Articles for a Jigsaw Activity in 8th and 10th Grade

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By Christy Gill

After the curriculum fair, I decided to adapt the lesson about Tamir Rice to fit my 8th and 10th grade courses at H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program (APS).

I found articles relating to the media portrayal of black victims of racial violence versus white perpetrators of mass shooting as well as articles about "missing white women syndrome." I distributed the articles based on student reading levels and other knowledge of each child and they took notes on their different articles. I distributed to the students:

Then, in a jigsaw activity, students met in groups of 4-5 and each student shared information on a different article. Students then reflected on their learning about media representation of various issues.

Students were very engaged in the activity and had many relevant questions related to the content. Many expressed dismay when they learned about photos chosen in coverage of violent crimes and headlines describing assailants and victims of different races. Many students were interested, surprised, and pleased to learn how much the Black Lives Matter movement places emphasis on other aspects of identity and intersectionalism such as LGBTQ+ identities, dis/abilities, and religion.

My students come from a largely middle class demographic and found so much of this content enlightening, challenging, and thought provoking. Even students who were initially resistant found issues of agreement. Overall, this experience facilitated hard and good conversations about familiar yet difficult topics.

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