Agenda

Larry O’Dell will provide historic context to the settlement of Oklahoma, which will help define its interesting political history. Though the transfer of political power from one party to the other, he will explore the elections and circumstances that defined politics into the 21st century.

​​What might historical land and demographic data tell us about life in the Greenwood neighborhood, before and after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre?

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma was a thriving, all-Black neighborhood with a central commercial district known as “Black Wall Street.” There, businesses and people flourished; Greenwood was home to a hospital, two schools, several churches, hotels and movie theaters, a library, scores of restaurants, and two Black newspapers.

Over the course of 48 hours in May of 1921, a group deputized by the Tulsa Police Department and working in coordination with the Oklahoma National Guard interned an estimated 6,000 people in three camps, looted and burned 35 city blocks to the ground, and murdered approximately 300 of the neighborhood’s residents. This is the most deadly & destructive instance of racial violence to take place in US history (second only to the 1919 Elaine massacre in Arkansas). New evidence suggests that the attack on Greenwood was motivated by a greed for land, and not—as previously theorized—sparked by an encounter between a Black man and a white woman, or a simple act of mob violence.

In partnership with the Victory of Greenwood and Tri-City Collective, Tulsa’s Code for America Brigade is using mapping, land record, city directory, and census data to tell a fuller picture about life in the Greenwood neighborhood before—and after—the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. For the first time, historical datasets will be cross-referenced to create a comprehensive map of historic Greenwood, showing the area’s growth, destruction, and rebuilding.

"How did we get here?"

This session will feature the new education trunk developed by the Oklahoma History Center Education department. The focus of the trunk is the different groups that live in Oklahoma and their migration journeys. The Migration and Oklahoma trunk addresses numerous Oklahoma State Social Studies Standards for several grade levels. We will cover the different elements of the trunk and how they can be incorporated into the classroom.

What are the needs of LGBTQ+ students? Who or what influences the culture of a classroom? How do we advocate in times of social unrest?

Teachers know the importance of creating culturally responsive classrooms. Students learn better in environments where they feel safe, welcomed, and allowed to be their authentic selves. This holds particularly true for LGBTQIA+ students. Creating a brave classroom space can be difficult, particularly for teachers who are beginning their own journey of allyship.

Explore National Geographic’s Giant Map of Oklahoma. Engage in multiple activities to teach map skills and content. Consider how Oklahoma’s population has migrated over time. Propose options for dividing the state into electoral districts.

NOTE: Participants should be sure to have socks to wear on the map.

REFERENCES: https://geocivics.uccs.edu/stateresources/oklahoma

What instructional strategies can be used to promote inquiry in the geography classroom?

There are a number of academic benefits for students and teachers which can be accomplished purely by giving time and space in the classroom for students to have conversations. When student conversation is an integrated part of the learning, students get practice working with one another, they get practice being accountable to others, listening, sharing their ideas in ways that others can understand, and working together to make decisions (Gillies, 2016; Resnick, Michaels, & Connor, 2010; Gibbs, 2006). During this interactive professional development participants will dive deeper into ways they can encourage inquiry in the geography classroom. Participants will be actively engaged in a variety of strategies as facilitators model the implementation of inquiry focused instructional strategies in the classroom. Participants will then connect how these strategies can be embedded in the Geo-Inquiry Process. By the end of this session participants will have instructional strategies they can readily implement into their classroom to encourage inquiry.

Participate in an overview of the GeoCivics website and resources. Discuss materials for the Oklahoma webpage. Learn about the online Flashes of Insight activity. Prioritize redistricting criteria using Flashes of Insight cards from Draw the Lines PA (also available in Spanish). Discuss your choices in small groups and share your rationale with your colleagues.

NOTE: If possible, a personal computer would enhance this session.

REFERENCES:

• Flashes of Light exercise

• GeoCivics: Prioritizing Districts

• Ballotpedia: redistricting in Oklahoma

If democracy is so important in the United States, why has democracy never been promoted as a model for U.S. classrooms?

The democratic classroom is not (U.S.) American democracy writ small. The (U.S.) American attempt at democracy is the democratic classroom writ large. Every classroom presents the opportunity to demonstrate what is called "deep democracy."

Discuss the history of communities and “communities of interest” in electoral redistricting. Determine how communities of interest are addressed in Oklahoma (e.g. historical precedents, economic and political interests). Draw your community using Representaable.org.

NOTE: A computer will be required for this activity.

REFERENCE:

• Representable.org

What are the pros and cons of a wildland urban interface? How does the wildland urban interface affect my local area? What can I do to inspire healthy solutions for local WUI issues?

Active citizenship meets the wildland! Students will utilize the Geo-Inquiry Process to understand the meaning, causes, effects, economic impacts, and environmental consequences of wildland urban interface. Learners will collaborate with community members to investigate local areas of impact, and generate an action plan to present to professionals in the field. This tiered lesson offers a unique opportunity to implement student ideas to influence positive change addressing the issue of wildland urban interface. Multiple subjects will be incorporated throughout this project.

Oklahoma voters are accustomed to seeing State Questions appear on their ballots, but how those questions get there often remains a mystery. This session explores the state's initiative petition process - how it works, how it could be made better, and the efforts to restrict it.

Introduce geospatial technology and discuss its importance to the redistricting process. Demonstrate resources related to practicing redistricting and gerrymandering. Provide an orientation to a variety of online open-source mapping tools using 2020 data that guide participants through creating electoral districts.

NOTE: A computer would be helpful for this activity.

REFERENCE: https://geocivics.uccs.edu/geography/geospatialtechnology

Does student-centered project-based learning more effectively motivate students to be engaged civically than the traditional teacher-centered model?

This session will explore how educators can transform their traditional teacher-centered lesson plans into robust student-oriented project-based learning experiences with the potential for being extended into ongoing civic engagement opportunities. The session will begin with a brief overview of how a student-oriented project-based model of curriculum development is better for the social studies classroom as it allows for a more robust delivery of critical thinking skills in ways diverse learners can equitably access. Session attendees will then be given an overview of an exemplar lesson plan – Planning for Sustainability – which addresses the rise of abandoned spaces in cities and towns across the nation. This lesson begins with a brief overview of the problem and then asks students to research the issue in a locale of their choice. The lesson culminates with encouraging the students to take what they have learned and apply it in their local community. Attendees will then be asked to brainstorm, either individually or collaboratively in small groups, how they can alter a traditional teacher-centered lesson and make it a student-oriented project-based unit with a potential for an extension into local civic engagement. Attendees will be walked through the process of developing this type of learning experience and leave the session with a student-oriented project-based lesson ready to use to get their students thinking about how to engage civically at the local level.

What strategies can we employ to reduce light pollution while promoting pollinator habitat health? How do these strategies differ at school, community, city, and state levels?

In this session, participants will be introduced to the topic of light pollution. The lesson presented is designed as a template to introduce the Giant Traveling Map of Oklahoma and provide examples of how this map may be used to enrich instruction in a variety of subjects including Science, Mathematics, English Language Arts, and Social Studies. The content presented in this lesson was selected as an illustrative example of how all subjects are used to understand a particular issue which impacts communities differently around the world and in Oklahoma. These lesson materials were developed in support of OKAGE's Geo-Inquiry project efforts.