Charlotte Teachers Institute

Author Archives: Scott Gartlan

Seeing Themselves in Books: An Exploration of Student Identities

April 18, 2025 – 12:45 pm

Johnna Hauck, 5th Grade, Shamrock Gardens Elementary School

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Synopsis: In this unit, students will learn about identity and explore their own identities through a series of literacy-based lessons in order to answer the question: How can our identities shape our lives? Front Desk will be the text used throughout these lessons. This will allow for students to engage with 5th grade literacy standards, but also lend itself to conversations and activities about identity. Students learn about identity and other concepts that intertwine with identity from a fiction text. This learning will then be applied to students exploring their own identities and experiences. Questions about identity are embedded throughout the unit in order to spark interest, engagement, and reflection on the part of students. Conversations drive most lessons forward, and encourage students to question their beliefs as well as events taking place in the world today. These content areas are integrated throughout the unit with one overarching goal – to encourage students to critically examine how identity shapes our lives including our relationships, our choices, and the way we think and act.

Tags discrimination, elementary, identity, Immigration, literacy, Racism, Stereotypes | Permalink | Comments Off

Red Light, Green Light: An Exploration of Light and Photosynthesis

April 18, 2025 – 12:40 pm

Elizabeth Kerr, 1st Grade, Bain Elementary School

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

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Synopsis: This unit will look at light and how it is a requirement of plants to survive. Different wavelengths of light affect photosynthesis differently. Students will work to design an experiment to observe how different wavelengths of light affect the plant’s growth. This will lead into a discussion on food chains/webs, where students will discover that the sun and plants are the beginning of every chain/web. This unit will require students to take measurements and record data at least once a week for at least three weeks.

Tags filter, grow lamp, light, photosynthesis, Predict-Observe-Explain (P-O-E), scientific method | Permalink | Comments Off

Exploring Race and Memory in America: The Power of our Art

April 18, 2025 – 12:20 pm

Tam Hawk, 6th Grade Social Studies, Albemarle Road Middle School

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

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Synopsis: The word “history” comes from the Greek word “historia” and means inquiry as in the act of seeking knowledge. Questioning the narratives told throughout history, in part, through memorials and monuments is important to understand the true history as well as the different perspectives which are told. Whose story is it? Whose stories are correct? What multiple perspectives can be valid? When the phrase “her story” was introduced as an alternative for his-story, many people thought that was ridiculous, but, in truth, we should ask questions about what is told in historical narratives. What can memorials past and present tell us about history? How has iconoclasm impacted what we know about historical facts? “The destruction, removal and re-interpretation of monuments has drawn the world’s attention and they have often been flash points for intense political and social debate as public symbols of white supremacy.”1 This quote expresses the importance of memorials and monuments and their impact on society, past and present. Art and architecture were important in ancient civilizations because it showed the power, beauty and wealth of a civilization. Art & Architecture reflected the values of ancient civilizations, just as it does today. Memorials and monuments are important for city landscapes because they keep past events alive and reflect the values of that society.

Tags Ancient Egypt, Birmingham, Civil Rights, Confederate memorials, Luxor, Mansa Musa, memorials, Memphis, Montgomery, monuments, Silent Sam, Temple of Karnak, West Africa | Permalink | Comments Off

Broadening Horizons: Perspectives of Native American Monuments

April 18, 2025 – 12:17 pm

Shannon McFarland, 6th Grade English Language Arts, Alexander Graham Middle School

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

Click on the arrow to read the Synopsis.

Synopsis: In this curriculum unit, students examine monuments significant to Native American experiences. They will learn about and discuss the history of how tribes were displaced from their lands and children were treated inside of boarding schools. For the culminating assessment, students will design a monument dedicated to the victims of Native American boarding schools and a plaque that explains why a monument to this history should exist.

Tags argument, assimilation, Author’s Purpose, History, Indigenous People, inference, Memorial, Monument, Native American, Native American Boarding School, perspective, textual evidence | Permalink | Comments Off

Black Churches and the Civil Rights Movement: Leadership and Memory

April 18, 2025 – 12:01 pm

Janice Sutton, American History, Independence High School

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

Click on the arrow to read the Synopsis.

Synopsis: This curriculum unit will have students looking at the Civil Rights Movement through the lens of the Black Churches. Students will explore why groups like SNCC and SCLC were formed, and how they mobilize Blacks and Whites to stand up and speak out against inequalities faced by Blacks in the South. Students will be able to understand why so many of the Civil Rights Leaders became Reverends, and how they will use the First Amendment to fight back against their oppressors. Students will examine the various Civil Rights Churches and the impact they had on the movement and their impact in today’s society. Students will research the role North Carolina’s Black Churches and their leaders played in the Civil Rights movement and share their findings with their peers through a product of their choice.

Tags Bethel Baptist Church, Dexter Ave Baptist Church, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., First Amendment, First Baptist Church, Freedom Riders, John Lewis, Jr., Montgomery Bus Boycott, NAACP, Rev. Fred Shuttersworth, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, SCLC, Sit-ins, Sixteenth St Baptist Church, SNCC | Permalink | Comments Off

The Monuments and Memorials of Mass Incarceration and Segregation through the Lens of If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson

April 18, 2025 – 11:02 am

Sarah Wallace, 9th Grade English, Hopewell High School

Curriculum Unit (PDF)

Click on the arrow to read Synopsis.

Synopsis: In this unit, students will read the novel If You Come Softly by Jacqueline
Woodson while focusing on the importance of memory and memorialization. Students will
complete anticipation activities that research African-American and Jewish history, the
racial groups that are represented by the protagonists of the novel. Students will explore
how each racial group’s history continues to have an impact on current events and the
characters in the novel. Students will be asked to consider how history is taught to them and
what they do and do not learn in a standard history class. The curriculum unit will include
anticipatory material to be used before starting the novel, materials to supplement a nuanced
discussion of the beginning of the novel, a project to enhance student understanding of
characterization at the end of the novel, and finally a project that asks students to reflect on
the historical implications of the racial groups that are represented in the novel. This unit
aligns with the North Carolina English Language Arts standards for grades 9 and 10.