targeted Humanities Standard:
SS.912.H.1 Identify and analyze the historical, social, and cultural contexts of the arts.
Indicators:
SS.912.H.1.1 Relate works in the arts (architecture, dance, music, theatre, and visual arts) of varying styles and genre according to the periods in which they were created.
&
SS.912.H.1.3 Relate works in the arts to various cultures
&
SS.912.H.1.5 Examine artistic response to social issues and new ideas in various cultures.
Students will know and/or demonstrate understanding by being able to:
-Understand the sociopolitical implications of Bob Marley’s music in related to historical civil unrest in Jamaica.
-Analyze and evaluate music as a form of social justice and positive social change.
-Understand the historic context of Reggae and it’s Jamaican origins
-Examine the rise and popularity of Reggae through Bob Marley
-Understand what a concept album is
-Create their own original song lyrics and concept albums for eliciting positive social change
Rationale and Directive: Due to its close proximity to Jamacia south Florida has a rich Jamaican culture. Therefore, Reggae music, specifically the music of Bob Marley is explored within this lesson plan.
Day 1: During a Humanities unit students will watch the Bob Marley film One Love.
Day 2 Activity #1: Students will examine and discuss the film and also listen to the corresponding Bob Marley songs such as One Love and War/No More Trouble. Although Marley composed the song, One Love at an earlier date, it is notable for being a part of his 1978 One Love Peace concert in Kingston, Jamaica, which aimed to eradicate the violence within the country. Additionally, by watching the film One Love students will better understand what happened in Jamacia’s history of civil unrest.
Day 2 Activity #2: Extension Art Activity: Students will then create a hypothetical concept album (see appendix) that includes an album name, cover art, and song lyrics and instrumentation to one or more tracks. They will create their own song lyrics and album cover to tell a story about Miami in 2100. The goal is for the song to explore how a current or futuristic problem has been improved in Miami through a powerful song and album cover. The song will provide the students with the opportunity to tell a story, this will include the creation of lyrics to a song that highlights a specific problem (e.g. rising sea levels, assimilation, income inequality, political division, increased temperature or severe weather) and then explores solutions. This will be linked to Bob Marley’s song including One Love and War/No More Trouble which helped lessen war and political division through a song of Unity. Therefore, the song lyrics will fit within Banks (1993/1994) notion of Level 4 Multicultural Education: The social action approach and Nieto’s (1993) level of: Affirmation, solidarity and Critique in this case using the song lyrics to describe and/or serve as the solution to a social problem.
Day 2 Activity #3: Students can use musical instruments for their songs, pre-made beats on the computer program Garage Band (or another similar program)
Day 2 Activity #4: Students will create their own album cover using various art materials. This multi-modal art project will tell a story of struggle and triumph in the future Miami.
Materials:
Pens, pencils, colored pencils, paints, paper, and musical instruments, Garage Band computer software (or another similar program)
Lesson Plan #5:
Theatre of the Oppressed, Climate Change and
Environmental injustice
Art Modalities included: Drama/Theatre
Curriculum Area(s): Humanities, Science
Targeted Humanities Standard:
SS.912.H.2 Respond critically and aesthetically to various works in the arts.
Indicators:
SS.912.H.2.1 Identify specific characteristics of works within various art forms (architecture, dance, film, literature, music, theatre, and visual arts).
SS.912.H.2.2 Classify styles, forms, types, and genres within art forms.
Standard Science Standard:
SC.912.L.17: Interdependence:
A. The distribution and abundance of organisms is determined by the interactions between organisms, and between organisms and the non-living environment.
B. Energy and nutrients move within and between biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems via physical, chemical and biological processes.
C. Human activities and natural events can have profound effects on populations, biodiversity and ecosystem processes.
Indicators:
SC.912.L.17.4 Describe changes in ecosystems resulting from seasonal variations, climate change and succession.
SC. 912. L. 17.8 Recognize the consequences of the losses of biodiversity due to catastrophic events, climate changes, human activity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native species.
SC.912.L.17.17
Assess the effectiveness of innovative methods of protecting the environment.
Students will know and/or demonstrate understanding by being able to:
-Define Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed
-Understand and apply Augusto Boal’s technique of Image theater as a tool for reflecting upon climate change and social injustice
-Utilize Augusto Boal’s technique of Image theater as a way to create innovative solutions and methods for climate change and social injustice
-Describe some of the factors contributing to climate change
-Analyze and evaluate some of the solutions to lessening the effects of climate change
Rationale and Directive: This lesson will take place during a unit about Climate Change, Environmentalism, or Sustainability. Throughout the unit students will learn about the problems of climate change and not protecting the environment. Additionally, they will learn about Environmental injustice, specifically, where lower income people of color are disproportionality impact by environmental disasters such as being more often located in a flood zone and without flood insurance. In particular students will learn about environmental injustice and flood zones in the south including Miami and Southeast Florida.
