Digital Commons @ Trinity

Title

The March for Social Justice: Historical Demand for Progress Effected Through Powerful Rhetoric

Authors

Kate FosterFollow
Catherine PolkFollow

Document Type

Instructional Material

Publication Date

6-2018

Abstract

In The March for Social Justice unit, we hope to develop students’ understanding of the concept of social justice and provide them with resources to serve as agents of change in their local and global community. This interdisciplinary unit is designed for 11th grade students enrolled in AP US History and AP English Language and Composition. This unit focuses on the development of students’ knowledge of modern injustices and their understanding of the historical influences responsible for today’s political and cultural structure. Students will implement various stages of the research process to develop an informed, knowledgeable voice. Students will study effective rhetorical strategies and consider how they must shape their voice to best reach a target audience. We hope that after this unit, students will be able to identify injustices in their society and actively use their voice to stand up for progress, critically analyze current and historical events to inform decision making, recognize their role within social movements, form and defend a personal stance using reasoning and evidence, and challenge and inform their own beliefs by considering multiple perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. We approached these transfer goals through a four-phase unit, in which students compile and synthesize historical and current research by composing a historiography and annotated bibliography in order to help them plan and implement a solution initiative in their local community. The unit concludes with the development of an argument of proposal and a multimedia presentation, which students will perform in front of an authentic audience to garner support for their social justice movement.

Please find our unit with live links at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iy2-52JI2HybT6iVskIsT50UtMsGjsKQ2mFKCsmEqTQ/edit?usp=sharing

Repository Citation

Foster, Kate and Polk, Catherine, "The March for Social Justice: Historical Demand for Progress Effected Through Powerful Rhetoric" (2018). Understanding by Design: Complete Collection. 413.
https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/educ_understandings/413

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.