Tenth-grade students at DuSable High School used graphic organizers to activate and pool their prior knowledge about American life in the 1960's, from politics to fashion and entertainment.
These sample organizers (a grid and Venn diagram) were produced in teacher Gwen Hurt's English class, but the interdisciplinary unit involved up to 25 teachers and covered all content areas. For social studies class, the students interviewed faculty members about the era. In music, they learned the songs and dances of the 60's, while in science, they investigated early space travel.
The students worked cooperatively in small groups, brainstorming and using the diagrams to organize their prior knowledge, research and writing. The teachers held a brainstorming session of their own to generate ways to encompass all subject areas.
THE GRID
The 60's
written Dec. 1, 1992
| Civil Rights Legislation | Leaders | Entertainment | TV/shows | Organizations | Literature | Fashions/ Style |
| Brown v. Board of Education | Dr. King | Sammy Davis, Jr. | Nat King Cole | Black Panthers | Raisin in the Sun | Bell Bottoms |
| Supreme Court AL Buses | Malcolm X | Elvis Presley | Gun Smoke | SCLC | Nigger | Beehives |
| Civil Rights Act 1957 | John Kennedy | Johnny Carson | Andy Griffith | Operation Breadbasket | In Cold Blood | Afros |
| Civil Rights Act 1960 | Jesse Jackson | Temptations | Diane Carol | SDS | Hair | Platform Shoes |
| Civil Rights Act 1964 | Dick Gregory | Jimi Hendrix | Rifle Man | Freedom Riders | Roots | Mini-skirts |
| Civil Rights Act 1968 | Robert Kennedy | Beatles | Leave It To Beaver | NAACP | To Kill A Mockingbird | Dashiki |
| Supreme Court Birh. Segregation Legislation | Mayor Daley Sr. | James Brown | I Love Lucy | SNCC | Soul On Ice | Lovebeads |
| Voting Act 1965 | John Kennedy | Jackson 5 | Ed Sullivan Show | The Nation of Islam | The Sound of Music | False Eyelashes |
| School Segregation Laws | Elijah Muhammed | Diana Ross | American Bandstand | MFDP | Grease | Body Paint |
| Cival War Segregation Law | Thurgood Marshall | Stevie Wonder | Andy Griffith Show | KKK | DuSable Panthers the book | Go-go Boots |
VENN DIAGRAM
The class created the Venn diagram to show commonalities and parallels between the 1960's and the 1990's, despite the passage of two decades. Americans in both generations, for example, experienced wars on foreign soil (the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War) and confrontations with foreign leaders (Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein).