Students learned about advocacy to use their voice to fix societal problems. They used research methods to identify needs in their community by using data to back up their claims. Additionally, students will use their findings to find solutions that benefit the community as a whole.
Teacher: Paulina Colon-Gonzalez
Students: Students taking Spanish for Heritage Speakers II at T.C. Williams, Minnie Howard Campus
Driving Question: Why is it important to be involved in their community affairs?
Standards of Learning:
- SII.1 The student will exchange spoken and written information and ideas in Spanish.
- SII.3The student will understand basic spoken and written Spanish presented through a variety of media in familiar contexts.
- SII.11 The student will apply Spanish language skills and cultural knowledge in opportunities beyond the classroom setting for recreational, educational, and occupational purposes.
The 5Cs:
- Critical Thinking: Students explored the meaning and importance of advocacy through lessons that pushed them to think about societal issues at a local, state and national level. Then, students put what they learned into practice by creating posters that showed the community needs. Moreover, students wrote letters to officials in the City of Alexandria government asking for resources such as: stimulus checks, rent breaks, more PPE for the community, hotels for people diagnosed with the virus, etc.
- Collaboration: Students worked together to discuss ideas and come up with their ask.
- Communication: Students used written communication to create posters and write letters in Spanish addressing the issues they see in their community in regards to the COVID-19 virus.
- Creative Thinking: After learning the definition of advocacy, students contemplated and reflected on what their community really needs to move forward and combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Afterwards, they used their voices to ask for what they thought was needed.
- Citizenship: Students assessed the COVID-19 rates in Chirilagua, and after learning that the area (Z: 22305) was the 32nd most infected in the state, they came up with feasible solutions to be able to address to the city to ask for resources so community members could combat the pandemic with support.