Chicago Neighborhood Time Travel

Learning Goals & Products

Learning Goals

Students will be able to analyze Chicago neighborhood maps, archival photos, and oral histories to identify how development and displacement have changed place over time and shaped community identity.

Students will be able to determine and use key historical and civic vocabulary about segregation, migration, preservation, redevelopment, and displacement when discussing Chicago neighborhood change.

Students will be able to investigate firsthand evidence from Chicago residents, artists, or Architecture Center partners to understand multiple perspectives on a threatened neighborhood space.

Students will be able to synthesize evidence from texts, images, and interviews to define an evidence-based problem statement about a threatened Chicago neighborhood landmark or public space.

Students will be able to ideate and prototype multiple preservation responses for a Chicago neighborhood story, selecting an approach that best matches community needs and audience response.

Students will be able to test and refine a neighborhood preservation prototype using feedback from peers, community members, or partners and justify design revisions with evidence.

Students will be able to describe how culture, traditions, and history influence personal and audience responses to neighborhood stories presented through art, media, or theatre.

Products

individual

Chicago Neighborhood User Research Portfolio and Evidence-Based Prototype Sketch

Each student creates a research portfolio showing firsthand user evidence from a Chicago neighborhood investigation, then turns that evidence into an individual prototype sketch for a preservation response. The artifact must clearly show how the student’s design idea responds to specific community needs and feedback.

team

Community Preservation Proposal and Testable Neighborhood Story Experience

Teams combine individual research and prototype ideas into a shared problem statement and a higher-fidelity preservation solution for an authentic Chicago audience. The final package includes a presentation-ready prototype or service experience with an explanation of how user evidence shaped each design decision.

