UNIT PLAN
Exploring Violence
Our students are bombarded with news coverage about violence. We as educators cannot change that no matter how much we would like to, but we can offer students the chance to unpack their thoughts about the world going on around them. Science proves that we heal by talking. It may seem counterintuitive to keep talking about violence in our classrooms when they are already being exposed to so many violent stories and entertainment. However, society owes it to youth to give them the opportunity to acknowledge, digest, and respond to past, current, and future trauma.
The thing is, are teachers prepared to include the topic of violence in their instruction? If we are not careful about how we deliver and talk about violent topics, then we could cause harm to our students. Teaching Tolerance provides a great resource called “Ending Curriculum Violence” which defines nonexamples of talking about traumatic events in history. It is our responsibility to add anti-bias teaching practices to our toolbelt regularly and reflect on whether we are utilizing those practices. I also believe in the importance of offering support to students who need to talk privately about their feelings regarding class discussions.
When looking at designing this unit, I want to allow different branches students can choose. There is the aspect of violence prevention that is vital to understanding how to improve the safety of everyone. There is also the sector of local violence. Students are dealing with events happening right there in the community. Teachers can provide a space for healing. And of course, there are the big stories that I call hot-spot violence. There is gun violence, police violence, self-harm, war, bullying, interpersonal violence, and more. Students will get to choose where they feel comfortable to learn more about.
My class will explore negative human behavior—determining how humanity connects to these tragic occurrences—while digging into their reading and media sources. They will look back in time, will look into the science of reaction, and critically think about present violence. It will be their choice about which type of violence to analyze, but the class will have time to reflect as a large group to decipher a common link if there is one. Along the way, they will be keeping a private log about times they felt anger, an avoidable emotion, and how they reacted. This self-reflection can be relevant to their lives as try to understand humanity in all its forms. The end-all-be-all is that violence is unavoidable, and our students are asking questions. And I do not blame them.
CALENDAR
RUBRIC
ASSESSMENT
DESCRIPTION
SELF-
EVALUATION
It was exciting to put an entire unit together so that I can refer to frequently for my future students. It is extremely helpful to plan out consecutive, scaffolding, and engaging lessons because it will be a crucial part of my instruction.
I feel that my strengths lie in the ability to be creative about curating a variety of meaningful activities. Because of my experiences in the classrooms so far, I have seen the difference it makes to put students’ interests as a priority. Instead of buying into the academic treadmill that we all know too well, I believe in providing spaces that highlight authentic real-world thinking.
I was also very particular about the texts I chose in order to spark participatory discussions. I plan to utilize resources like Newslea to offer different reading levels, but I also made it a priority to read aloud in class and offer time for students to read their assignments.
​
While I was working on this unit, I kept wondering how I could make the writing cycle better equipped to support students in each stage of the process. I knew that I wanted the culminating assessment to be founded in student choice, but I hadn’t anticipated on how to integrate the assessment in a productive way.
I also wonder if I am relying on verbal discussion too much, expecting all students to be auditory learners. My goal is to value all types of learning in my classroom while also cultivating a safe space for collaboration and transparency.