Remembering Rosa

Americans have always had a dream for a better life, a better world. Following a dream can be a difficult endeavor. On this day in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, an ordinary citizen with extraordinary courage challenged the status quo to persue a better life for all Americans. In a remarkable act of civil disobedience, a humble seamstress confronted a repressive code of behavior heretofore accepted by many Americans. Her actions made the nation examine its resolve to insure equal rights for its citizens. Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, a normally timid person, stood her ground. By refusing to obey a bus driver's order to give up her seat to make room for a white passenger, she effectively ignited the modern Civil Rights Movement. No matter what you teach, take some time today to use technology to help your students explore this important milestone in our nation's history.

Essential questions (as described by Grant P. Wiggins and Jay McTighe in their book Understanding by Design) are the "big ideas" wrapped up in questions that humans continue to ponder over the course of a lifetime. Such questions lack easy answers. They can be used to engage students and encourage them to seriously ponder the core or the essence of a topic being studied. Essential questions are extremely useful in revealing what pupils think about a topic. A few such questions related to the topic of equality and challenging norms include:

• What are the most important skills for understanding what's right and what's wrong?
• How do we know when we should make a stand for a belief?
• What are the most important rights, responsibilities, and privileges of citizenship?
  
• What must happen in order for equality to become commonplace in our world?
• Will equality ever become commonplace in our world? If so, how? If not, why not?
  
• In what ways do prevailing conditions in society begin to give rise to change?
• What is this most important role of leadership in bringing about an important change?
  

Related links:

• The Library of Congress has a useful guide to materials for studying Rosa Parks.
• The Montgomery Advertiser presents The People, The Community, The Movement that Changed the World.
• The Encyclopedia of Alabama has an entry for Rosa Parks that's well worth reading.
  
• National Public Radio's moving audio remembrance of Rosa's achievements.

Tools for exploring/explaining this topic:

• Swing by Timetoast and sign up for an account. Students can use this tool to create an interactive timeline about Rosa Parks and her legacy.
• If you like timelines, give Dipity a glance as well.
• The Center for History and New Media has a timeline builder, too.
  

Life is Good

Here's a useful resource that can be used to make learning in your classroom more engaging. Consider supplementing your instruction with a veritable cornucopia of striking images. Thanks to a joint project from Google and LIFE magazine, media specialists, teachers, students--heck, anyone--can easily search through millions of photographs from the LIFE magazine photography archive. This treasure trove of images spans from the 1700s up until today. Most of the images have never been published and are just now being viewed for the very first time.

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Take Time To Remember: Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day. Do the learners in your classroom understand the significance of this day? The brave men and women who have served and are currently serving in America’s Armed Forces deserve our respect. Students should know why. The United States Department of Veteran Affairs contains educational resources designed to help teachers discuss the importance the day that began with the signing of the armistice that ended World War I. It’s never too late to learn.

Know Your Rights: Constitution Day

On September 17th, 1787, attendees at the U.S. Constitutional Convention made history by signing the one of the most important documents in the world. Now, some 221 years later, America proudly recognizes the ratification of the United States Constitution (as well as all individuals who've become citizens by either coming of age or through the process of naturalization). Today is Constitution Day. Does this matter to your students? Do they know their rights? How informed are they about their liberties? Integrate a little technology: listen to a digital audio recitation of the Constitution as read by David P. Currie, the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of University of Chicago Law School.

Essential questions related to this topic:

• What's the best/worst way to interpret the Constitution?
• Is the Constitution the best means of resolving the struggle between security and liberty?
• What (if anything) is the most important reason to understand or support the continued use of the Constitution?
• How can the Constitution be improved?
• What's the best evidence of the power of the Constitution?
• What is the most good the Constitution has done for any individual in the history of our nation?
• What is the weakest part of the Constitution?
• What is the single, most important right insured by the Constitution?
• What is the most compelling reason to deny and/or suspend an individual's or group's rights as guaranteed by the Constitution? Should these rights ever be suspended?
  
• Which individual is the epitome of the ideals expressed in the Constitution (i.e., who is a role model for the ideals expressed in the document)?
• How can/could the Constitution be reworded so as to express the same (or even more noble) ideals for a larger audience?
  

Related links:

• Explore vital events and themes in our nation’s history with We the People.
• Take a very detailed tour through the U.S. Constitution Online.