Spark

Lesson 1: Building Background Knowledge: Understanding Segregation

30 min

California CCSS: Focus Standards

California CCSS: Supporting Standards

ELD Standards

Student Lesson

Lesson 1: Building Background Knowledge: Understanding Segregation

Student Learning Objectives

Content

Students will investigate the topic and Essential Questions of the unit before engaging in a gallery walk about segregation during the times of the Civil Rights Movement.

Language

Students will use domain-specific vocabulary and evidence-based language to describe, infer, and connect ideas from images and texts while discussing the Essential Questions of the unit.

Essential Question

How does storytelling become a tool for civic change?
What is civic memory, and what responsibilities come with remembering?

Connections to

Knowledge-Building:

Students will build knowledge of segregation during the Civil Rights Movement.

Enduring Understanding:

Civic change occurs when personal stories become shared memory and collective action, showing how testimony shapes what societies choose to remember and how those memories influence what they build next.

Future Lessons:

In Lesson 2, students will be introduced to the core text and the Showcase Performance Task. In Lesson 3, students will engage with new sources related to the Civil Rights Movement and prepare to start reading the core text.

Unit Performance Task:

Introduction to the topic and Essential Questions of the unit.

Lesson Pacing

Lesson Flow	Purpose of Learning Experience
Learning in Action30 Minutes	Part A: Introducing the Essential Questions (SL.8.1.b) Students will be introduced to the Essential Questions of the unit. Part B: Seeing Segregation (RI.8.1, RI.8.3) Students will engage in a gallery walk about segregation during the times of the Civil Rights Movement.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary Addressed in Lesson

civic:: related to a community and how people participate in public life, including rights, responsibilities, and how decisions are made (laws, voting, government, and community action)
segregation: the practice of separating people into different groups and keeping them apart in schools, neighborhoods, public places, or services—often by law or policy
discrimination:: treating someone unfairly because of who they are (such as their race, gender, religion, disability, or background), including denying equal opportunities or rights

Material List