Lesson from Flickr via Wylio

© 2017 ayahaaanhdk, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

Editor’s Note: This is the lesson that my talented student teacher, Kelsie Burnell, will be using in our ELL U.S. History class today – right before the student walkout. Bear in mind that many of our students will not be familiar with the history of school shootings in the U.S. I thought readers might find it useful and she agreed to let me share it here.

You might also be interested in A Compilation Of Resources To Support Student Organizing.

 

Lesson Plan

Developed by Kelsie Burnell

Warm-Up Question:
What does it mean to be a citizen?  What does a “good” citizen do? Provide examples. Try to be specific.
Discussion
  1. Call on students to share their anwers
  2. Discuss what it means to be a citizen. Definition from dictionary.com, “An inhabitant of a city or town.”
  3. Ask students, “What do you think we should all be doing as citizens of Sacramento?” “What could being an “active” citizen look like?”  “What should we not be doing?”
  4. Have students share with their elbow partners first
  5. Call on students to answer
-Introduce the idea of school shootings, pass out worksheet
-Show first video, ask students to write down their thoughts:

-Show second video

-Show third video

 

Next,
-Have students discuss what they saw and how they felt with their partner
-Explain the purpose of the walkout scheduled for today, and what it means for those seventeen lives lost
-Show the History of Protests video

Last,
-Students follow along during Read Aloud of President Obama’s 2016 Speech
-Students answer their questions on their worksheet about what it means to be a good citizen
-Students share with their partners and then share out as a class
-Show final video of Parkland students organizing

 

Brainstorm on the board:
-Ideas about how students can organize and show support for the students in Parkland and the safety of students and their families everywhere
-Ways to try to help avoid a school shooting on our own campus (What can students/parents/teachers/staff/administration do to make our campus safe?)