11th Grade U.S. History Unit: Lesson Plan #2

11th Grade United States History Unit:A Critical Look at U.S. Legislation and its Impact on Educational Access: Past and Present

Lesson Author: Brenda Rubio

Intended Grades: 11th

Subject: United States History

Lesson Plan #2: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and “Equal” Education Today

Content Description: The lesson plan focuses on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and how it failed to provide all students equal access to a quality education. On the first day of the lesson, students will learn about the Civil Rights Act and the East L.A. Chicana/o Walkouts. The Walkouts are framed as an example of how the Civil Rights Act did not provide all students a quality education. On Day 2, students analyze the U.S. Educational Pipeline based on race, which shows racial disparities in educational attainment. With the Educational Pipeline, students will analyze school and societal factors that affect students, especially students of color, from graduating high school. Lastly, students will analyze their own experiences to discuss other factors affecting the educational attainment, specifically high school attainment, of students.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will be able to explain what the Civil Rights Act of 1964 entailed, especially in regards to education.
• Students will be able to discuss the context and results of the East L.A. Chicana/o Walkouts.
• The students will be able to read the U.S. Educational Pipeline and explain why students, especially students of color, are completing high school at disproportionate rates.
• Students will be able to identify school and societal factors that affect the educational attainment of different racial groups.

Themes:

• The themes for this lesson are: educational access, resistance, injustice, inequitable resources, educational pipeline, educational attainment, school structures

Key Terms:

• Civil Rights Act of 1964: A federal act signed by President Johnson that guaranteed equal access to public accommodations such as public education, voting, and employment, regardless of race (Resnick, 2012).
• Chicana/o: A person of Mexican ancestry, specifically Mexican Americans (Valencia, 2008).
• The East L.A. Chicana/o Walkouts of 1968: Chicana/o students in Los Angeles walked out of their schools in order to protest inequitable school conditions (Carrillo, 2019).
• Educational Pipeline: A physical representation of the number of students that complete specific stages within the educational system (i.e., high school, college, etc.) (Perez Huber et al., 2015).
• Educational attainment: The education level that a person has completed based on the different stages of the education pipeline (e.g., high school, college, etc.) (Perez Huber et al., 2015).
• Equity in education: Providing students with quality resources and access that they need in order to succeed and have positive educational outcomes, regardless of race, class, or gender (Milner, 2015).
• Equality in education: Providing students with equal amounts of resources (Milner, 2015).
• Opportunity Gap: The gap in academic achievement and long term education outcomes (i.e., college attendance) between students of color and white students, which is rooted in inequitable resources at the K-12 level (Oakes, Rodgers, Silver, & Goode, 2004).
• School structure: The policies, rules, and procedures within a school that shape how people interact and navigate with the school (Rodriguez, 2013).
• School culture: The social climate of the school, which encompasses the values and practices within the school. (Rodriguez, 2013). School culture also refers to the relationships between students and the adults in the school as well as student expectations (Rodriguez, 2013).

California Standards:

• HSS-11.10 Students analyze the development of federal civil rights and voting rights (CDE, 2000, p.52).
• HSS-11.10.6 Analyze the passage and effects of civil rights and voting rights legislation (e.g., 1964 Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act of 1965) and the Twenty-Fourth Amendment, with an emphasis on equality of access to education and to the political process (CDE, 2000, p.53).

Materials (i.e., for Lesson #2, Day 1 and 2):

• Pencils
• Paper
• Projector
• Chromebooks
• Worksheets with Discussion Questions

Note: Each day is broken into 50 minutes, which is the equivalent of one class period of history at the high school level. Also, the content description, learning objectives, themes, key terms, standards, and materials apply to Lesson #2, Day 1 and 2.

Lesson #2, DAY 1:

Layout for Lesson #2, Day 1: Lesson #2 will be split into two days. On Day 1, students will learn about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically its implications for equal access to education. Through direct instruction, students will also learn about the East L.A. Chicana/o Walkouts and how the event problematizes the Civil Rights Act. Students will watch a video about the Walkouts and discuss in small groups what they learned. After students’ group discussions, there will be a larger class discussion. Students will complete a reflection post on the class website.

