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This Land is Our Land Inquiry Unit: "How did (does) Europeans’ view of land impact their (our) relationship and interactions with Indigenous peoples?" From the unit overview:
"In addressing the compelling question, How did (does) the Europeans’ view of land impact their (our) relationships with Indigenous peoples?, students go beyond a chronological understanding of historical events of Michigan history and instead consider the belief systems motivating these events on a larger scale. Students analyze how Europeans’ view of land impacted their relationship with Indigenous peoples as they:
1. Investigate the Indigenous and European perspectives on land.
2. Analyze how these differences influenced the complexity of the interactions with one another for better or worse.
3. Examine the change and continuity of these relationships by analyzing current events."
HTK Note: This unit was created with 3rd graders in mind; however, since it could be easily adapted, we have included 5th, 6-8 grade standards below.
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Bias Busters: Cultural Competence Guide about Chaldean Americans An excerpt answering 20-questions about Chaldean Americans ranging from their language, history, culture, and faith traditions.
Full text linked on Bias Buster website.
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Chaldean American Month A 4 minute, 4-part YouTube playlist that explores:
1. Who are the Chaldeans?
2. Aramaic Language
3. Religion
4. Demographics
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Chaldean History: Who are the Chaldeans? A brief article outlining the over 5,500-year history of Chaldean people: from their beginnings in Mesopotamia to Metro Detroit becoming the second largest community of Chaldeans worldwide.
The article also includes information about language, religion, and demographics.
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Big Moves: This is the Rope Read Aloud "The book This Is The Rope: A Story from the Great Migration is used as a read-aloud to prompt discussion related to ELA and Social Studies appropriate for the grade level. History, geography, and migration are all topics that are accessible as students identify key ideas and details from the text and images."
- From Teaching Black History: Lessons from Educators
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The Undefeated Lesson Plan This lesson uses Kwame Alexander's The Undefeated to examine pre- and suffixes in context as well as a starting point for a small research project about the people portrayed in the text.
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Maawndoonganan A mix of resources to build teacher background knowledge and classroom ready lesson plans.
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Arab American Race and Ethnicity In this lesson, students will examine how society interprets race and ethnicity as a part of identity. In particular, how questions of race and ethnicity have impacted the Arab American community and early attempts to gain citizenship and eventually a separate census category.
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American Dreaming In this lesson, students will engage in interactive exercises in the classroom and in the museum to better understand the history of the American Dream, how it applies to their own lives and the lives of Arab Americans. This lesson can be used in Social Studies classrooms as well as English classrooms discussing the theme of the American Dream.
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Understanding Arab Refugees This unit is designed for upper elementary students. In this unit, students will read a picture book about an Arab refugee family that tries to escape a conflict in their country and head to Europe. Students will learn what it means to be a refugee and how a refugee differs from being an immigrant. Students will also learn how other countries have tried to help refugees and then examine what they would do to help a new refugee student.
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1977 - 2001 End of the Twentieth Century Key Ideas:
1. Women contributed to the conservative movement (and resistance to it) in the 1980s as well as the resurgence of progressive politics in the 1990s.
2. Greater access to information and technology changed the daily lives of women from many different backgrounds.
3. The gains of the 1970s feminist movement allowed women greater access to opportunities in education, politics, and the workplace, although these opportunities were different for women of diverse backgrounds.
4. The experiences of women in this period varied widely based on race, class, age, gender identity, and geographic region.
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1948 – 1977 Growth and Turmoil Key Ideas
1. The federal government and popular culture sought to promote the
superiority of democracy over communism by celebrating the suburban
family, which was held together by the American housewife. This
middle-class ideal, however, excluded most Americans.
2. Ongoing racism and segregation led to a wave of civil rights
activism, including and extending far beyond the African American
community. Women played a significant role in leading this work.
3. The Vietnam War provided women with new opportunities for service
and activism. Women were vocal participants in both the pro- and
anti-war movements.
