The Optimist Project Curriculum

Alignment to Nationally Acknowledged Social Studies Themes

Of the 10 themes identified by the National Council for the Social Studies  (www.socialstudies.org), the goals of this project align closely to the following:

1. Theme 2-Time, Continuity, and Change: Through the study of the past and its legacy, learners examine the institutions, values, and beliefs of people in the past, acquire skills in historical inquiry and interpretation, and gain an understanding of how important historical events and developments have shaped the modern world.
2. Theme 4-Individual Development and Identity: Personal identity is shaped by family, peers, culture, and institutional influences. Through this theme, students examine the factors that influence an individual’s personal identity, development, and actions.
3. Theme 5-Individuals, Groups, and Institutions:
   Institutions such as families and civic, educational, governmental, and religious organizations, exert a major influence on people’s lives. This theme allows students to understand how institutions are formed, maintained, and changed, and to examine their influence (NCSS, 2010).

Project Description:

This multi-week intensive trek through history in Williamsburg, around VA, and our nation’s historic sites allows students to investigate a variety of groups as they came together across history in the region. Students explore historic encounters through the lens of integrated threat theory and develop their leadership skills through Appreciative Inquiry, youth activism, and other leadership frameworks. The culmination of the program is a student-developed project in which students use newfound knowledge and skills to address integrated threats and promote positive interactions.

 

"The most important thing I learned during TOP was ITT, and the Virginia history"                                                                                                                                                                               - TOP Scholar

Goals:

1. Using integrated threat theory as a lens of analysis, students will explore sites of tension and conflict in American history, with a focus on the Virginia colony and the state of Virginia.
2. Using integrated threat theory as a foundation, students will recognize contemporary individual and group threats and develop strategies for promoting positive integrated relations.
3. Using a variety of frameworks, students will understand conflict and develop leadership and activism capacity to address integrated threat. 

Objectives:

1. Become familiar with terminology
2. Use protocols to analyze images and documents.
3. Examine and understand a model of integrated threat theory that demonstrates the cyclical nature of antecedents and consequences
4. Explore a variety of historical integrated encounters to identify sources of threat
   1. The Settlement at Jamestown
   2. Bacon’s Rebellion
   3. The American Revolution
   4. Labor Movement
   5. Women’s Movement
   6. The Movement for Civil Rights
5. Narrate historical events through the lens of integrated threat
6. Understand the need to research outgroups
7. Generate strategies for finding commonalities