Goal: Students will learn about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its implications for equal access to education. Also, they will learn about the East L.A. Walkouts of 1968 and how they challenge the idea of the Civil Rights Act being effective.

Activities:

Direct Instruction: (10 min.)

• Through a Powerpoint presentation, I will present information about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and emphasize its implications for equal access education. Then, I will present the context of the East L.A. Walkouts and why students protested for equitable school conditions.

Activity 1: Watch East L.A. Walkouts Video (10 min.)

• I will introduce and play the YouTube video on the East L.A. Walkouts.
• Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7F1L6K4XUM

Activity 2: Student Group Discussion (10 min.)

• Students will work in groups in order to complete the discussion questions that are provided on the worksheet.

Discussion Questions:

• What school conditions led to Chicana/o students organizing themselves and walking out of schools?
• How was police violence used to silence students and their demands? Why do you think violence was used?

Note: Students work in table groups in order to discuss and complete the discussion questions.

Activity 3: Class Discussion (10 min.)

• The class comes back together and we will have a class discussion about what students discussed and how they answered the questions.

Activity 4: Self Reflection (10 min.)

Self-Reflection:

Students will write a short paragraph reflection on the classroom website where they answer the following questions:

• Before today, did you know about the East L.A. Walkouts? If you did know about them, where did you learn about them? If you did not know, why do you think that is?
• Why do you think Chicana/o students were still facing inequitable conditions even after the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
• Do you agree with the Chicana/o students walking out of their schools? Why or why not?

Note: Discussion questions will be submitted in-person and self-reflections will be submitted on the class website.

Assessment:

• Students turn in their answers to the discussion questions, and they submit their self- reflection online.
• Students’ answers to the discussion questions and their self-reflection post will be used to assess students’ understanding of the topics.

At the end of the unit, students will pick one of the following project options to demonstrate their understanding of the one of the themes/concepts/topics discussed in the overall unit.

• Pick a concept and design a zine (i.e., a political magazine) that aims to build awareness about one of the unit topics.
• Write a spoken word poem in order to highlight one of the concepts.
• Create an art piece (e.g., poster, drawing, 3D model) that encompasses the message of social justice.
• Design a PowerPoint presentation that reflects one of the topics that you can use to educate other people about the topic.
• Pick a social issue within your school or community that reflects one of the themes in the unit. Describe the issue, why it is important, and design a plan of action for how to address it.

Lesson #2, DAY 2

Note: For Lesson #2, Day 2, the content description, learning objectives, themes, the key terms, standards, and materials are the same as Day 1 of Lesson #2.

Layout for Lesson #2, Day 2: On Day 2, students will analyze the educational pipeline image and predict reasons why students from different racial backgrounds graduate high school at different rates. We will have a short discussion, and then, students will read specific pages from Oakes et al. (2004) reading. After the reading, we will come back as a class to discuss how their predictions from the beginning of class are similar or different from the information in the reading.

Goal: Students will learn how to read the U.S. Educational Pipeline in order to develop their reasons as to why students of different racial groups are completing educational milestones at different rates. Specifically, students will focus on high school graduation.

Activities:

Direct Instruction: (5 min.)

• I will provide students with a hardcopy of the Educational Pipeline based on racial backgrounds, which is found on page 3 of the Still Falling through the Cracks: Revisiting the Latina/o Education Pipeline Report.
• Students will be using Figure 1: The US Educational Pipeline (2012) (Perez Huber et al., 2015).
• I will explain to students how to read the figure of the Educational Pipeline.

Report: https://www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/RR19.pdf

Activity 1: Free-write (5 min.)

• After reviewing the Educational Pipeline, students work in pairs in order to come up with reasons why students are not graduating from high school, specifically focusing on racial differences.

Note: Even though the U.S. Educational Pipeline looks at high school, college, and graduate school statistics, students will focus on the high school portion of the pipeline because these numbers are the most relevant to their experiences. I am teaching high school students.

Activity 2: Classroom Share (5 min.)

• I lead a classroom discussion where students share some of the reasons they came up with.

Activity 3: Direct Instruction (10 min.)

