Effectively Teaching the Major Historical Changes in the Twentieth Century in the United States
The United States of America was founded in 1776, which as of the year 2020, the U.S. has been established for precisely 244 years. Throughout all of these 244 years since the establishment of this great country, thousands of historical events have either taken place within the borders of the U.S. or within the borders of foreign countries. As an educator, the goal and objective of my lesson plans is to teach my students the importance of U.S. history as well as how past historical events have effected our current social environment. To be more specific, how has past U.S. events influenced our social consciousness as well as our decision-making skills within the spheres of our social, political, and economical arenas. You maybe thinking: “how can you cover 244 years worth of history in your two lesson plans”? Of course I can’t cover 244 years worth of United States history within my two lesson plans for it is too much material to cover within one school year. Instead, my two lesson plans will be focusing on two main topics that are relevant to twentieth century U.S. history, which are “the development of federal civil rights and voting rights” and “major social problems and domestic policy issues”.
These two lesson plans are intended to be introduced in my history teaching curriculum at a 11th grade level. However, these lesson plans are flexible and can be taught between a 9th grade and a 12th grade level, which of course the material can be modified to an appropriate level. So the reason why I have chosen to create these two history lesson plans within a 9th through 12th grade level because the average age between grades 9th and 12th is typically 14 through 19. The purpose of the social factor of age in my lesson plans is because at an older age, students possess a more developed conscience that allows them to retain information easier as well as express personal opinions that create engagement with the in-class material through dialogue between their peers. For instance, my lesson plans will involve the topic of “white dominant culture” and how it connects to U.S. standard teaching curriculum. According to the National Museum of African History and Culture, “White dominant culture describes how white people and their practices, beliefs, and culture have been normalized over time and are now considered standard in the United States” (Talking about Race, 2020). Academic policies and curriculum are heavily influenced by white dominant culture and because of this standard of learning, I am even more compelled to teach twentieth century U.S. history and to include a multicultural curriculum.
In addition to my lesson plans, I need to express how important it is to provide a stable and welcoming educational environment for every student, regardless of their differences in race, class, and gender identities. According to Rita Kohli, “Teachers of Color have been found to have higher expectations of the learning of students of Color (Dee, 2005) and a heightened awareness of educational injustice and racism (Irizarry & Donaldson, 2012)”(Kohli, Pg.19). As a Native American History educator, it is my sole mission to serve and provide adequate and equal educational experiences to every single student enrolled in my course. This country is well known for its social problems such as poverty, workplace/educational discrimination and racism. And with these social problems, comes patterns of hateful behaviors and attitudes that are expressed and targeted at students of multicultural backgrounds. So as a future educator, my mission is to expose these patterns of hate towards multicultural students and dismantle these attitudes and behaviors that do more harm than good to society.
The first California standard that I chose to support and emphasize the importance of my in-class twentieth century history curriculum is California Academic Standard 11.10:
I specifically chose this California Academic Standard because I believe that it is crucial and necessary for my students to learn and acknowledge the civil liberties and the equal social opportunities that everyone is entitled to, regardless of race, religion, or any other social factor. In fact, according to Jeannie Oakes, “California has a larger constellation of problems, and “achievement gap” describes only one symptom. If we are looking to address the root cause of the achievement gap, we must look to California’s deep “opportunity gap” that has been ignored in the current approaches to school reform” (Oakes, 2004, Pg.12). In the past, students of color have been limited to the opportunities to experience high or at least decent qualities of education and opportunity that we are all entitled to, regardless of the differences in race, class, gender identity, and etc. However, how and why does this social pattern continue to persist in educational institutions? Fortunately, my lesson plan can answer this question by analyzing the politics and the social norms of the twentieth century. And with this lesson plan, my students will critically analyze U.S. policies that have produced limited opportunities for multicultural students.
The second and last California academic standard that I chose to support and emphasize the importance of my in-class twentieth century history curriculum is California Academic Standard 11.11:
I specifically chose this California Academic Standard because the United states has experienced major social issues that have resulted in major setbacks in the U.S. economy as well as the fight for equal rights for all. In fact, many of these social problems (racism, sexism, discrimination) originate from our educational systems through our behaviors and attitudes. According to Rita Kohli, “As we move into the twenty-first century, assimilation and a racial hierarchy are still a part of the schooling process”(Kohli, 2012, Pg.3). In other words, twentieth century educational policies had required educational institutions to enforce academic curriculum that only taught the American culture, while excluding multicultural culture from the academic curriculum. Unfortunately, this attitude in academic policing continues to be the foundation in today’s educational curriculum. For instance, Gandara states “To complicate matters, many schools engage in practices, such as ESL pull-out programs, that remove students from their regular classes to receive help in English acquisition, thereby causing them to miss the regular instruction” (Patricia Gandara, 2009, Pg.756).
The United States of America is not a perfect country, for it has many flaws sewn into the fabric of this country such as racism, discrimination, and inequality. And with these inequalities, the United States becomes increasingly more known for its discriminatory attitudes and behaviors within public institutions. So as a history educator, my sole purpose is to teach the young generation the history of the United States because they are our future and they will be our future politicians that will be the change we need to live more equal and diverse life.
Links to Federal Civil Rights and Voting Rights in Education and Major social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American society
REFERENCES:
Kohli, Rita; Nevárez, Arturo; and Arteaga, Nallely (2018) “Public Pedagogy for Racial Justice Teaching: Supporting the Racial Literacy Development of Teachers of Color,” The Assembly: A Journal for Public Scholarship on Education: Vol. 1 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholar.colorado.edu/assembly/vol1/iss1/3
Oakes, J., Rogers, J., Silver, D. and Goode, J.
(2004). Separate and Unequal 50 Years after Brown:
California’s Racial “Opportunity Gap.”
Kohli, R., & Solórzano, D. G. (2012). Teachers, please learn our names!: Racial microagressions and the K-12 classroom. Race Ethnicity and Education, 15(4), 441–462. doi:10.1080/13613324.2012.674026
Gándara, Patricia & Rumberger, Russell. (2009). Immigration, Language, and Education: How Does Language Policy Structure Opportunity?. Teachers College Record. 111.
National Museum of African American History and Culture. 2020. Whiteness. [online] Available at: <https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/whiteness> [Accessed 27 August 2020].
