Term

Fall 2018

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAEd

Facilitator(s)

Trish Harvey

Content Expert

Tom Goetz

Abstract

The research question addressed in this project was, how can teachers integrate absent narratives into their Manifest Destiny curriculum to better understand the experiences of people of color? It documents one teacher’s reasons for modifying a Manifest Destiny and Pre- Civil War unit in a mainstream, high school-level curriculum, that incorporates absent narratives of people of color negatively affected by American expansion. The author documents through research that many curriculum textbooks and standards do not adequately mention what happens to people of color when the U.S. takes over territory through expansion. The author includes research related to why absent narratives are important to any curriculum, putting it in the context of Critical Race Theory and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy as essential to understanding the experiences of people of color throughout history. Following the Understanding by Design curriculum process by Wiggins and McTighe, the redesign is based on students creating an artistic representation that showcases what they have learned in class and through their own research on how a certain group or groups became disadvantaged as a result of the U.S. achieving its goal of extending from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans. The author concludes that it is possible to successfully implement absent narratives into Manifest Destiny curriculum and beyond to allow students to better understand the experiences of people of color. While there are limitations related to curriculum time constraints and standards, it is in every educator’s best interest to integrate absent narratives where and whenever possible.

Project Type

Curriculum

Keywords

Curriculum, Teachers/ Teaching

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Projects

Included in

Education Commons

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