4. The activism of the 1960s was a major catalyst in the growth of
the women’s liberation movement. Feminists from diverse backgrounds
fought for equality, but they did not always agree on the best way to
achieve it.
5. Not all American women supported gender equality and progressive feminist ideals."
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1920 – 1948 Confidence and Crises Key Ideas
1. Major social, economic, and political shifts in this period forced Americans to once again question what it meant to be an American.
2. Women of all backgrounds continued to feel the tension between traditional expectations of domesticity and expanding opportunities in work, education, social interaction, and politics.
3. After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, women activists lacked a unifying issue. Instead, they focused on an increasingly diverse array of social and political issues.
4. Although women’s experiences varied depending on age, race, ethnicity, geography, and economic status, women across all these categories actively contributed to reform and activated their citizenship in creative ways throughout the era.
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1889 – 1920 Modernizing America This unit is broken into four sections: Modern Womanhood, Fighting for Social Reform, Woman Suffrage, and Xenophobia and Racism. Each section includes primary source materials and life stories that bring that aspect of the era to life. The sections are not mutually exclusive and intentionally overlap. America at the turn of the century was chaotic. Social reformers debated suffrage. College-educated women promoted racist, nativist policies. Young immigrants juggled long work hours with voluntary political activism. Housewives fought for influence outside the home while vehemently defending their role as the nation’s caretakers. Modernizing America truly comes to life when materials from multiple sections are examined together.
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1866 - 1904 Industry and Empire Industry and Empire, 1866–1904 is divided into three sections that allow you to consider the many ways in which women contributed to and were influenced by societal changes during this time. Labor and Industry explores how women of different races, classes, and national origins were influenced by industrialization and urbanization. Expansion and Empire considers the effects of westward expansion and American imperialism on Indigenous women and settlers. Fighting for Equality focuses on the contributions of women to end inequalities in American society.
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1832 - 1877 A Nation Divided A Nation Divided, 1832–1877 provides resources to allow you to easily discover and teach the history of the Civil War—from the early formation of abolitionist groups to the end of Reconstruction—through the lens of women’s history. The unit contains three sections: Antebellum, which examines the activities of women in the United States from 1832 through the eve of the war; Civil War, which covers the activities of women in the Union, Confederacy, border states, and territories; and Reconstruction, which focuses on how women responded to and were affected by the major social and political changes that swept the nation after the war ended.
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1820 - 1869 Expansions and Inequalities In most histories of the United States, the mid-19th century is dominated by the narrative of the Civil War. . .These decades also proved to be a critical period in the history of American womanhood. . . Expansions and Inequalities, 1830–1869, provides resources to allow you to explore the complicated and fascinating history of this period. The unit contains three sections: Westward Expansion, Industry and Immigration, and Politics and Society. The questions surrounding slavery and freedom as well as the events of the Civil War and Reconstruction appear throughout, but you’ll find a more thorough examination of all these topics in A Nation Divided: 1832–1877.
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1692 – 1783
Settler Colonialism and the American Revolution [This unit] provides resources to allow you to easily discover the history of these eighteenth-century women and integrate them into your lesson plans. We’ve organized the unit into two sections—Settler Colonialism, which examines the lives of women in colonies across North America, and the American Revolution, which focuses in on women’s experiences in the struggle for independence. The resources in each module illustrate the experiences of a wide range of women across race, gender, age, social, and economic spectrums.
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1492 – 1734 Early Encounters From website: "The early colonial era is roughly defined as beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492 and ending in the early 1700s. The European colonization of the Americas changed the world forever, connecting continents that had little interaction before. For the European empires that settled on this side of the Atlantic, the colonies brought some hardship but plenty of opportunity for trade and wealth. But the Indigenous communities across North and South America faced horrendous impacts on their population and lifestyles, as did the enslaved Africans who were forcibly taken to work in the European settlements in the Americas."
