Critical Themes & Threads for Locally
Relevant Unit Topic Development (3 to 12
rd
th
grades)
CGCT has identified eight highly relevant themes and nine threads to build locally relevant curriculum around–especially for
meaningful teaching in communities of color and lower-income areas (grades 3 to 12). These themes and threads were
developed over a four-year period (2010 - 2014) through student surveying, community focus groups, pedagogical
framework development, and systems analysis. We sought to prioritize overarching themes that encompass everyday
realities, urban challenges, human needs, and root causes to symptomatic issues. CGCT will develop grassroots texts and
curricular resources for each theme while weaving through the nine threads into each unit. We invite you to join us!
Eight Critical Themes to Build Locally Relevant Curriculum Around
Theme Topics
Sub-Topics / Details (focus on local area)
Content Area Relevance
Land, Community,
& Housing
Indigenous Chicago, natural resources, urban planning,
housing, “ghetto” creation, public housing, community
struggles, displacement, gentrification, foreclosures
Education Systems,
Schools & Learning
schooling, education, learning purposes, curriculum
shaping, school design, funding inequalities, student
visions, privatization, school culture, discipline, testing
U.S. History, Urban Studies, Ethnic Studies,
Civics, Economics, Political Science,
Geography, World Studies / History
(Psychology)
U.S. History, Urban Studies, Ethnic Studies,
Civics, Economics, Political Science, Law,
World Studies / History (all subject areas)
(Im)migration
& Globalization
historical root causes (colonization, imperialism, labor,
wars, instability, economic policies-NAFTA), push / pull
factors, laws, family separations, effects, movements
Ethnic Studies, World Studies / History, U.S.
History, Urban Studies, Civics, Geography,
Economics, Political Science, Law
Labor, Industry
& Capitalism
Indigenous ingenuity, European industrialization, natural
resources, market capitalism, wage slavery, unions,
strikes, labor divisions, deindustrialization, global city
The Streets, Law,
& Criminalization
gangs, drugs, violence, crime, police, legal systems, prison
industrial complex, school-to-prison pipeline, justice, racial
profiling, prison labor, legal rights
World Studies / History, U.S. History, Urban
Studies, Ethnic Studies, Geography, Civics,
Economics, Political Science (also
Chemistry)
Law, Ethnic Studies, U.S. History, Urban
Studies, Civics, Economics, Political Science
Healthy Living
& Health Crises
roots and patterns of good health / poor health, healthcare,
drugs, food deserts, Western, Eastern and indigenous
health systems, environmental pollution, climate change
Health, U.S. History, Urban Studies, Ethnic
Studies, Civics, Economics, Political Science
(also Health, Biology, Chemistry)
Local Government,
Elections, & Policy
public service, ethics, government structures, political
machines, corruption, patronage, voting patterns,
ordinances, laws, programs, political donations, lobbyists
Political Science, U.S. History, World
Studies / History, Urban Studies, Civics,
Economics, Ethnic Studies (also Biology)
Culture, Media,
& Community
historic cultural developments, the arts (music, visual art,
poetry, dance, photo, graffiti), community cultures, mass
culture, media influence, popular media, art collectives
Mass Media, U.S. History, Urban Studies,
Ethnic Studies, Civics, Economics, World
Studies / History (also Language Arts)
Nine Threads Running Through Our Units (each thread varies in emphasis by unit)
What 9 threads run through our thematic units? What do they look like in our community? How can we incorporate
them into curriculum? As we think about our lives, we recognize we do not compartmentalize subject areas from our
realities. For example, we cannot divorce the math skills we use to pay our bills from the tough decisions we may need to
make simultaneously because we were recently laid off. To divorce the math from the tough choices (which bills get paid),
as well as the larger forces at play (for instance, we were laid off because the company moved overseas) undermines
Freire’s notion that we should “read the word” to “read the world.” In other words, academic skills provide the tools we need
to understand, analyze and change our lived experiences and realities. The nine threads that run through the thematic units
challenge teachers and students to think more broadly about how they might create interdisciplinary curriculum that makes
the various subject areas and academic skills relevant to students’ local, national and global communities. See table below.
