Curriculum Units

This page contains links to all curriculum units written by National Fellows from Richmond.

2022

Eric Lindley, The Chemistry of Ocean Acidification and its Impacts on Marine Ecosystems
Andrew Maples, Film as a Site for Education and Resistance
Amy McIntosh, “Do you see me?” “I see you.”—Identity and Activism in Black Art
Bradford Pearce, Teaching Writing through Films: A Visual Exploration of Identities
Valerie J. Schwarz, There’s No “Space” Like Home
Stephen Straus, American Imperialism in Latin America: Territory Expansion, Trade, and Immigration
Emily Turner, The Alien in Your Backyard: Using Exoplanetary Science to Explore the Ecosystems of Earth

2021

Taryn Coullier, Stardust Students-Our Class Cosmos of the Stars
Emma Kessler, Racial Inequities in Public School Today: Reflecting on Failures of Brown V Board
Tara McCrone, A Nation of Dreamers: Examining American Immigration and Race through Esperanza Rising
Joanna Minott, Beyond the Rainbow: Investigating the Characteristics of Stars
Karen Mullins, Artist in Action: Examining the Activism of James Weldon Johnson and Augusta Savage
Valerie J. Schwarz, Human-Centered Design of Biotechnology: Where Will We Be without Bees?
Stephen Straus, John Lewis: Examining the Past to Inform Understandings of the Present
Kaitlin Waldron, Giving Voice to the Silenced

2020

Ryan Bennett, Building a Heat-Resilient Community in Richmond, Virginia
LaKendra Butler, Biodiversity in Pocahontas State Park: Being Caretakers with Wildlife Corridors
Taryn Coullier, “Faces in the Frame: More than a Narrative”-The Lives that Frame the True History of the United States through Primary Sources
Sabrina L. Evans, We Are Family: The Importance of Community through an Exploration of Johnathon Upper Elementary Schools
Danielle R. Houdek, Who is in Charge Here?: Examining (in)visibility and Cultural Context of Jim Crow Era Monuments in Elementary Art Education
Andrew Maples, Rhetorical Inquiry Through the Lives of Douglass and Truth
Tara McCrone, Friend or Foe: Human Impact on the Earth’s Ecosystems
Valerie J. Schwarz, What Does a Camel and Vaping Have to Do with Public Policy?

2019

LaKendra Butler, Pen to Paper with Alexander: The Writing Process for No Good, Very Bad Days
Taryn E. Coullier, Grade Level Gavel Student Court: Justice for All
Joseph A. Jackson, Transfer of Energy through a Food Chain
Valerie J. Schwarz, Measuring All Around, Inside and Out: A Unit about Perimeter and Area
Dennis Williams, II, From Polyominoes to Planters: Using Manipulatives and Project-Based Learning to Explore Measurement
Trisha Williams, Geometric, Classroom Object Calculations

2018

LaJuanda Bland, Place Value Meets Multiplication: Utilizing Place Value to Comprehend Multiplication
Angela Brown, A Church Hill: The Birth, Death, Revival But What About the Children?
LaKendra Butler, From Prince to King: Black Panther in Text and Film
Nina Ford, The Spirit Task: African Americans Reclaim Power through Art and Poetry
Elizabeth Mullin, Reflections Upon Reflections: Ekphrasis as Self-Exploration in Middle School ELA
Rodney Robinson, Understanding the System: A History of Prison and the Virginia Juvenile Justice System
Valerie J. Schwarz, Endangered Species, De-Extinction and MANipulation

2017

Irina Alekseeva, Mathematics as a Language of Symbols
Gilbert Carter, Jr., Helping Struggling Readers Build Math Understanding through Word Problems
Yolanda Bezares-Chavez, In Their Own Images
Stevara Clinton, The Power of Extracts
Shannon Foster-Williams, From Panel to Pen: Using Greek Mythology to Create Graphic Stories to Enhance the Writing Process for Young Learners
Tharish Harris, Finding Me, Knowing You: Exploring and Expressing Identity through Language Arts
Valerie Schwarz, Understanding Problems: Using Bar Models with Common Core Taxonomies

2016

Josh Bearman, What is Our Energy Past, Present, and Future?
Danielle Greene, The Constitutional Crisis of Indian Removal
Tharish Harris, Stick to Your Story: Fleshing out Existing Narrative Structures
Valerie Schwarz, Get Charged Up: The Past, Present and Future of Electricity

2015

Melissa Anderson, Creating a Culture of Critical Thinkers in the Mathematics Classroom: Reducing Dependency on Key Words
Jeanne Callahan, Richmond’s Divisive Monuments: A Look into One City’s Debate over Public Art, Memory, and History
Christina Cancelli, Fate or Action: Character Agency & What the 21st Century Student Gains from The Merchant of Venice
Shannon Foster-Williams, The Visual Art of Writing
Libby Germer, A Public History of Public Housing: Richmond, Virginia
Tarie Pace, Recombinant DNA Technology and Global Health
Sobeyda Rivera, Lights, Camera, Action! Reading Children’s Literature through Film in the Spanish Classroom
Valerie Schwarz, Jim Crow, Civil Rights, and the Integration of Schools

