Social Justice Unit 4

Reading and Writing Workshop

Unit Plan: Current Social Justice Issues and Challenges
Week 1: Racial Justice and the Black Lives Matter Movement
Topics:

• Systemic racism in policing, criminal justice, and education
  
• The rise and global impact of the Black Lives Matter movement
  
• The movement’s demands: defunding the police, reparations, and structural reforms
  

Public Domain Readings:

• W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/408
  
• Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23
  
• Ida B. Wells, The Red Record (1895) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14977
  

Activities:

• Analyze historical narratives on racial justice and connect them to contemporary movements.
  
• Compare early abolitionist and civil rights texts with Black Lives Matter statements.
  
• Discuss systemic racism in policy and propose action steps for reform.
  

Week 2: Economic Inequality and Poverty
Topics:

• Wealth disparity in the U.S. and its relationship with race and class
  
• The role of labor movements and the minimum wage debate
  
• The impact of economic policies on marginalized communities
  

Public Domain Readings:

• Karl Marx, Wage Labour and Capital (1847) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12743
  
• Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/140
  
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776) (excerpts) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300
  

Activities:

• Compare and contrast labor movements in the early 20th century with modern labor struggles.
  
• Debate policies such as universal basic income and the minimum wage.
  
• Research case studies on poverty and create community action plans.
  

Week 3: Immigration and Social Justice
Topics:

• Immigration policy and its impact on undocumented communities
  
• DACA, refugee and asylum seekers’ rights, and border enforcement
  
• The intersection of immigration, race, and labor exploitation
  

Public Domain Readings:

• Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45502
  
• Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus (1883) - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46550/the-new-colossus
  
• Theodore Roosevelt, True Americanism (1894) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50372
  

Activities:

• Discuss historical attitudes toward immigration and compare them to modern policies.
  
• Write personal narratives or poems inspired by immigrant experiences.
  
• Research the impact of labor exploitation on immigrant communities and propose reforms.
  

Week 4: Education and Social Justice
Topics:

• Disparities in public education, school funding, and educational outcomes
  
• The school-to-prison pipeline and its racial implications
  
• Movements for educational reform, equity, and access
  

Public Domain Readings:

• Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery (1901) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2376
  
• John Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/852
  
• Horace Mann, Report on the Massachusetts Board of Education (1848) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29637
  

Activities:

• Compare historical perspectives on education with modern debates on school funding.
  
• Conduct research on disparities in education and propose solutions.
  
• Create policy briefs advocating for education equity.
  

Assessment and Final Project:

• Weekly reflection essays connecting historical readings to contemporary social justice issues.
  
• Group presentations on policy solutions for systemic inequalities.
  
• A final creative writing project inspired by themes from the readings and discussions.
  

The following activities include AI tools that enhance student engagement, provide data-driven insights, and facilitate personalized learning. 
Week 1: Racial Justice and the Black Lives Matter Movement
Group Activity: AI-Powered Comparative Analysis of Racial Justice Narratives
Objective: Compare historical abolitionist and civil rights writings to modern Black Lives Matter statements using AI tools.
Process:

• Use ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com/) to summarize key arguments from The Souls of Black Folk, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and The Red Record.
• Analyze word frequency and patterns using Voyant Tools (https://voyant-tools.org/) to compare rhetoric across time periods.
• Use Google Gemini (https://gemini.google.com/) to summarize and contrast historical and modern civil rights activism.
• Create AI-generated reports, word clouds, or visual comparisons.

Public Domain Links:

• W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
• Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)
• Ida B. Wells, The Red Record (1895)

Individual Activity: AI-Generated Historical and Contemporary Parallels
Objective: Use AI to generate a fictionalized dialogue between a historical figure and a present-day activist.
Process:

• Use Perplexity AI (https://www.perplexity.ai/) to research key historical arguments from Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, or Ida B. Wells.
• Generate a conversation between one of these figures and a modern activist using ChatGPT or Character.ai (https://beta.character.ai/).
• Edit and refine the AI-generated content to ensure historical and contextual accuracy.

