II. High School Level Expectations for College Readiness– Ela B. High School Classroom Work

II.B2) Oral History Assignment

Codman Academy Charter School Expeditionary Learning Oral History

Classroom Experience: In the Justice-Injustice Expedition, stated student learning goals are: improved understanding of the concept of justice, heightened awareness of world justice issues, enhanced reading and writing; interview skills; public speaking and performance abilities. Students write personal autobiographical/reflective letters, a research report on a selected case of world injustice, an oral history write-up based on interview with local adult on his/her personal experiences of justice/injustice, an oral class performance (optional), and final reflections, all in a portfolio. Expeditionary classroom experiences include mini-lessons on skills and processes that precede “Studio time” (structured independent work time), field work (especially in the oral history project), collaborative learning group work, and differentiated instruction to meet the array of student profiles in the class.

Student Example of Oral History Write up on Justice/Injustice in South Africa: Impressions Everyone has first impressions. For example, I had a first impression about the South African Apartheid. At first, I was closed minded about the whole concept. I thought no one could have been treated worse than slaves. Now when I think about it, everyone who experienced the Apartheid was basically a slave under laws of bondage. The whole Apartheid system was a harsh movement to try to benefit the population's white minority. When I actually got into the studying South African Apartheid I wanted to listen to an eye-witness of this treacherous system. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to interview a young lady who experienced the Apartheid at its peak. Now, when I was thinking about interviewing someone, I honestly thought it was going to be an elder. When I actually saw this person I was surprised to see that she was young. She looked like she had to be no more than 25 years old. She had on a short black skirt with heels and a nice black shirt. I was wondering to myself: How can this young lady have experienced the horrors of the Apartheid? Needless to say, she had suffered from the Apartheid. In fact, when she told me her story I felt a great deal of empathy for her. Every single word she told me had a specific effect on me. At times during the interview it was graphic but what’s the point of being lied to when there is truth out there. When I was done with the interview I had to honestly sit back and think to myself. First I had to think about what she had she just told me. Next, I had to think about life in general. Lastly, I had to think about whether I believed in miracles or not.

Nobantu Mabuza’s story On March 23, 2005 I interviewed an eye-witness of the South African Apartheid. My interviewee’s name was Nobantu Mabuza. Nobantu was born in Botswana, a Southern African nation which is right above South Africa. She described to me that she was born right at the peak of the Apartheid in 1980. She explained, “this is when serious violence was

1 taking place.” When I got all of her background information I asked her, “How did the Apartheid affect your family”? Then, Nobantu told me a profound story about her sister. She told me, “The day my sister got shot was June 16, 1986. I was about 6 years old at the time. It was about 8:00pm when the police were raiding the borders of neighboring countries. My parents were targets because they were politically active. I was asleep and the last thing I remember was my mom and my aunt in the kitchen cooking a meal. When I got up I walked into the kitchen to find my aunt shot in the head. I saw my cousin crying telling her to wake up. Then, I walked into my parents room and saw my sister laying there, shot seven times. Then, when I turned around, there was a soldier standing right there in my face. I saw the gun in my face, but the solider let me go. They let me go by which was really weird. If the government had found out that he let me go, he would have gotten into serious trouble.” I thought it was real brave of Nobantu to tell a story about her family’s horrors with the Apartheid. I honestly don’t know how anyone could have the strength to tell a story they been suffering from their whole life to an absolute stranger. Nobantu explained to me how her life was. She said it was “screwed up” because she didn’t have many friends. Her mother didn’t like for the kids to have company because she didn’t like a lot of people in her business. She said she was exiled from many countries and was always moving. Nobantu realized at one point that while she was growing up, “[her] mother was scared, so she was trying to protect her kids”. She said it was rough for her parents being politically active. Her parents didn’t like telling the kids much, but Nobantu still didn’t have much of a childhood. Nobantu had a special perspective on the whole Apartheid system. She felt it was one of the worst systems anyone could have created. She explicitly said that the system was only made for the minority. The majority had to suffer while the minority got more and more richer. I asked Nobantu how did the government enforced the Apartheid? She went step by step to explain it to me. She said, “The government kept everyone in fear. They also had all the weapons. Then, the government would give a little then take it back. Next, the government didn’t supply the majority with any resources. Lastly, they kept Blacks detained.” The multi-step process Nobantu went through made me realize that the South African government basically didn’t want the lower class to have anything. Nobantu broke it down and said, “If you weren’t black, you were treated well.” She explained how there were no interracial marriages. In fact, if anyone found out that her parents had had an interracial marriage they would have been killed. I asked a hypothetical question: If a black man whistled at a white women what would happen? She told me that the man would be thrown into jail. However, if a white man molested a black-woman nothing would happen to him. Further, if they had a kid it would be accepted. great deal about myself. However, if a white-woman had a child by a black man it was considered obscene and the child would be disowned. As the conversation came to an end, she began to talk about Nelson Mandela. She said she seen him in person and he was completely wonderful. She said Mandela doesn’t believe in vengeance. He thinks there is no point. She told me he teaches his people not to do what the Afrikaners did to blacks. She also said Mandela taught his people about forgiveness and tolerance, the key concepts of life. The interview as a whole was an inspiring one and taught me a great deal about myself.

2 Reflection After the interview I had a lot of thoughts running through my head. I asked myself “how can people be so cruel.” I learned many things from the interview. First, I realized how quickly people judge one another without even knowing them. It just reminds me of all the injustices in the world that we must fight against everyday. For example, every day I’m faced with problem after problem and most of them come from people’s prejudgments about me. Next, I noticed that no matter where you are in the world you can still experience pain as well as happiness. This is true because in order to receive happiness you have to go through pain, and sometimes happiness causes people pain. So, both aspects works against each other. Lastly, I learned that there is not cure for racism; the only medicine to prevent any outbreaks is reconciliation. I also remember three specific moments. The first is the way my heart trembled when she told me the story about her sister. I also remember her pausing for a moment to recollect the past when she was a child. It’s like she was wondering why she missed out on so much as a child. Then, she came back to reality. This moment stand out for me because it makes me think about the difference between Nobantu’s and I childhood and mine. Lastly, I remember her trying to find an answer to why she didn’t die on that tragic day of June 16, 1986. I realized that anyone can say, “You don’t know what I've been through” because injustice comes in many different forms.

ELA Framework: Guiding Principles 1,2,4,7,9 ELA Standards 2.5: Summarize in a coherent and organized way information and ideas learned from a focused discussion. 3.17: Deliver formal presentations for particular audiences using clear enunciation and appropriate organization, gestures, tone, and vocabulary. 11.5: Apply knowledge of the concept that the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, and provide support from the text for the identified themes. 19.26: Write well-organized essays (persuasive, literary, personal) that have a clear focus, logical development, effective use of detail, and variety in sentence structure.

For related information, see: Section IIA. High School Syllabi and Course Outlines - II.A2) Grade 10 English-Experiential Learning - Course Objectives

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