English 1T: Unit 1
Agency and Activism: The History of Educational Activism in California
Context: As we discussed the achievement gap last quarter, our current educational system demonstrates an inability to encourage and support the academic success of all students. The achievement gap, however, is not a new phenomena in our nation’s educational history. As you have learned by watching Walkout, and reading about the Mendez vs. Westminster case in California, the roots of unequal education run deep. While progress has been made, statistics today demonstrate that students of color continue to underperform academically in both K-12 and higher education. In order to create solutions to a problem, it is important to understand the history and the many factors that play into its creation. This unit highlights the important role the Mexican American community played in addressing educational inequities in the past and how community activism can help us imagine new sustainable solutions today.
Prompt: Write an essay in which you discuss the most important lessons we can learn from student and community activism as demonstrated in the history and texts we’ve analyzed for this unit. Specifically, focus on the lessons you think can most inform our work today in addressing the problem of educational inequality.
Focus Question: What are the most important lessons we can learn from the examples of student and community activism that we studied in unit one? How are these lessons relevant to addressing the problem of educational inequality today?
Texts:
- Maria Blanco’s “Before Brown, There was Mendez: The Lasting Impact of Mendez v. Westminster in the Struggle for Desegregation” (Journal Article)
- Edward James Olmos’s “Walk Out” (Film)
- Richard R. Valencia’s “The Mexican American Struggle for Equal Educational Opportunity in Mendez v. Westminster: Helping to Pave the Way for Brown v. Board of Education” (Peer Review Article)
- Rodolfo Corky Gonzales’s “I am Joaquin” (Poem)
Requirements:
●1,000-1,250 (4-5 pages typed, double-spaced)
●Introduction that provides necessary context to answer the focus question
●An explicitly stated thesis expressed in the introduction (that directly respond to the focus question)
●Body paragraphs that demonstrate effective PIE development: Clearly stated POINTS; INFORMATION from the texts that support each body paragraph topic with proper MLA lead-in; EXPLANATION of the supporting evidence (quote explanation + analysis)
●You must integrate a minimum of 2 of the listed text
●MLA Documentation: You must have a Works Cited page (not part of your page count) where you list all texts mentioned in the text of your essay
●Sentence Craft: use Noun Phrase Appositives (identify inbold) to provide key information about people, places, and/or nouns referenced in the essay
Due Dates:
______1. Essay Exam Questions (In-class): Wednesday, 01/14
______2. In-Class Synthesis/Outline Due: Monday, 01/26 (to be done in class)
______2. Essay 1: Rough Draft + Peer Response Workshop: Monday, 01/26
______4. Essay 1: Final Draft: Wednesday, 01/28
Your Notes & Ideas: