| Social Action through Civil Rights Studies Dan Ouellette, Instructor |
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| The purpose of this class is for students to become educated and activated to create social change within their own spheres of influence. Through a close examination of several events and the accounts of activists with widely varied experiences of the American Civil Rights Movement, students will have the opportunity to explore motivations for, and repercussions of involvement in social justice work. Theoretical Approach This class will use an approach that is a combination of two prominent instructional theories -- a heritage model and a process model. A slightly modified version of a standard heritage model will be used largely from the standpoint of curricular decisions. In other words, the texts and resources selected for this class make some assumptions. It is assumed that after a student's completion of this class, s/he should have a fairly sophisticated understanding of the Civil Rights Movement, including names, texts, events, as well as a chronological understanding of the era. To this end, the texts chosen are those that will provide students with an understanding of each event studied from several different perspectives. For example, in the section covering the integration of Little Rock Central High School, there are two links to articles that provide overviews of the events, another link to an account that was written by Arkansas Governor Faubus, one that investigates the thoughts of the "Little Rock Nine" 40 years after the events, one that looks at the struggle between Gov. Faubus and President Eisenhower, and another that provides a series of photos taken of the events of September 1957. When a student has completed this class s/he will be expected to have an understanding of the Civil Rights Movement that is complete enough to allow her or him to understand current or future events in relation to our history. Part of the goal of this idea is that through a study of the women and men who worked to create change in the Movement, each student will begin to develop the tools s/he will need to create positive change in their own environment. Another goal is that by including these varied perspectives, students will have the opportunity to create their own, hopefully more complete, ideas about this era. Which leads to the process model of instruction. The process model allows for a different experience for each student, and provides ways in which these varied experiences are valued and encouraged. Each member of our class has important insight to add to each of our discussions and areas of study. This class depends upon each student's willingness to share her or his ideas and experiences. In an effort to create a classroom in which students are comfortable, thereby providing an experience that is more productive and valuable for everyone, this class is designed to include opportunities for each student to focus on the events that s/he sees as the most important, telling, or pivotal. Each student will be expected to read all of the articles, memoirs, interviews, etc. But in the course of our discussions, and in each assignment, each student will have the opportunity to choose an aspect of the Movement that s/he wishes to investigate to a greater depth. For example, in our study of the life and death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the assignment is intentionally open-ended, allowing and encouraging each student to make meaning for herself or himself. This is intended to lead to a greater level of involvement on the part of each student, as s/he makes connections between these events and her or his life. Technology This class relies heavily on the use of computers and the internet. Each student will have daily access to internet-capable computers in the LARC. Just as there are documents and people and events that each student will be expected to know upon completion of this course, there are skills that each student will practice and enhance during our class. Today's students, most of whom have used computers throughout their school career, are computer-savvy. The skills that will be required in this class include the use of our electronic textbook (on the Syllabus page), links, navigating a webquest, navigating online archives, and email. Additionally, because so much of our work will be online, students will begin to learn to better assess the validity of information on the web. The sites that will be examined have been created by universities, by museums, by media outlets, and by individuals. Students will regularly be asked about biases that might slant an account of an event. As our world becomes progressively more dependent upon computers, and as our cultural record continues to move onto the web, students must become adept at discerning the relative value of one source over another. |
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