a woman at the “Touch My Hair” exhibit with a sign that says “What’s next my butt?”
Looking for a fresh and engaging way to teach your students about race? Why create your own Facebook page or twitter account when you can participate in ours?
Progressive Pupil’s Social Media Education Program expands knowledge about the history, culture and politics of Black communities, promotes community engagement and encourages collaboration between diverse communities concerned about racial discrimination. Its Facebook page and twitter feed are excellent learning and civic engagement resources for undergraduates in American studies, African American studies, ethnic studies, history, political science, sociology and women and gender studies courses. Social media content is supervised and curated by, Robin J. Hayes, PhD, a professor who specializes in African diaspora studies and social movements.
Each month the blog’s content discusses different topics as they relate to the African diaspora, including Black History Month (February), Women’s History (March), Wellness and Environmental Justice (April) and LGBTQ Pride (June). Here are just two assignment ideas:
“Like Progressive Pupil’s Facebook page and begin sharing posts your Facebook friends that you find interesting and informative. Take notes on the responses you receive. Write a 750-word essay describing the posts that impacted you and how your social network responded to them. How were your friends’ and families’ responses different from yours? Did their responses surprise you? Why? Why not?”
“Follow Progressive Pupil on twitter and keep track of posts with the hashtag #organizingworks. Choose a grassroots social movement organization mentioned by Progressive Pupil and create a 15 minute in-class presentation about the organization describing the social problem they aim to address, their methods and how you think they might improve their work.”
These ideas are just a start. Prof. Hayes and the rest of the Social Media Education team are happy to discuss customizing assignments to meet your curricular needs. To adopt Progressive Pupil in your Spring 2014 course and offer your students an opportunity for civic engagement, multi-cultural learning and writing skill enhancement, contact community@progressivepupil.org.
The Progress 
Camara Dia Holloway
/ December 17, 2013Reblogged this on ACRAH.
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