Students will also research and explore solutions to reverse climate change and do their part in helping the environment.
Day 1 Activity #1: This unit will begin by students listening to the podcast by Xavier Cortada and read the Underwater Homeowners Association: Using socially engaged art to problem-solve in an imperiled, polarized and imperfect world (Cortada, Deering, & Roberti, 2022) and learn about how one can use the creative arts to educate and explore upcoming climate change such as rising sea levels in the Miami area. Students will also learn about environmental injustice exploring flood zones in the south including Miami and Southeast Florida and how they are disproportionality inhabited by lower income people of color.
Day 1 Activity #2: Next students will learn about the problems of recycling in South Florida by watching a 2023 newsclip that explains some of the issues including people not recycling correctly and China’s waste import ban in 2018.
Day 2: Overview
Like lesson plans 1-3 this lesson plan will also focus specifically on the Humanities, in this case, students will then learn about Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed techniques such as Image Theater by watching a youtube video on Augusto Boal. To further expand their knowledge of being able to clarify this style of drama/theatre they will then have a hands-on experience engaging in the theatre/drama technique Image Theater as a class. Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed techniques such as Image Theater can be utilized directly as tools for exploring social justice issues in community and school settings (Day,2002; Rozansky & Aagensen 2010; Saldana,2005; Shelton & McDermott,2010; Schoroeter, 2013; Gourd and Gourd, 2011. Image theatre, which is part of Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed, involves the actor-participants constructing an image (a tableaux) to represent a situation of oppression and then creating a new image to show them overcoming the oppression.
Day 2 Activity #1:
Extension Art Activity: In the first tableaux students will get into a group of 3-7 and create a visual image of what a dystopic version of Miami would like in 2100 due to climate change, rising sea levels, landfills overflowing, and for other environmental disasters.
Day 2 Activity #2: Students will then read and discuss Actions for a Healthy Planet by the United Nations to get them to start to think about and brainstorm proactive solutions to do their part in reducing the effects of climate change and environmental degradation.
Day 2 Activity #3:
As a class they will discuss potential innovative solutions that would be utilized to curtail this and create a environmentally sustainable and healthy Miami in 2100 and how they might specifically address environmental injustice such as flood zones.
Day 2 Activity #4:
This discussion will be followed with each group creating a new tableaux to visualize what this thriving and sustainable Miami could look like. They will then share their image (new tableaux) with a positive solution with the class and discuss.
Lesson Plan #6:
A Response to AI: Counter-Cultural Art
Art Modalities included: Visual Art (painting), Music, Creative Writing (song lyrics, prose)
Curriculum Area(s): Humanities, Science
Targeted Science Standard:
SS.912.H.3 Understand how transportation, trade, communication, science, and technology influence the progression and regression of cultures.
Indicators:
SS.912.H.3.2 Identify social, moral, ethical, religious, and legal issues arising from technological and scientific developments, and examine their influence on works of arts within a culture.
Targeted Science Standard:
SC.912.L.17: Interdependence:
A. The distribution and abundance of organisms is determined by the interactions between organisms, and between organisms and the non-living environment.
B. Energy and nutrients move within and between biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems via physical, chemical and biological processes.
C. Human activities and natural events can have profound effects on populations, biodiversity and ecosystem processes.
Indicators:
SC.912.L.17.12 Discuss the political, social, and environmental consequences of sustainable use of land.
Students will know and/or demonstrate understanding by being able to:
-Understand and analyze the sociopolitical issues arising from AI
-Understand and Identify the basic components of Folk Music with the 1960s, The Ashcan School of painters, and the Beatnik Literary movement
-Create and describe a potential vibrant alternative countercultural to AI that embraces folk or primitive music and the literary or visual arts.
Rationale and Directive
Over a unit students will learn about countercultural critiques and resistance movements through the arts such as within:
Folk Music with the 1960s
This will include folk the folk revival of artists such as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. They will listen to music by these artists including other classic folk artists before them such as Woody Guthrie all who challenged mainstream middle class values.
