The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum, Inc. and Northeastern University’s School of Education partnered together to expand the Courage Curriculum and build on the depth and structure of the “Courage in My Life” program. “The Courage of My Convictions” is the resulting ninth grade language arts curriculum, which serves to reinforce the ideas presented in the sixth grade curriculum, while examining the nature of courage and its connection to the use of social action to produce change.
The year-long program works to show ninth grade students in the Boston Public Schools and beyond that with careful and thoughtful responses, they can bring about change in the world around them. By framing Max’s story with an emphasis on how he and his family worked to unite a community around a specific cause, the students learn how they too are capable of such acts of courage.
“The Courage of My Convictions” replicates the structure and format of “Courage in My Life” (including the alignment with state and district learning standards as appropriate to the ninth grade) and was successfully piloted in four classrooms during the spring of 2006. Since then, it was been voluntarily adopted by teachers in Boston Public Schools and beyond.
Stage One: Max’s Story: Students will revisit Max’s story, with an emphasis on how he and his family worked to unite a community around a specific purpose. His positive attitude, as well as his actions that drew together the community, demonstrates to students how one individual can make a difference. Through discussions with classroom volunteers and teachers, these students make meaningful connections in their own lives and the world around them.
Stage Two: Novels and Discussion: Students will read two anchor texts, Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago by LeAlan Jones, Lloyd Newman and David Isay and Fences by August Wilson. Teachers may also elect to share additional texts that relate to the theme of “The Courage of My Convictions.” Students will write about and discuss a thoughtful selection of texts, varying in form and genre that explore a wide range of cultures and examine the nature of courage and how it may manifest in thoughtful social action to produce positive change. Students will identify specific traits in the characters they read about and what the outcomes of their examples were in bringing about change, participating in activities and assignments designed to improve writing and reading comprehension skills.
Each anchor text is accompanied by a comprehensive curriculum guide that will assist teachers in laying a framework for the development of strong reading, writing, and comprehension skills. These guides aid teachers in facilitating discussion of student experiences that draw personal connections to the subject matter of the reading materials. Students are encouraged to engage in art activities that reinforce the language arts program, further developing critical thinking skills through artistic expression.
Stage Three: Final Project: The culmination of “The Courage of My Convictions” is a final project that expresses both a critical understanding of the curriculum materials and the student’s authentic voice in sharing his or her convictions.
Each student will combine the written word and artistic expression to demonstrate their understanding of the effective use of communication to produce thoughtful and useful social change. We welcome students to make use of compelling outlets (artistic, technological, digital media), allowing them to be critical thinkers and effective communicators. Final projects may include writing a letter to a community leader about a specific community problem, orchestrating a discussion with family members about a specific concern, or designing a brochure to educate the community about an issue that affects their community.
The final projects will be displayed at a culminating event and each student, his or her teachers, and family will be invited to celebrate the students’ work and listen to a short program designed to reinforce the curriculum goals. Plans are also underway to publish an anthology of these works. While more difficult to measure, it is also hoped that the experience of visiting a college campus will provide opportunities for students and their families to think about and discuss pursuing a post-secondary education.
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Fences By August Wilson (Penguin Group, 1986) Troy Maxson is an angry man. He is an embittered ex-con who has built inner fences around his emotions that no one can cross. A proud and bitter man who was prevented by racism from playing major league baseball, Maxson is at fifty- three years of age a garbage collector. While his job allows him to successfully provide for his family, handling garbage represents for him a grim metaphor of his life. As he did during a bit in prison, he once again feels confined, and those who love him most, who depend on him most, suffer most for it. Through Troy Maxson, playwright August Wilson personifies the man who grew up during the heat of Jim Crow: first proud, hopeful, and passionate in expectation; then emotionally withdrawn and disillusioned from incessant battles with life. Wilson also masterfully illuminates both the strength that lies within community and the adverse impact of a psychology of inequality that devastates the African American male and, in turn, his family and relationships, potentially disintegrating that same community. |
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Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago By LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman, David Isay (Washington Square Press., 1997) When they were 13, Jones and Newman gained notoriety by telling personal stories of life in the poor, violent, and desolate world of Chicago’s Ida B. Wells Homes in the award-winning National Public Radio (NPR) documentaries “Ghetto Life 101″ and “Remorse: The 14 Stories of Eric Morse.” Drawing from more than 100 hours of tapes unused in the original broadcasts, the now 17-year-old authors, with assistance from NPR producer David Isay, have created a frank and provocative view of America’s minorities from the inside out and bottom up. Scrutinizing life in their poor South Side neighborhood through the experiences of friends, families, and teachers, the authors reveal how disenfranchised from mainstream America the ghetto has become. Jones poignantly states in the opening, “We live in a second America where the laws of the land don’t apply and the laws of the street do. |
