Kelli Nemetz

Assignment #3: Funds of Knowledge Lesson Plan

A. Ninth Grade
B. This student is part of a classroom that is very interested in the politics of the world. Alex
enjoys getting into discussions about the on-goings of our country. He, like many of the
students in the classroom, enjoy staying involved in current events and bringing their
opinions into the school. While Alex is strong in staying up-to-date on the different
topics, he does not always find credible unbiased sources. This is a trend in the classroom
and community as a whole. The majority of the school is white, upper-middle class, and
has families with very conservative views. Alex often misses the whole story because he
is caught up in biased news sources. He has heard of the Black Lives Matter and has the
strength of being caught up with most of the reports, but his weakness lies in the close-
minded views of his family and his own mind.
C.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.9
Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.9
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.3
Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later
ones or simply preceded them.

Students will look at a variety of news sources who have reported on the same topic/person to
see how differently the same event can be reported. They will explore biased and unbiased
sources, some they have seen before, and some they have not. Students will collect data of
discrepancies and facts, and try to widen their lenses of the whole story to open their mind on the
scope and reality of the Black Lives Matter movement.
*Students have had previous lessons on credibility of sources and how to think, look at, and talk
about politics.*

D. Lesson Plan
 Kelli Nemetz

Materials Links to different types of online news source for students to search on:
Needed: Left-leaning Relatively-neutral Right-leaning
http://www.huffingtonpo https://www.nytim http://www.foxnew
st.com/ es.com/ s.com/
https://www.washington http://www.npr.org/ http://www.redstat
post.com/ http://www.cnn.co e.com/
https://www.buzzfeed.co m/ http://dailycaller.co
m/ http://www.usatoda m/
y.com/
http://abcnews.go.c
om/

YouTube Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5WeJaNtMQs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6BuXRTk5D4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rl4ZGdy34

Introductio Students will do the first part of the worksheet (Attached below), reflecting
n: on what they already know and think about the Black Lives Matter
Movement privately and personally in their personal journals. After students
have been allowed enough time, this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Z6BuXRTk5D4 and this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Y5WeJaNtMQs will be played to introduce the movement. We will also
explore the fundamental ideas behind the movement that are listed on
http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ and http://blacklivesmatter.com/guiding-
principles/
This part of the lesson may take several class sessions to adequately cover.
While the students have heard of the Movement and know some information
about it, they need to know the reality and the truth behind what the
Movement is truly about.

Student Each student will be assigned an African American victim of police brutality,
Engageme senseless violence, or any other racially-charged murder that the BLM
nt: Movement has recognized and protested for. Possible victims students may
be assigned include:
Dontre Hamilton, Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Michael Brown, Ezell
Ford, Laquan McDonald, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, Antonio Martin, Jerame
Reid, Trayvon Martin, Charley Leundeu Keunang, Tony Robinson, Anthony
Hill, Meagan Hockaday, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, William
Chapman Jonathan Sanders, Sandra Bland, Samuel DuBose, Jeremy
McDole, Corey Jones, Jamar Clark, Bruce Kelley Jr., Alton
Sterling, Philando Castile, Joseph Mann, Abdirahman Abdi, Paul
O'Neal, Korryn Gaines, Sylville Smith, Terence Crutcher, Keith Lamont
Scott, Alfred Olango, Deborah Danner
*this list is incomplete and sadly so, so much longer.*
 Kelli Nemetz

This will be an on-going project throughout the week. Students will go on

the internet, using websites listed on their papers, and gather information.
Students must look into one left-leaning source, one right-leaning
source, and two neutral sources and find more than one article on each
website about their specific victim. They will take notes on their worksheet
and in their journals of the information they gather and their own personal
thoughts and opinions.

Conclusion Students will write a sort of personal research paper. They will talk about the
: information they gathered, the kind of data they got from looking into
different types of sources/anything they noticed during the process, and then
how the experience changed their perspective on the Black Lives Matter
Movement.