Critical
Threads
Student
realities &
inquiry
Connection
making
Local &
global
analysis
Social
analysis
Economic
analysis
Political
analysis
Resistance/
justice/
community
upliftment
Health &
well-being
Defining the
Nine Threads
What Do They Look Like in the Community?
Examples in Curriculum?
Educators should understand the knowledge and
experiences students bring (know, think, feel,
experience). They should also explore students’
pressing questions relevant to their lives, families
and communities.
Students should come to see patterns &
connections by integrating academic skills and
disciplines (Language Arts, the Arts, Math, Science,
Technology, Critical Media literacy) as tools to
explore, analyze and take action on important
issues affecting their lives. Skills and disciplines
have a real-world application. They are relevant.
Students should develop an understanding of
Chicago’s communities from a local / global lens by
making connections & revealing patterns.
Students are best positioned to share knowledge about their
communities, including assets and challenges. They may have
additional questions though (why don’t we have grocery stores,
hospitals?) and these can become springboards for deeper
analyses and action.
Students can explore historical and contemporary immigration
patterns in social studies to see patterns and nuances. They can
read applicable literature like stories of migration in language arts,
use real data on immigration to learn percentages and/or to plot
graphs in math. They might also explore how artists represent
questions of identity and belonging in the arts (for instance
community murals and musical genres like corridos).
Students explore issues that are relevant in a city like Chicago
including gentrification and displacement, housing segregation,
unofficial redlining, historical restrictive covenants and demolition
of public housing. They might connect issues of contemporary
displacement with the historical removal of American Indians or
with global examples like the occupation of Palestine.
Some social issues include but are not limited to an examination
around systems of oppression like: racism (ex. racial profiling),
classism (ex. school “choice” based on where you live), patriarchy
(ex. violence against women), and heterosexism (ex. debates
around same-sex marriage).
Students might conduct an economic analysis of
employment/underemployment/unemployment in their
communities. They might analyze the debates over minimum
wage. Who benefits in keeping wages low? Who benefits in
raising them? They might also think about the controversies
regarding privatization policies and what happens when school
become privatized (operated by private entities as has happened
in Chicago and across the country)?
Political analyses in this area might explore the following
questions: How are laws/policies passed? How might seemingly
neutral laws/policies affect groups in different ways – for instance
drug laws? Why are Chicago wards constructed in particular
ways? How might ward boundaries empower or disenfranchise
different groups of people? What are the connections between
politicians and big business? Why does Chicago have a reputation
as a politically corrupt city? How do decisions made in Springfield
affect students’ lives in Chicago?
Historically, students might explore the 1963 boycott in which
200,000 CPS students protested CPS segregation policies. They
might study the Little Village Hunger Strike led in 2001 by
community members seeking the construction of a new school.
More contemporary, students can explore the recent work of
Chicago’s Anti-Eviction Campaign as they fight against
economically motivated evictions. They might also explore the
work of Kuumba Lynx, a hip hop edutainment program. Struggles
for resistance can also examine community murals or graffiti.
Students can engage in a study of the numerous threats to
physical health and well being today. These are many and include
environmental pollutants, the unhealthy food production of food,
food deserts, lead poisoning, etc. Students can examine who is
most vulnerable to these threats? Why? How can this be
changed?
Students should be able to conduct a systemic
analysis of social issues. These are ones that
affect society at large. They are complex,
multifaceted and intersect with other threads that
are of particular in CGCT curriculum.
Students should be able to engage in an in-depth
study of economic systems (capitalism, socialism,
communism), systems of production (industry) or
economic policies (privatization of government
regulated areas) that structure the allocation of
resources. Resources include money, land, and
labor.
Students should be able to explore political
structures of government, decision-making bodies,
the role of elected officials as well as examining
specific laws and policies.
Students examine struggles against colonization,
imperialism, slavery, and exploitation by single
organizations, as large social movements, or as
individuals fighting for justice. At the heart of many
struggles is peoples’ determination to: 1) Resist
and change unjust conditions, 2) Solve problems
through action and service to the community, or 3)
Maintain hope for a more equitable and humane
world in which everyone can get needs met.
Students conduct analyses of physical, mental,
emotional and psychological states of health and
well-being by exploring what it means to be healthy
and what is needed to live a healthy lifestyle (ex.
human healthcare needs). This thread includes a
reflection of the effects of all the categories above
on living organisms and eco-systems.