Equality Today

Using the text of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech as a launching point, Ms. James's sophomore Integrated English and History students explored the effort of African Americans to achieve equality during the Civil Rights Movement. Synthesizing what they learned about discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s, participating students were encouraged to apply their knowledge by demonstrating how a contemporary minority group or portion of the population in America today continues the struggle to achieve equality.

To develop their digital stories (short films), participants worked in teams, first collaborating to convert their research into scripts they would record as voiceover tracks. Next, they sourced relevant digital imagery to illustrate specific details and perspectives concerning their chosen topics. Finally, they created titles, worked with transitions, chose music to set the appropriate tone, and experimented with special effects to complete their films.