After the social injustice occurrences this past summer, The New School took it upon themselves to educate our students on the history to gain a better understanding of what is happening in our country. You could see our students learning about slavery and injustice all over the school. From Julie’s book club to Miranda’s read aloud, our school was tying social injustice to other subjects and adapting the material to all of our students. During the Slave Trade unit, students had the opportunity to broaden their horizons and gain a more intellectual understanding of what events led to today. We first examined the geography of the slave trade, learning the places involved and what they needed. Students labeled a map with the continents names, the items being swapped, the Atlantic Ocean and the Middle Passage. This provided necessary background as we move forward. We then examined drawings from the slave trade and sought to determine what was happening in the drawing, what made the student say that and what else they were able to find. These images raised the question of just how credible the drawings were and if they really happened. Thus led to our next lesson on Primary and Secondary sources. Students learned the differences of both, sorted between them and came to the conclusion that many secondary sources are created from primary sources. Additionally, coming to the realization that some things can act as both a primary AND secondary source. From there, the students looked at data from the slave trade. Examining amounts of boats, people and what years this was happening. We closely studied graphs of this data to gain a better visual and understanding of the numbers. This was perhaps our best lesson as students got a strong feel for the years that the slave trade took place in correlation to the amount of ships sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. Furthermore, I think there were many misconceptions the students had that were resolved by studying data and graphs of the slave trade. Finally, wrapping the unit up with slave rebellions, and what those were like. Students thought critically about these topics and asked phenomenal questions like “How do we know if this is credible?” and “Does something like the slave trade still exist today?”. We also examined how difficult these rebellions were, and the differences between passive and active rebellions. This critical thinking led to a positive and intellectually rewarding unit of study.