After the papers are turned in as an assessment, the teacher can decide if
more research should be done for students to more deeply understand the
Movement. If they are ready, there will be a whole-group type classroom
discussion on the importance of the movement, ways to educate others, and
how to help. This will be introduced by the song White Privilege II by
Macklemore with lyrics (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rl4ZGdy34).
They can use this song and their papers as discussion topics. This will be a
time to reflect in a safe environment (the classroom) about the experience of
exploring the victims cause of death, the facts of the case, and how it played
out unfairly, etc.

This lesson would need to be extended on both ends (introduction and post)
as an entire unit on racism and politics in the U.S. There would also be a unit
about white privilege and what it means, how its reflected, and how to be
aware of it something new and important for this specific classroom.

Extensions After this project, the class will keep an active list of the victims that the
: Black Lives Matter recognizes and fights for in the classroom. The list will
be kept up to date by the students, and when a name is added, a classroom
discussion on the current event can be a part of the day.

Also, if needed, keep reminders of the difference between All Lives Matter
and Black Lives Matter and why the former is problematic (may be
another lesson).
 Kelli Nemetz

Victims Name: ____________ Your Name: ___________

Black Lives Matter Movement Research Notes

Discussion Questions: Please respond to these to questions in your personal journals. Your
responses will be kept private so please write your honest opinions and thoughts down to be used
for reflection after our activity.
1. What do you already know about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement?
2. What, in your opinion is the difference between the sayings Black Lives Matter and
All Lives Matter? Is there one that is more correct?

Research Notes: Please use this worksheet as a tool to keep your research notes organized. Keep
your notes detailed and thought-out. You will need to find information from one left-leaning
news source, one right-leaning news source, and at least two neutral sources. Try to find
more than one article about your victim on each website.
Here is a list of the approved news websites you can explore:
Left-leaning Relatively-neutral Right-leaning
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ https://www.nytimes.com/ http://www.foxnews.com/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/ http://www.npr.org/ http://www.redstate.com/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/ http://www.cnn.com/ http://dailycaller.com/
http://www.usatoday.com/
http://abcnews.go.com/

News Source Information Gathered Comments/Questions

 Kelli Nemetz

News Source Information Gathered Comments/Questions

 Kelli Nemetz

News Source Information Gathered Comments/Questions

 Kelli Nemetz

Conclusion: At the end of this lesson, we will reflect on our learning and write a concluding
essay based on how your personal thoughts and opinions may have been altered and what you
have learned with this process about the Black Lives Matter Movement as a whole.
E. Justification
This lesson is very much based on the idea of Culturally Relevant Teaching that comes
from Gloria Ladson-Billings. Students are challenged to become critically conscious of
societal inequity in lessons that are Culturally Relevant. This lesson is for students who are
mostly white and privileged to learn about a movement that does not directly impact them
and their lives, but it so prominent and relevant in the society they live in. Ladson-Billings
writes about the importance for children who are minorities in society to excel and grow
beyond societal expectations, but this lesson is directed for the students/people in society
who are on the other side privileged and already expected to succeed and challenge to
start looking at that discrepancy.
This lesson also uses ideas from Amanti Molls excerpt about drawing on students funds
of knowledge. The student, Alex, and the class as a whole, that this lesson is designed for
have strengths in reading articles about current events and keeping up on politics in the
United States. They have experience looking into websites to find articles and the idea of
credible sources has been discussed in previous lessons. Alex in particular has these strengths
most definitely, but has a weakness of not looking at nonbiased sources for his information.
 Kelli Nemetz

He knows about the Black Lives Matter movement only from the perspective of his right-
winged biased sources. This lesson draws on that knowledge and his skills staying up-to-date
on current events, and challenges him to think beyond what he already thinks and knows
from these sources. It builds on his funds of knowledge to extend his abilities and his
thinking and grow as a student.