• Utilizing the Oakes et al. (2004) reading, I create a short presentation on the prevalence of school segregation and how segregation plays a role in the resources that are provided to schools that are predominantly attended by students of color. Also, I explain how school structure (i.e., policies, rules) and school culture (i.e., relationships, values) also play a role in how students’ educational experiences.

Activity 4: Student Reading of Oakes et al. (2004) (10 min.)

• Students access the Oakes et al. (2004) reading online, and I have them read in pairs pages 3–4, which discuss the unequal structural conditions within schools.
• Students will take notes on what they find.

Guiding Questions for Reading and Larger Class Discussion:

• Based on the reading, what are some structural school factors that negatively affect students of color in regards to their academic achievement and educational attainment?
• Why do you think students of color are more likely to attend under-resourced schools? What message does this send to students?
• Reading: https://idea.gseis.ucla.edu/publications/files/brownsu2.pdf

Note: The students will be provided a handout with the guiding questions that they will answer in pairs and turn in at the end of class.

Activity 5: Classroom Discussion (10 min.)

• As a class, we review the students’ answers to the guiding questions and compare their initial free-write answers to what was stated in the reading.

Activity 6: Self- Reflection (5 min.)

Self-Reflection:

Students will write a short paragraph reflection on the classroom website where they answer the following questions:

• Based on your knowledge and experiences, what are other factors within schools and larger society that are contributing to students, especially students of color, not succeeding academically and graduating from high school?
• Please focus on school factors (i.e., structures and culture) and larger societal factors (i.e., race, class, etc.)
• Do the factors discussed in the Oakes et al. (2004) impact your past or current educational experience? Explain.

Assessment:

• Students turn in their answers to the discussion questions, and they submit their self- reflection online.
• Students’ answers to the discussion questions and their self-reflection post will be used to assess students’ understanding of the topics.

Since this is the last day of the unit, students will pick the project they will work on at home and in class for the next two weeks. The goal of this unit project is for students to demonstrate their understanding of the themes/concepts discussed in the unit.

• Pick a concept and design a zine (i.e., a political magazine) that aims to build awareness about one of the unit topics.
• Write a spoken word poem in order to highlight one of the concepts.
• Create an art piece (e.g., poster, drawing, 3D model) that encompasses the message of social justice.
• Design a PowerPoint presentation that reflects one of the topics that you can use to educate other people about the topic.
• Pick a social issue within your school or community that reflects one of the themes in the unit. Describe the issue, why it is important, and design a plan of action for how to address it.

Note: As the last day of the unit, students will decide what unit project they will work on for the next two weeks to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts discussed in this unit.

References

California Department of Education (2000). History-Social Science Content Standard for California Public Schools. Retrieved from https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/histsocscistnd.pdf

Carrillo, A. (2019, February 21). Yo soy Chicano: The East L.A. student walkouts of 1968 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7F1L6K4XUM

DiAngelo, R. J. (2012). What does it mean to be white? Developing white racial literacy. New York, NY: Peter Lang. Chapters 1, 2, and 10.

Howard, T. C. (2010). Why race and culture matter in schools?: Closing the achievement gap in America’s classrooms. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Milner, H. R. (2015). Rac(e)ing to class: Confronting poverty and race in schools and classrooms. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Oakes, J., Rodgers, J., Silver, D., & Goode, J. (2004). Separate and unequal: 50 years after Brown: California’s racial “opportunity gap.” Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1rr6d06h

Perez Huber, L., Malagon, M. C., Ramirez, B. R., Camargo Gonzalez, L., Jimenez, A., & Velez, V. N. (2015). Still falling through the cracks: Revisiting the Latina/o education pipeline. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, 19, 1–23. Retrieved from https://www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/RR19.pdf

Resnick, E. V. (2012). AP United States history. Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Series.

Rodriguez, L. F. (2013). The PUEDES approach: A paradigm for understanding and responding to the 21st century Latina/o dropout/pushout crisis in the U.S. Journal of Critical Thought & Praxis, 2(1), 123–153. Retrieved from https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=jctp

Valencia, R. R. (2008). Chicano students and the courts: The Mexican American legal struggle for educational equity. New York, NY: New York University Press.