Project Overview: This assignment asks students to read a book of their choice that serves as a window into the perspective of someone different from them. As they read, they track “window moments” that allow them to see from a new perspective AND “mirror moments” that allow them to see themselves reflected back. After they read, they choose window and mirror moments to write up and create a visual component that incorporates the concept of windows and mirrors.
Project Overview: Each student first reflects upon their own social identities. They then choose a social identity group of which they are not a member that they would like to understand more fully through both reading and statistical analysis. They read an article and gather values of a quantitative variable related to the chosen social identity group for each state. Students ultimately construct two histograms to display the distribution of the variable across two different groupings of states.
Student Reflections:
Project Overview: After learning about straight edge and compass constructions, students watch the TED Ed The Complex Geometry of Islamic Design. Each student first observes objects with Islamic geometric design in and around their community. They then create an original Islamic geometric design that is accurately drawn, aesthetically pleasing, and tessellates completely. Here's the full project description.
Student Reflection:
“This was my favorite project of the year! I had never heard of Islamic design before, and now I see it everywhere and know the math involved.” Assignment Overview: Students read various essays from the book American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures edited by America Ferrara. Using the book's essays as models, students then write their own narrative essay that reflects on their own experience being between cultures (American or living in America).
Lesson Overview: Students will read this Scientific American article, to consider the following questions:
Student Reflection, in response to prompt #3 (above):
Eric Anderson writes, “[In humans] the categories of gay and straight are socially constructed.” “I found this quote interesting because it ties in with the idea that humans like to put a label on everything. “Gay” and “straight” are absolutes, but some people might not fit entirely with these labels. People like to categorize things and other people in order to make it easier to think about, but these categories can be restricting and might not match that person’s identity completely, because humans are very complex.” Lesson Overview: Using this activity, students first investigate the complexity of one's biological sex, and then learn more about how athletic categories of male and female have been determined over the recent decades. Then, on day 2, students use these questions to take a broader look at the definitions of sex, gender, and sexuality.
Lesson Overview: This lesson sequence on disability rights followed a study of the French Revolution. These lessons include a variety of activities: journal writing, video watching (such as this one featuring Richie Parker), small group discussions, and readings (such as this one on the history of the ADA).
Student reflections:
"Disability is more about what society has defined as “normal.” For example, in the video Richie could do just about anything a “normal” person could do, he just did it in his own way. Richie isn’t disabled, he just has a different set of weaknesses and strengths from everyone else." "When doing a close reading of the list, I noticed that there were so many things that I might have taken for granted in my daily life that I didn’t even notice. For example, I never thought about if my family would ever have to move to another apartment that they would need to think about whether it was accessible to me. Would there be stairs to get into the house or not? Would there be an elevator to get to our floor? Things like these that I have just never had to think about in my life are a major concern for others." “At the very least, something people without disabilities can do is to try to use the right language. And if someone says that you used the wrong language, just apologize and ask what you should instead say." Lesson Overview: After reading an article and watching a few videos, students will debrief in small groups, speaking in Spanish as they share and respond to quotes/passages from the article and videos. Lesson Resources:
|
AuthorsThe content showcased here is very much the work of a large, diverse group of BHS teachers. Categories
All
Archives
March 2020
|