LESSON ONE: Defining Your Space

Learning Objectives

• Develop and define critical concepts for political discussion
• Develop arguments moving from personal experience to more abstract ideas
• Discuss conflict resolution as an ongoing negotiation process
• Develop arguments so that they move from disagreement to compromise
• Develop and define ideals of the American democratic model in relation to core democratic values

State Curricular Benchmarks

· Strand III, Standard 2: Ideals of American Democracy

· Strand III, Standard 3: Democracy in Action

· Strand VI, Standard 2: Group Discussion

Concepts

Conflict resolution Politics

Culture Compromise

Experience Citizenship

Time needed

This process should take approximately 30-40 minutes, depending upon the class. It can take longer as students (once opened to free discussion, debate and communication) will sometimes want to talk at length about their definitions and ideas.

Teaching Strategy

For this lesson, it is important to first let the students know that there is no right or wrong answer. This lesson is simply a hook to get students interested and involved in the project as it is mandated by their answers and definitions. Students are asked to define words like citizen, political, culture, agenda, etc. It is important not to write down any definitions of these words on the board prior to class, as this will sway student response. The teacher can have students write down their answers to report them later, write answers on the board or just allow the answers to be given orally. This is up to the teacher. Once the conversation begins to flow, the facilitating teacher will begin to ask questions like the following:

• Who are you? (ethnicity)
• Have you ever been mistaken for a member of another ethnic group? What did that mean for you?
• What is politics? Do you think your background is political?
• Is the way you dress political? Is the way you wear your hair political?
• Are there cliques in your school? Are they political?
• If you disagree with someone, how do you resolve the conflict?
• What does it mean to be a citizen? How do you become one?
• Can your rights as a citizen be taken away? Explain
• Do you have power as a citizen? Do you have power as a young person? Explain

These questions will facilitate a discussion among students. This will allow them to see that the political world is all around them, in their school, their community and even within their own identities. At the close

of the discussion, students, with the guidance of the teacher, should be informed of their power. They should be informed that they are already an organized group, and that they can articulate their issues, but that there is little space to articulate for young people. Also, students can begin to understand that culture is important to both perception and experience. This will aid them in considering other points of view when working further on the project.

Assessment Recommendations

For a group discussion assignment like this, the assessment option that is most useful is participation. However, a small writing assignment, or journal entry on their thoughts about the conversation could be a good way to gauge the response of students.