1 of 24

Social Justice Project

Think Tank

January 6, 2020

Julie Ruble & Nuvia C. Ruland

2 of 24

PURPOSE:

Design projects that develop deep student understanding of identity, diversity, justice, and action.

What emotions, questions or wonderings come up for you when designing and facilitating social justice projects?

​

  • Is there excitement or fear?
  • Are there challenges you anticipate?
  • What experiences or resources inform your work?

3 of 24

Norm Setting for Social Justice Think Tank

When talking about social justice topics, what norms support a safe place to discuss and promote social justice?

  • (5 min) Interactive Gallery Walk of Norms
  • (2 min) Notice of Four Norms
  • (5 min) Norms Discussion - Why does it matter?

4 of 24

Social Justice Think Tank

Group Norms

  • Be vulnerable to create space for all voices
  • Listen fully and be curious -- with your ears, eyes, and heart
  • Stay Open To Multiple Perspectives
  • Assume Best Intentions and be aware of your impact

Why does it matter?

5 of 24

Design projects that develop deep student understanding of identity, diversity,

justice, and action.

9:30am

​

Connecting to do this work together

9:45 am

​

Norms support

vulnerability

& safety

10:05am

​

Grounded

in the

work of

experts

10:35am

​

Break

​

​

​

10:45am

​

Modified

Conceptual

Flow for

S.J.

12:05pm

​

Closing

the loop,

resources,

exit card

6 of 24

Grounding our Work in Social Justice Standards

BRAINSTORM

DISCUSS

TOPIC SELECTION

7 of 24

Brainstorm

Find your grade level standards

​

​

What should students know (at your grade level)?

What should students do (at your grade level)?

8 of 24

Discussion

DISCUSS

​

ORIENTING: What did you notice about how the standards are formatted? What are you already tackling? What have you not addressed?

​

KNOW: Share what students should know when they leave middle school. Categorize ideas that you saw in the standards, include "yes and"

​

DO: Share what students should do when they leave middle school.

9 of 24

Topic Selection

TOPIC SELECTION (in pairs or group of 4)

​

CHOOSE one topic you want to tackle

or

SELECT a topic you already do and want to improve

​

Can be connected to the project you're working on or one you want to design in the future

​

Write in the center of the paper. Leave space for note taking around it.

Topic

10 of 24

Break Time!

​

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

  • Marcel Proust

Need to add your questions and thoughts to the parking lot?

11 of 24

Essential Question

  • Stimulates thought for all involved
  • Provokes inquiry to use different types of sources
  • Changes students’ perspective and self
  • Transforms instruction facilitation b/c helps organize lesson and assessment
  • Can’t be answered easily or has one set answer
  • Can’t be Googled
  • Isn’t introduced and then forgotten
  • Doesn't omit student voice
  • Doesn't cause division or polarization of participants

12 of 24

Writing an essential question takes finesse, and many iterations...

  • Why do we have so much gun violence in the United States?
    • What can we do in making a tangible change to the problem of gun violence in the United States?
      • What can we do to dramatically reduce the amount of gun violence in the U.S.?

​

​

​

What can we do to dramatically reduce violence

in our country?

13 of 24

Write Your Essential Question

Examples:

  • Where does your power come from?
  • What is social identity?
  • Is your litter contributing to climate change?
  • How do our actions uphold/undermine human rights?
  • Why do humans migrate?
  • How does we become meaningful agents of change in diverse communities?
  • Why do we study history?
  • What type of people are homeless?
  • How does media perpetuate what is feminine or masculine?

14 of 24

Write Your Essential Question

Time for a quick whip

15 of 24

SJ Project Planning Conceptual Flow

15

CHUNK PLANNING

ORDERING

CHUNKING

EQUITY

REFLECTION

16 of 24

In your planning teams

16

CHUNKING

Cluster ideas into groups that might be units within the project.

Topic

17 of 24

In your planning teams

17

ORDERING

Discuss which order might be best for developing student understanding.

1

2

Topic

18 of 24

In your planning teams

18

CHUNK PLANNING

How long will this take to do well? What would be an impactful launch and a meaningful product for each chunk?

1

2

Length

Launch

Product

Length

Launch

Product

Topic

19 of 24

19

CHUNK PLANNING

How long will this take to do well? What would be an impactful launch and a meaningful product for each chunk?

ORDERING

Discuss which order might be best for developing student understanding.

CHUNKING

Cluster ideas into groups that might be units within the project.

Length

Launch

Product

EQUITY

REFLECTION

Which checkpoints are needed to design a SJ project?

20 of 24

20

CHUNK PLANNING

How long will this take to do well? What would be an impactful launch and a meaningful product for each chunk?

ORDERING

Discuss which order might be best for developing student understanding.

CHUNKING

Cluster ideas into groups that might be units within the project.

Length

Launch

Product

21 of 24

Resources:

21

1

2

Length

Launch

Product

Length

Launch

Product

EQUITY

REFLECTION

Which checkpoints are needed to design a SJ project?

Topic

22 of 24

Resources:

22

EQUITY

REFLECTION

Which checkpoints are needed to design a S.J. project?

Organize. Next Steps. (Options)

​

  • What type of self-work do I need to do to guide students to do this work?
  • Select a document to inform your S.J. project design.

​

  • Find allies from your campus or this workshop to do a project tuning.

23 of 24

Staff Day Feedback:

​

23

24 of 24

You can do this home!

Closing for today, but setting up for continuous work.

​

​

This link is to the survey we designed.

​

We hope to do this workshop again! Would you complete this survey and share KISH feedback for us to improve on our facilitation?