Week 2: Economic Inequality and Poverty
Group Activity: AI-Supported Debate on Labor Movements
Objective: Conduct a structured debate on economic policies using AI to generate arguments and counterarguments.
Process:

• Assign teams different economic policies (e.g., Universal Basic Income, minimum wage).
• Use Elicit AI (https://elicit.org/) to extract arguments from Wage Labour and Capital, The Jungle, and The Wealth of Nations.
• Generate AI-based counterarguments using ChatGPT or Claude.ai (https://claude.ai/).
• Use Google Bard (https://bard.google.com/) to cross-check AI-generated arguments with real-world economic studies.

Public Domain Links:

• Karl Marx, Wage Labour and Capital (1847)
• Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776) (excerpts)

Individual Activity: AI-Powered Economic Policy Briefs
Objective: Write a policy brief on economic inequality using AI-generated summaries and data analysis.
Process:

• Use ChatGPT to summarize key economic theories from Karl Marx, Upton Sinclair, and Adam Smith.
• Create economic visualizations using Tableau Public (https://public.tableau.com/) or Flourish (https://flourish.studio/).
• Use Google Sheets AI tools to generate predictive economic models based on historical trends.

Week 3: Immigration and Social Justice
Group Activity: AI-Assisted Immigration Policy Analysis
Objective: Compare historical and modern immigration policies using AI for text analysis.
Process:

• Assign groups different readings (How the Other Half Lives, The New Colossus, True Americanism).
• Use Voyant Tools to analyze key rhetorical trends in historical texts.
• Compare findings to current immigration policies using Google Gemini or AI-powered policy summaries from Elicit.
• Create an AI-generated timeline using Timeline JS (https://timeline.knightlab.com/).

Public Domain Links:

• Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890)
• Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus (1883)
• Theodore Roosevelt, True Americanism (1894)

Individual Activity: AI-Generated Poetry Inspired by Immigrant Narratives
Objective: Create AI-assisted poetry reflecting on immigrant experiences.
Process:

• Read The New Colossus and analyze its themes.
• Use Verse by Verse by Google (https://experiments.withgoogle.com/verse-by-verse) to generate a modern response poem.
• Edit and refine the AI-generated poem for authenticity.

Week 4: Education and Social Justice
Group Activity: AI-Driven Data Analysis of Education Inequality
Objective: Use AI tools to analyze disparities in education funding and outcomes.
Process:

• Read excerpts from Up from Slavery, Democracy and Education, and Report on the Massachusetts Board of Education.
• Use Google Public Data Explorer (https://www.google.com/publicdata/) to analyze education disparities.
• Use ChatGPT Code Interpreter (Advanced Data Analysis) to generate AI-powered graphs comparing historical and modern education data.

Public Domain Links:

• Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery (1901)
• John Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)
• Horace Mann, Report on the Massachusetts Board of Education (1848)

Individual Activity: AI-Powered Educational Reform Proposals
Objective: Draft a reform proposal advocating for equitable education policies.
Process:

• Use Google Scholar AI (https://scholar.google.com/) to research modern education issues.
• Generate AI-powered data visualizations using Flourish or Datawrapper (https://www.datawrapper.de/).
• Draft a 2-page proposal using AI grammar tools like Grammarly (https://www.grammarly.com/).

Final Project: AI-Assisted Creative Writing on Social Justice
Objective: Create a creative writing piece (fiction, poetry, memoir, script) inspired by themes from the unit.
Process:

• Use ChatGPT or Claude.ai for brainstorming and story outlining.
• Draft an initial piece and refine it using Hemingway Editor (https://hemingwayapp.com/).
• Submit a final version alongside a reflection on AI’s role in the creative process.

This unit plan integrates AI tools to enhance critical thinking, analysis, and creativity, while ensuring engagement with public domain works.