Developing Unity in the Colorful Classroom

Denatia Palmer, Language Arts, Cochrane Collegiate Academy

Curriculum Unit (pdf)

Synopsis

The purpose of this unit is to unify all races within any given classroom for a more conducive environment to learning and growing within. Under the overarching theme of unity, it is my intent to desegregate students culturally, religiously, socially, and mentally in order to begin to unify as one and implement how the human race is one race. We will use an in-depth reading of Trevor Noah’s memoir, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Spiegel & Grau, 2016), to examine other cultures, challenge imposed narratives, understand the history of different races, and evaluate the social construction of race. We will discuss the following essential questions: What is race? Do you know your history? What is modern day slavery? How has America divided people of color as a whole? In what ways are all people relatives? Why is race such a big issue? What is the social construction of race?