Demonstrators march up Lake City Way as Nathan Hale High School seniors join with others to protest against racial inequality in the aftermath of the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd on their graduation day in Seattle, Wash., June 15, 2020. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson

Teacher's note: The lesson is meant to be modified for your classroom. Before teaching about race, consider the needs and culture of your classroom.

• From what starting place are your students approaching this conversation?
• Do your students feel they can trust you and each other?
• Prepare for uncomfortable moments. What will you do?
• How can you respect and protect students who may feel pressure to share personal or even traumatic experiences? Consider what personal risks students may be taking in sharing such experiences and prepare accordingly.
• How can you frame discussions of race in the classroom in a way that takes pressure off of BIPOC ( = Black, Indigenous, People of Color) students to speak on behalf of their communities?

Develop a plan for preparing students for difficult conversations. You may find

this guide

from Facing History and Ourselves helpful. You may also want to listen to—or have students listen to—this special segment on race from PBS NewsHour.

This lesson plan is designed with privacy in mind, so that students can reflect on their personal experiences without feeling pressure to share when they’re not comfortable. Your students may want to share with you, with each other or with another adult—facilitate this sharing in a safe and positive way.

Introduction:

In light of the death of George Floyd and protests for Black Lives, you have likely followed or engaged in conversations about race in America. These conversations may have been online, in the news, with family and friends or drawn from your lived experiences. Remember that people consume very different information and this will be part of the conversation.

A source of information that you may have interacted with are social media pages such as Black at Lovett. These pages allow Black students to submit anonymous reflections about the experience of being Black at their schools; the pages came about to support learning, change, healing and solidarity.

This lesson plan is meant to provide a framework to articulate your own experience, listen to the experiences of other students and reflect on your own community's experiences with race.

Subject(s):

Social Studies, English

Time:

80 minutes

Grade Level:

11-12

Objectives:

• To examine and discuss the impact of social media as a tool to expose institutional and individual racism.
• To use media literacy to consider the pros and cons of social media as an information source.
• To consider the role that school has played in students' understanding of race.

Before class, have students read and annotate this

New York Times article

, “High School Students and Alumni Are Using Social Media to Expose Racism.” Students should underline as they read and write down three main takeaways from the piece.

Materials:

Paper or a private journal that students can keep for themselves.

Warm-up activity: Main activity:

1. Go to this website to view the interactive series, “The first time I realized I was Black.” The series is based off of a passage from W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk” in which Du Bois describes an experience in his childhood that taught him he’d be treated differently because of his race.
2. Choose one or two short videos from the series to watch with your class [Warning: some videos contain the n-word or descriptions of painful events.]
3. Have students write in private journals for five minutes on one of the following prompts : [Disclaimer: These reflections should be private and students should understand they won’t be compelled to share their reflections with the class or teacher.]
   • Describe the first time you became aware of your race.
   • Describe a time in the last week that you were aware of your race.
   • How are your experiences similar to or different than the experiences described in the video(s) we just watched? Why do you think that might be the case?

Give students one minute to skim the article they read before class, “High School Students and Alumni Are Using Social Media to Expose Racism.” Ask for volunteers to summarize the article for the class.

Part I If there is time: review this EXTRA

1. Choose the questions that work best for your class and discuss:
   • Essential question: How is social media different from other platforms in the way information is shared about racial incidents?
   • Why do you think some of the things posted on pages like Black at Lovett had previously gone unsaid or unheard? What is it about Black at Lovett’s platform that allows these stories to be told?
   • The article mentioned that social media also allowed space for the racist “George Floyd challenge” to spread. What qualities of social media encourage or allow these types of spaces to exist?
   • Does someone who does a racist thing deserve privacy in relation to their actions? Why or why not? If it depends, what does it depend on?
   • How do schools provide formative experiences of their students’ understanding of race?
   • What are your school’s policies on racial discrimination and hate speech?
     • Are these policies effective and effectively enforced? If not, what could make the policies more effective? What are some things you could do to change your school’s culture and disciplinary system?
   • Media literacy: What are some barriers to access for social media?
   • How might you corroborate whether something you read on social media is truthful?

You may want to read this lesson plan on using social media for positive change.

Part II Debrief:

1. Assess the trust, energy level and emotional needs of your class; If appropriate, give students the option to spend 20 minutes browsing through Instagram pages such as Black at Lovett, Black at Chapin, and Dear PWI (PWI = predominantly white institution). Students might also look up a similar page relating to their current school or a college they’re considering attending.
2. In a journal, have students reflect on the following questions:
   • Which post did I react most strongly to? Why?
   • Where have I seen incidents like this happening in my own life? If I haven’t noticed these incidents, why not?
   • If a school isn’t featured often on a page like Black at Lovett or Dear PWI, does that mean that racist incidents don’t occur there?

Explain that stories about institutional and individual racism can be painful to hear about. Ask students what adults in their life they can reach out to if they need to; encourage them to talk to you if they’re unsure where to get support.

Extension Activity: This lesson was edited by EXTRA's education producer Victoria Pasquantonio and educator advisory board member Jean Darnell.

1. For homework, give students the option to write their own [private] passage in the style of Black at Lovett or Dear PWI about either:
   • A time when school provided a space for a positive learning experience in relation to race.
   • A time when they observed or encountered racial bias at school.
   • The passage should be 75-300 words. Consider: How did this experience affect how you felt at school? How did this experience contribute to your growing understanding of race?
   • If they’d like, students can submit their reflections to NewsHour Classroom by emailing vpasquantonio@newshour.org. Students can let us know the level of anonymity they’d like attached to their writing.
   • If students choose to opt out of this activity, have them work on activity 2 (below) instead.

1. Watch this video on young people using social media for positive change. Consider using this lesson plan. Discuss with your students: what are some ways you can think of to use social media for positive change in your community?
   • • Have students come up with a list of the attributes of social media (for example, they might say “easy to contribute anonymously” or “everyone can be a creator”).
     • Ask students to look at the list they made and brainstorm ways to mobilize those attributes for positive change (e.g. How can we make positive use out of anonymity?)

Carolyn McCusker was NewsHour Classroom’s intern before going on to work as Classroom's freelance assistant producer. She’s graduated with an English major at Amherst College and an interest in audio storytelling. Before coming to NewsHour Classroom, she worked at Connecticut Public Radio, New England Public Radio and tutored for Reader to Reader. This lesson was edited by Classroom's Victoria Pasquantonio, former history and English teacher, and Jean Darnell, NewsHour Classroom's Teacher Advisor, school librarian and English teacher,