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AP Language class fills a void in required readings with an assist from U.S. History
— PALOMA TORRES ’20
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In Unit 2, “Building a Nation,” past years’ readings included pieces from settlers and early Americans, but none from Native Americans.
When English Department Chair Leandra Ferguson reviewed the readings for her Advanced Placement English Language class, she saw a big hole—and reached out to U.S. History teachers to help fill the void.
“If we are exploring what it means to be American, we want to make sure that we are learning from different perspectives,” Ms. Ferguson said. “We are really trying to diversify authors so we can look at common threads in our values.”
The English and Social Studies departments decided to create a dual unit. In English class students read a transcription of the oral Iroquois Constitution, which governed six Native American nations. They analyzed the use of metaphors in the document and how the Iroquois used both explicit and implicit language to express their philosophy.
Simultaneously, in U.S. History, the same students studied how the document and its democratic ideals influenced the U.S. Constitution, and how early settlers treated Native Americans. Their assignment called on them to research and explore the culture, philosophy and governing structure of a Native American nation.
“In my history class we took a very objective stance when learning about the tribes,” said Paloma Torres ’20, who reported on the Seminole tribe. She said the joint project showed her “multiple perspectives” about early America. “My history class explained what happened, but my English class explained why.”
Brenda Wilmore ’20 said she became so engaged with her research on the Gabrielino-Tongva tribe that she travelled to Cal State San Bernardino to attend a Native American Pow Wow celebration to enrich her research.
“It was very interesting and cool to experience a cultural event such as that, and I was able to learn more about multiple tribes, which was awesome,” she said. She was thrilled to speak with a tribe elder who told her that Tongvan women “stood up” to protest the Spanish enslavement of their people.
“The interdisciplinary lesson deepened her learning. “AP Lang helped me understand how to determine if a source is useful,” she said. “History helped me know what information to gather.”
