Blank Slates: Creating an Understanding of Civil Rights
Blank Slates is integrated curriculum for third graders at Hoboken Charter School that infuses character education and teaches students about the multi-faceted concepts of community, responsibility, civic engagement, and diversity. Blank Slates, developed by a classroom teacher, is discovery-based and hinges upon student discussion, brainstorming and planning collaboratively. Students begin by developing an understanding of Civil Rights based on classroom meetings. During these group discussions, students have an opportunity to gain insight from character rich books read and writing reflections and poetry. In addition, students and their teacher participate in classroom skits depicting different scenarios of segregation and desegregation. In preparation for the mural, the students begin with a brainstorming session. On the board, the teacher draws a large rectangle representing the Blank Slate. She explains that the goal of the mural is to show segregation, desegregation and the prominent Civil Rights leaders. Next, the teacher records their ideas on the board for the content of the mural. She then scaffolds the children by helping them to create one cohesive focal point for the mural, which includes all of their ideas. For example, this year, the class focused on making a peace sign with fingers that interlaced into a heart surrounded by a timeline that depicted segregation and desegregation. The Civil Rights leaders held up the hands in the middle of the mural. The previous year, the visual for mural was completely different as that class started off with their own Blank Slate.