2014

Christina Cancelli, Re-tweet This: Personal Branding through Social Media is the New Rhetoric of Persuasion
Minerva Jackson, Developing Mathematical Minds – Learning Fractions Through Career and Technical
Rajendra Jaini, Protect My House: Developing a Family Over the Counter Drug Dosage Chart
Stephanie Muller, Don’t Fear the Symmetry: The Poetry of William Blake
Sobeyda Rivera, The Cultural Move: Impact of Mexican Migration on Today’s American Food
Rodney Robinson, Pain to Pride: A Visual Journey of African American Life in 19th Century Richmond, VA
Valerie Schwarz, A Gardenful of Microbes
Rachel Stayton, Eloquence and Authenticity: Who Are You and Why Should I Listen to You?
Kimberly Towne, Making Art Against the Odds: The Triumph of Edmonia Lewis

2013

Taylor Davis, Understanding Character Development Through the Use of Autobiography
Whitney Davis, Giant Reading with The BFG
Kenya Lawrence, Mathematics of Energy Efficiency: Use Less, Save More
Kimberly Towne, One Starfish at a Time: Combining Animals, Art, Literature, and Community Service
Christen Schumacher, Real American: Making Literature a Means for Displacing Native American Stereotypes
Valerie Schwarz, Invisible Richmond: The History Behind the Urban Landscape

2012

Joy Beatty, The Resiliency of the Black Family
Sarah Boyd, An Introduction to African American Participation in Citizenship
Adam Canning, What the Founders could not have Known
Amanda Davis-Holloway, Seussology: Moral Parables and Consumer Culture
Georgia Karns, Inquiry in the Middle School Classroom: Students as Watershed Stewards
Stephen Lewia, The Down-Low (DL) on High Blood Pressure
Valerie Schwarz, Caution! Drug Diffusion Underway: Using Inquiry to Understand How Drugs and the Body Interact
Chantea Wright, Hungry for Knowledge: Using The Hunger Games to teach American Principles of Citizenship

2011

Shamsu Abdul-Aziz, Symmetry and Fractals in the Lungs
Joy Beatty, The Other Side: Experiencing Cultures through the Eyes of My Students
Amanda Davis-Holloway, Strange Fruit: An Exploration of Imagery and Socio-politics of Post-Katrina New Orleans
Rajendra Jaini, Survival Chemistry: Using Everyday Things to Create Energy and Drinking Water
Sarah Keisler, Making Friends with Characters: Exploring Friendship through Literature
Rodney Robinson, The Hip-Hopcracy of America
Valerie Schwarz, Fractions: Building a Strong Foundation Based on Conceptual Understanding

2010

Shamsu Abdul-Aziz, Geometry and the Real World
Holly Banning, American Biographies: Lives Transformed by Literacy
Yolanda Bezares-Chavez, Art and Poetry of the Afro Mestizos
Ram Bhagat, Nanotechnology and Clean Water: How Safe Is Our Drinking Water?
Chante Givens, From the Thoughts of Another: Comprehension through the Genres of Poetry
David Probst, To Persuade or Not to Persuade: The Makings of a Persuasive Speech
Valerie Schwarz, Teaching Principles of Evolutionary Medicine through a Historical Lens
Dean Whitbeck, Connecting to Community: Biography and the Digital Age

2009

Holly Banning, Embracing the Frumious Bandersnatch: Sound, Rhyme, and Nonsense in Poetry for Young Children
Shelley Freedman-Bailey, Memory Boot Camp
Rajendra Jaini, Using Green to Catalyze the Changing of The World
Patricia Kite, Cinderella: A Cross-cultural Story
Lynn Pleveich, Civil Rights: Massive Assistance Resuscitated
Valerie Schwarz, Teaching Ecology Principles through the Study of an Ecosystem
Kimberly Towne, Art is Not Just in the Eye of the Beholder But in the Brain

2008

Emily Betts, Eat to Live: The Connection between Food, Digestion and Diabetes
Ram Bhagat, Eat, Drink, and Be Wary: Recognizing Toxic Chemicals in Foods and Beverages
Shelley Freedman-Bailey, Learning by Mistakes-Bridge Failures
Sarah Kiesler, Take Your Best Guess: Exploring 1, 10 and 100
Valerie Schwarz, Taxes, Rebellion, and the Birth of a New Nation
Jesse Senechal, Our Spiritual Strivings: Understanding African American Identities in a Conflicted American Democracy
Kimberly Towne, To See or Not to See? A Visual Approach to Identity in Shakespeare

2007

Emily Betts, Solar energy: Using Carbon Dioxide from the Atmosphere to Produce a Viable Fuel Source
Ram Bhagat, Beyond The Atom: Interpreting the Origin of the Elements
Clary Carleton, Blade Runner Redux: Teaching a Sci-Fi Meta-Art Classic
Yvette Carter, Latino Children’s Folk Music: A Series of Thematic Writing Exercises
Cathy Kinzler, Using a Mystery Novel to Encourage Pleasure Reading and Imaginative Thinking
Valerie Schwarz, Dr. Word Problem – Solving Word Problems with the Four Operations Using Singapore Bar Models
Kimberly Towne, Portraits of Places: Maps and Art from the European City View to the Aboriginal Dreamtime Paintings

2006

Clary Carleton, Women in World Cinema: Stories of Struggle and Resistance
Cristian Koshock, Native American Traditions and Identity in the Art Room

2005

Clary Carleton, Looking Forward: Whitman and the Creative Spirit in American Poetry
Carolyn Clark, Discovering Self through Poetry