Download a PDF of this exercise

Subject(s): History, Theater, English  

Goals: Students will be able to:  

• Use examples from their knowledge and experience to support the main ideas of their oral presentation.  

• Evaluate the evolving and changing role of government.  

• Keep eye contact with the audience, adjust volume, tone, and rate, be aware of postures and gestures and use a natural tone.  

Show Connection:   

In Here’s the Deal, the students of the present and the figures of the past both come to terms with the concept that to survive and progress through tough times, collective action is needed. As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stated, “This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper…We now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we cannot merely take but we must give as well.”  

Resources:  

• The Common Good 

Set-Up:  

Divide the students into four groups of equal size in breakout rooms sessions that will take place later in the lesson. (We recommend dividing groups ahead of time for efficiency, an ability to focus on the exercise and to get to the fun as quickly as possible.)   

Label each breakout group as either a group focused on “Individual Liberty” or on “Collective Good.”   

Description:   

Part 1: Opening   

As a class, discuss “How does a society balance individual freedom with governmental power?” Resist the urge to give them definitive answers here. This is about them exploring open-ended ideas rather than locking down on anything at this point in the exercise.   

Send students to their respective breakout rooms. Each group has five minutes to produce a definition for their assigned concept (individual freedom or collective good) and three examples from day-to-day life of that concept’s application. Groups should be prepared to share their definitions and examples with the rest of the class.   

Bring the students back together and have each group share their definition and real-life examples of the concept. (Be sure to remind students that we are not here to argue if one of these concepts is better than the other. The two concepts need one another. )  

• Where and when does individual liberty take greater importance than collective good? The other way around?
• Is there more collective good or individual liberty in your home? At school? Your job?   

Part 2: Alien Invasion  

Introduce the following scenario to the students: Aliens have landed in 20 cities across the US and are demanding we give them half of all people under 25 so they can repopulate their alien planet.  

Send the students back to their respective breakout rooms. They now must create a compelling argument for their perspective (either individual freedom or collective good.) They must argue their stance before all of humanity – “Now is the time for us to work together!” or “Now is the time for each of us to fight our own fight!” Each group should use whatever tools they have with their classroom virtual platform to make the most convincing argument possible for their approach to the invasion.   

Once groups are prepared, close the breakout rooms and give groups the opportunity to share their persuasive presentations. As pieces are presented, discuss the merits and shortcomings of proposed arguments and sales pitches (both the substance of their arguments and the presentations of them)   

As a class, collaboratively create an “alien invasion response plan” utilizing elements of both the students’ “individual liberty” and “collective good.” The group must come to an agreement. You may propose something like this:   

We will know we our plan is ready for implementation when we have a five point (or five sentence plan) of attack for how we will operate in the world that finds a balance between individual liberties and care for the collective good.   

Discuss with students: “It took us a while, but I think we’re mostly content with this, right? We found a balance between caring for the individual and caring for the community in our alien invasion response plan. But – every time a community changes, every time a community is confronted with a new situation or problem, the balancing act between the individual and the collective must be renegotiated and rewritten. Why do you think this balance is so difficult to achieve?   

• This kind of compromise seems to be required when confronting every major issue in American history. (Reconciliation following the Civil War, affordable and accessible healthcare, and economic stimulus packages for those in need to name a few.) The process is always complicated and frustrating and sometimes never resolves itself. It can be a discouraging process; compromise rarely means you get everything you hoped for.   

• The US Constitution’s preamble suggests that we are working to ‘form a more perfect union,’ not an actually perfect one. Perfection isn’t possible. But the work of compromise, reevaluation, of caring for each citizen, will allow our nation to achieve a more perfect union.”   

Discussion:  

• What parts of your own life do you feel require constant compromise for better or worse? Where does compromise not exist in your life but wish it did?  

• Is it easier or harder to find compromises among larger groups? Why or why not?  

Download a PDF of this exercise

Subject(s): History, Theater, English  

Goals: Students will be able to:  

• Promote collaboration with others both inside and outside the classroom.  

• Exercise their agency as members of the classroom community.  

• Articulate their values for their community and make arguments in their favor.  

• Distinguish one’s own ideas from information created or discovered by others.   

• Demonstrate nonverbal techniques including, but not limited to, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and stance.  

Show Connection:   

In Here’s the Deal, Mrs. Day asks the students to make connections between their current situation and the situations that led to the development of the New Deal. Before any of us can make those kinds of connections, we must understand our current situation better.  

Resources:  

United States History Timeline  

World History Timeline

Set-Up:  

Divide the students into groups of equal sizes for breakout rooms sessions that will take place later in the lesson. (We recommend doing this ahead of time for the sake of saving time, focusing on the exercise, and having fun with the students.)  

