Our Webpage: resistancemapping.org

Contact Co-Leads: swiegand@ccsi.org | kjames@ccsi.org 

Mission 

Our mission is to support and empower students, teachers and communities with the tools to engage with and own their local history of civil rights through inquiry, equity, and civic action.

Vision 

Every high school graduate in Monroe County will learn about our local history as well as the contemporary realities of structural racism AND have an opportunity to build a more just and equitable community through  their education.

Instructional Design 

Case Studies: This curriculum has been designed as a series of Case Studies to fit into local districts’ existing curriculum. The resources can be used as part of a Social Studies unit, in an interdisciplinary unit of instruction,  or adapted to be a stand-alone unit.  

Standards Aligned: Every case study is aligned to the NYS Social Studies Framework. Explicit references  to the grade-level content are presented. The foundation of these resources is the Social Studies Practices, which  are hard-wired into the instruction. There has also been careful attention to align these materials to the New York  State ELA Standards.  

Culturally Responsive Teaching and SEL: Grounded in the NYS Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Framework, the curriculum includes culturally responsive teaching tips as well as Social Emotional Learning teaching tips. Attention to the whole student and sensitivity to students processing this information in the curriculum leads to educators who are sociopolitically conscious and socioculturally responsive, in the language of the CR-S Framework.

Student-centered Instruction: Students read the sources, interpret the sources, and have the opportunity to be  critical consumers of information. The Case Studies provide the opportunity for students to connect the past to the present through their own interpretation of sources. Teachers are guides who act as facilitators and encourage  a thoughtful exchange of ideas in the classroom through restorative practices.They help students negotiate  the meaning of the sources in culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate ways. Students have the  opportunity to share their own ideas and experiences in the course of the instruction.  

Students Interpret the Sources: A goal of these resources is to empower students to learn the history of their  community through a thoughtful interpretation of rich primary and secondary sources. Primary sources such as  interviews, county records, local housing documents, historical maps, newspaper articles, photographs, and oral history allow students to be historians and work collaboratively with other students to interpret the evidence.  Importantly, students also consider the limitations of the evidence as well as what information may be missing  in their inquiry. For example, students examine the sources through four sourcing  roles focused on identifying  context, reliability, main idea, and purpose in work that has been adapted from Monroe 1 BOCES and rooted in the NYS Social Studies practice of Gathering, Using, and Interpreting Evidence.

Open Source Materials: These resources are produced as open-source materials because our team believes that  local teachers who know their students can make thoughtful and sensitive decisions to introduce this instruction.  This project puts valuable sources and instructional guidance in the hands of teachers and school district leaders to  adapt and tailor to their local context. Students have different needs and local communities have unique situations  that educators can identify and respond to in a way that honors everyone.  

Our Team & Support for Teachers and Leaders

Teachers participate in a free three-hour professional development session where they engage in the same learning activities as their students. Teachers and district leaders can also access further support offered through our team without charge and follow up professional development sessions that can be tailored to specific needs as well as provide more instructional support, assessment guidance, and access to other sources and content  knowledge.  

Our work is supervised by a community-led Advisory Board: