This unit was created by the LBUSD/UCI Teacher Academy as part of the 2023 cohort of The 1619 Project Education Network. It is designed for facilitation across approximately four 88-minute sessions.
In this unit, students explore their origin stories and discover how their personal and family histories are a part of a larger community and national history.
This unit begins with an exploration of personal culture and identity. Leveraging Born on the Water as an anchor text and an example of an origin story, students embark on an investigation of their own origin stories through reflection, interview/oral histories, and family discussions while learning about their peers’ identities and histories, thereby building classroom community.
Students also study a variety of primary and secondary sources (charts, maps, photos, documents, etc.) about Long Beach on the themes of education, student agency and activism, migration, power, economy, and environment to develop an understanding and context for their local community. The study culminates in students working together to develop museum artifacts (storyboard or script, infographic, and/or one-page reflection) that answer the questions: What does it mean to be a Long Beacher? How does this story and our community connect to what it means to be an American?
The individual artifacts will belong to a class exhibit, “The Museum of Untold Stories of Long Beach.” Designed as an introduction for a US History or US Government course, students will analyze how their family’s history informs a larger historical narrative and how their connection to the local community connects to a larger, national identity.
Guiding Questions:
- What is culture?
- What does culture mean to me?
- How does Born on the Water and the cultural bag activity help me understand Long Beach's history and my individual story?
- How do I understand Long Beach's history?
- How do I understand my origin story in Long Beach history?How do my story and our community connect to what it means to be an American?
Objectives:
Students will…
- Articulate their identity and reflect on their individual culture
- Read, discuss and analyze a variety of sources
- Engage in contextual learning about their own lives, the history of their community and their relationship to US history
- Synthesize and interpret information collaboratively to develop a representation of their place in history
Performance Task
In small groups, students create a class exhibit entitled Untold Stories of Long Beach [.pdf][.docx] to demonstrate their learning about history, identity and community. Students will leverage themes and ideas introduced by the range of primary and secondary sources as well as the unit’s anchor text, Born on the Water.
Small groups collect at least four artifacts on a chosen theme. Students can select from the following presentations of knowledge.
- Storyboard and script for a play/Vblog/podcast
- Infographic
- One-page reflection
Students will also discuss and provide their responses to the essential questions:
- How are these artifacts reflective of me?
- How is my history reflected in the curated artifacts?
- What does it mean to be a Long Beacher, and how do I fit into this larger community?
- How do the sources explored in this unit help us understand Long Beach's history and your story/place in it?
- How can I positively impact my community? How do my story and our community connect to what it means to be an American?
Performance Task Evaluation
A rubric [.pdf][.docx] is used to assess the summative performance task
History-Social Science Content Standards for California
United States History 11th grade:
11.11: Students analyze the major social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American society.
12.7: Students analyze and compare the powers and procedures of the national, state, tribal, and local governments.
12.10: Students formulate questions about and defend their analyses of tensions within our constitutional democracy and the importance of maintaining a balance between the following concepts: majority rule and individual rights; liberty and equality; state and national authority in a federal system; civil disobedience and the rule of law; freedom of the press and the right to a fair trial; the relationship of religion and government.
Key Ideas and Details
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.2
Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.9
Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.7
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.8
Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.9
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Formative Tasks
Cultural Bag Activity
Students created a digital cultural bag exploring their culture. The outside of the bag highlights pictures, symbols or words representing how most people see them (stereotypes) and the inside of the bag highlights pictures, symbols, and words representing what people don’t see in them–what’s on the inside (culture and identity).
Long Beach Origin Story Interview Assignment
Students interview an older family member or a community member about how they became part of the Long Beach community. After their interviews, students wrote a short reflection on what they learned and how they became part of the Long Beach community.
Performance Task: Uplifting Our Story Exhibit Examples
I think our project reflects the American motto because we came together as a group of many to collaborate on one theme, one assignment and one story. All of our sources came together to make a story that details what our environment and lives are like. I believe that we showed an understanding of how to demonstrate our "Long Beach Life."
LBUSD Student on the untold stories exhibit, taken from student written Response