Description:   

Part 1: Brainstorming It   

Using the chat feature on your remote learning platform, as a class brainstorm a list of notable events / instances / phenomena (political, economic, social, etc.) that students feel have left a distinct impression on citizens over the past six years. These could be historical events, passing fads, statements that people have said. Encourage students to get creative and really dive into the ocean that is their memory with this brainstorming session.   

• This number can be adapted to whatever best suits the needs of the classroom. This could also cover specific eras of history currently being studied, specific novels, characters etc.  

Using the chat feature (or a Nearpod collaboration board or a Padlet board), work together to brainstorm a list of specific emotions and states of being that you feel might best label some of the events. (Remind students that there is no right or wrong way to feel for any of the options listed in the first brainstorm. We all experience things in very different ways and no person’s emotional responses are invalid.)  

Part 2: Physicalizing It   

• Ask students to stand up and to find a spot in the room that gives them room to move.   

• The teacher then selects an event from the brainstorming session and one of the emotional responses to that event listed. Share what you’ve selected with the class.   

• Explain to the students that you will countdown to one. Once you hit one, the students should jump into a pose, like they’re a statue, that represents someone experiencing the selected event and emotion. Students should use their full body! (Feel it in your fingers! In your shoulders!) If students are not used to participating on camera, time for preparing with cameras off is encouraged. Do several rounds of this, regularly selecting new events and emotions.   

• If the group is comfortable with each other, you can ask half the group to pose while the other half observes and makes observations before swapping groups out.   

Part 3: Rehearse and Presenting It   

Once they have shown some improvement in showing their emotional responses physically, invite the students to take a seat.   

Instructions to the students may sound like this. “You will be placed in groups to take this to the next level. In these groups, I would like you to identify the five most important and impactful events from this list, the ones that you feel had a significant impact on American citizens over the past six years. As a group, choose five events and corresponding emotions and create a group pose for each of the five events. Each group will present their five poses to the rest of the class. Once you’ve completed your poses, rehearse transitioning from one to the next so you all remember the order. Finally, prepare a title for your presentation. The title should frame the era. What would you call the last six years of American history?   

Send each group into its own breakout room and give them time to prepare (we recommend 10-15 minutes.) Take time with each group to answer questions and to coach them. Things students should consider while preparing their presentations:  

• Physical relationships: How can you communicate who has the power in the image? Who is emotionally close? How do you accomplish that on a virtual platform?   

• Camera relationship: How does your proximity to the camera or other objects in your space affect the message of each pose? Would moving the camera to a different level communicate your message more effectively?   

• Authenticity: Do the poses feel emotionally authentic and respectful? Remember, these are real events that affected real people!   

Once groups have had sufficient rehearsal and coaching time, bring them back together into the main space. Review the criteria you are expecting each group to present.  

Have each group present their pose pieces. Discuss either after each group presents their piece or following the last presentation.  

• What did you see that you liked? What are you curious to learn more about? What do you have questions for regarding the moments and emotions chosen?  

Alternative(s):  

Students may also work as individuals on this exercise, creating their own personal poses.  

Instead of a series of poses, students may also create a short 10-line poem exploring the range of time in question. Each line of the poem should explore either a different “event” or state of being the population experienced.   

Discussion:  

• Do you feel that the present era has been “defined” in any way? If so, how do you think it has been defined? Is it possible for eras to have different definitions and “keystones” among different populations?  

• If you were to do this exercise but narrow the focus to just your own life, what moments / events / instances would you choose? What emotions would you say typify your life and the moments that have made it up so far?

• In Here’s the Deal, characters are confronted with many things that students may find personally relevant. Virtual school, unemployment, financial uncertainty, questions regarding the nature of our nation. Which did you relate to? Did the characters’ responses to these crises feel authentic to you? Why or why not? Which of the events from the Posing Questions of an Era exercise seemed to affect these characters?   

• The playwright, Caleen Sinnette Jennings, repeatedly said during the development of the piece that she was struck in doing research on the Great Depression that 2020 wasn’t the first time that people thought the world was ending. How do you see that thought reflected in the piece? Is there hope in that view?   

• As noted in Here’s the Deal, when Marian Anderson sang “My Country Tis of Thee” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, she made a small but significant change to the text. “Of thee I sing” became “Of thee we sing” (emphasis added.) What does the change of “I” to “we” signify to you? What does it say to you about Ms. Anderson’s vision of America? What are our responsibilities to the collective nation as citizens?   

• Significant figures from the story of the New Deal are quoted throughout Here’s the Deal. What quotes stuck out to you as being particularly relevant?   

• The figures all quoted in Here’s the Deal were famous. How do you think quoting less famous, more everyday people may have changed the story?