The Ashcan School of Art within Visual Arts
Students will look at paintings and study. The Ashcan School of art. The Ashcan School of art was a visual art movement from the late 1800’s- early 1900’s that depicted some of the problems of modern day urban life such as pollution, industrialization, and poverty through their paintings. Students will learn about the Ashcan School and view paintings by them and engage in a classroom discussion.
The Beatnik Literary Movement
The Beatnik movement was a movement of prose and poetry lead largely by Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Student’s will read the famous 1957 book On The Road Jack Kerouac. Some elements of the Beat generation that can be discussed as a class include disillusionment with materialism and modern society, an idealizing of nature, and a quest for spirituality.
Day 1 Activity #1: Students will discuss how AI is currently impacting the arts including ChatGPT (writing), DALL-E (visual art), and music (AI music generator; Suno AI). They will then hypothesize how this might look in the year 2100.
Day 1 Activity #2: Extension Art Activities: Students will then pick from one of the three categories above:
Folk music (music), Ashcan School of Art (visual art), or the Beatnik Literary movement (Literature) and create either a folk song, a painting or drawing, or a work of prose. They will then either perform their song or musical story, showcase and explain their painting, or read their prose as a form of resistance. Additionally, students can create lyrics to a song in the style of folk on guitar or by creating their own primitive instruments to go along with it such as a drum, a rain stick, etc. This could also lead to a valuing of an indigenous revival of culture.
Materials:
Pens, pencils, colored pencils, paints, paintbrushes, water cups, paper, canvasses for painting, musical instruments such as acoustic guitar and djembe, materials for making primitive musical instruments such as rain sticks and shakers (e.g. paper roll rolls, dried bean, tap), poetry notebook or paper
Appendix/Glossary
Multicultural Education
Sonia Nieto (1993) in her article Affirmation, Solidarity, and Critique Moving Beyond Tolerance in Multicultural Education, advocates for “Level 4: Affirmation, solidarity, & critique” within her Multicultural Education taxonomy:
Level 1 : Tolerance: enduring differences but not embracing; Focuses on Heroes and Holidays
Level 2:Acceptance: Differences are acknowledged but not celebrated or belittled; Heroes and Holidays, Multicultural Literature
Level 3: Respect: Admiration of diversity, the goal is to expand knowledge about diversity
Level 4:Affirmation, solidarity, & critique: Challenges the status quo and ways of knowing, looks at intersectionality, can involve activism outside of class
In James Banks’ Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform (1993;1994) Banks’ (2009) outlines that we need to move beyond Level 1 or 2, and move towards “The Transformation Approach” or the Social Action Approach” which he describes as “students make decisions on important issues and take actions to help solve them” (p. 40).
Drama/ Theatre Techniques and Terms
Drama and Theatre are found throughout the literature as a way to teach individuals of all ages about social justice (Cathers and Schniedwind, 2008; Graff, 2010;Wohlwend, 2009; Boutte, 2008; Holland,2009;Nicholson, 2003; Wilson et al, 2010; Wishart & Lashua, 2006; Dishy & Naumer, 2010; Hyland, 2010; Tabone, 2003) These studies vary in their definition of drama and theatre, and seem to encompass a wide range from process drama, to dramatic play, to more formal scripted theatre.
Drama and Critical Literacy:
Drama and critical literacy not only help with student engagement (Jowallah, 2015; Casher and Stotler, 2015), but key components of critical literacy also seem innate within drama. This includes exploring sociopolitical implications and issues within text, multiple perspectives, empowerment, empathy, and activism. According to Marello (2001) since drama allows critical questioning, examination of language as a social practice, analysis, and social justice and change
fits perfectly with Knobel & Healy’s (1998) characteristics of critical literacy.
Writing in Role as Missing Characters :
When writing in role, students get the opportunity to write an interpretation of the story from someone other than himself or herself. Although it could be used to further build off the viewpoint of the narrator, that would fall more under what Wilhelm (2002), coined the technique of deleted scenes. Writing in role, as proposed here, involves retelling the story by another character mentioned or not mentioned within the text and then performing/reading their piece to the class. This drama technique can be used for all classroom texts, fiction and nonfiction alike.
Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed: Through his theatre/drama techniques Augusto Boal was able to help politically and socially disenfranchised populations such as those in Peru and Ecuador a under the military dictatorship of the 1960’s-1970’s use of drama/ theater as a way to empowerment.
Augusto Boal’s Image Theatre: Image Theare is a technique from Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed. Image Theatre involves the actor-participants constructing an image (a tableaux) to represent a situation of oppression and then creating a new image to show them overcoming the oppression.