Rubric

Competency Progression Rubric Competency-first rubric

Category	Learning Goal	Emerging	Developing	Proficient	Applying
Diverse Perspectives	Situating my perspective	I can identify the facts that I may hold about a given circumstance. Project-specific: I can identify the facts I already know and the facts I need to learn about a neighborhood, story, or art piece, using evidence from reliable texts, images, maps, or interviews.	I can identify the facts, assumptions, and biases that I may hold about a given circumstance. Project-specific: I can explain the assumptions and possible biases behind how I currently interpret those facts, and I can use grade-appropriate vocabulary to describe social, cultural, or historical aspects that shape meaning.	I identify the facts, assumptions, and biases that form my perspective on a given issue/circumstance and analyze relationships among them. Project-specific: I can identify how specific facts, assumptions, and biases connect to form my perspective, and I can analyze how different accounts (print, multimedia, or theatre/art examples) emphasize different details.	I identify the facts, assumptions, and biases that form my perspective on a given issue/circumstance and analyze them for oppressive or exclusionary elements (e.g., racism, homophobia, etc.). Project-specific: I can evaluate how my assumptions and biases may exclude or oppress others, and I can revise my perspective by naming what perspectives or cultural histories are missing and how that affects my response to the work or place.
Cultures	History and culture	I can recognize the core differences between cultures and, using historical methods of inquiry (primary sources etc.), explore their development across time and place. Project-specific: I can describe how culture and history shape how people respond to art, using evidence from a few accessible primary and secondary sources (e.g., photos, excerpts, or short accounts) to explain differences across time and place.	I can use multiple sources to build interpretations of past events and identify and categorize complex cultural concepts (assimilation, adaptation, acculturation, enculturation, diffusion, and dissonance). Project-specific: I can use multiple sources to build an interpretation of cultural change over time and identify how cultural concepts (such as assimilation, adaptation, enculturation, diffusion, and dissonance) appear in a neighborhood or community story.	I use historical methods of inquiry and locate and analyze multiple sources and cultural concepts to explore and explain how culture and cultural systems function. Project-specific: I can use historical methods of inquiry to locate, analyze, and synthesize evidence from varied sources (print and multimedia) to explain how culture and cultural systems function, including what details each medium emphasizes and why.	I apply historical methods of inquiry to build and defend interpretations that reconstruct the past, and draw on my historical knowledge to make informed choices and decisions in the present. Project-specific: I can apply historical methods to reconstruct and defend a well-supported interpretation of how culture and history developed, and I can use that understanding to make informed present-day choices about preserving or representing community stories and spaces.
Cultures	Global connections	I can define global connection and interdependence. Project-specific: I can define global connection and interdependence by explaining how people, cultures, and histories across the world influence my community’s neighborhoods, stories, and perspectives.	I can classify the effects (social, economic, political) of global connections (trade, migration, treaties) at the local, national, and international levels (world societies and regions). Project-specific: I can classify how global connections (like migration, trade, or international policies) create social, economic, and political effects at local, national, and international levels, using specific examples and key vocabulary accurately.	I investigate and assess the costs and benefits of global connection(s) and tension(s) between national interests and global priorities by thinking systematically about personal, national, and global decisions. Project-specific: I can investigate and assess the costs and benefits of global connections and tensions by making a clear, systematic claim about how different decisions affect people and places locally and globally, including in arts/drama concepts and personal responses.	I apply historical and cultural concepts and knowledge in addressing and evaluating critical issues such as peace, conflict, poverty, disease, human rights, trade, and global ecology (e.g., habitat destruction, invasive species, declination of population densities, pollution). Project-specific: I can apply historical and cultural concepts to evaluate critical global issues (such as peace, conflict, human rights, poverty, disease, or ecology) by connecting evidence to how culture, history, and power shape character choices, audience perspectives, and my community preservation proposal.
Cultures	Social groupings	I can define my social groups (e.g., ‘race’/ethnicity, nationality, indigeneity, gender, class, sexuality, geography, age, disability/ability, migration status, religion) in relation to my community, society, and the world. Project-specific: I can define the social groups I belong to (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, class, geography, religion, disability/ability, migration status) and explain how at least one group connects to my community’s identity and everyday life.	I can define, organize, and connect my social groups and others in relation to my community, society, and world. Project-specific: I can define, organize, and connect my social groups and others by using key vocabulary about social groupings, then describe how these groupings influence who is seen, heard, or remembered in a neighborhood or community.	I identify and articulate the complex differences between and across varying groups within a community, society, and the world. Project-specific: I can identify and articulate complex differences between and across varying social groups in my community and society by comparing multiple accounts (print, multimedia, or images) and explaining which details each account emphasizes and why.	I analyze complex differences and idiosyncrasies between multiple world cultures to better understand how and why they came to be. Project-specific: I can analyze complex differences and idiosyncrasies between multiple world cultures and social groupings, then use cultural and historical context to explain how those perspectives shape people’s responses to art, stories, and dramatic characters.
Building Empathy	Understanding others' viewpoints	I can attempt to identify the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of people with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities with whom I interact. Project-specific: I can attempt to identify what different people (with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities) might think, feel, or experience about a neighborhood’s change, and I can name at least one clue from a story, photo, map, or artwork that supports my guess.	I can ask questions in order to attempt to describe the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of people with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities with whom I interact. Project-specific: I can ask focused questions to help describe what different people (with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities) think, feel, or experience about a neighborhood’s change, using key vocabulary from readings (e.g., culture, tradition, history, migration, preservation, redevelopment) when it fits.	I use a process of inquiry (questioning, research, interviews, etc.) in order to attempt to describe the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of people with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities with whom I interact. Project-specific: I can use a process of inquiry (such as reading multiple accounts, comparing media, and conducting respectful interviews) to describe what different people (with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities) think, feel, or experience, and I can explain how culture, traditions, and history shape those responses.	I apply a process of inquiry (questioning, research, interviews, etc.) in order to capture and amplify the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of people with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities with whom I interact. Project-specific: I can apply an inquiry process to capture and amplify multiple viewpoints (with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities) by selecting relevant details across sources and using them to inform my artistic/dramatic choices or community presentation in an authentic, evidence-based way.
Diverse Perspectives	Collaborating across difference	I can collaborate with people who have diverse perspectives and backgrounds. Project-specific: I can collaborate with people who have diverse perspectives and backgrounds by sharing my ideas and listening to others during group discussions and drama/planning activities.	I can discuss differences with people who have diverse perspectives and backgrounds. Project-specific: I can discuss differences with people who have diverse perspectives and backgrounds by using respectful language and explaining how culture, history, or community experiences shape different viewpoints in our work.	I collaborate with people who have diverse perspectives and backgrounds in order to improve outcomes. Project-specific: I can collaborate with people who have diverse perspectives and backgrounds in order to improve outcomes by using evidence from readings, maps, oral histories, or interviews to adjust our dramatic concept, character, or preservation proposal.	I engage and actively look for ways to collaborate with people who have diverse perspectives and backgrounds in order to improve outcomes. Project-specific: I can engage and actively look for ways to collaborate with people who have diverse perspectives and backgrounds in order to improve outcomes by inviting feedback, integrating multiple accounts of a topic, and proposing next steps that better reflect community stories and cultural context.
Navigating Power	Race and identity	I can identify something I have learned about race and/or other identities that impact power dynamics of a given social situation/context. Project-specific: I can identify something I have learned about race and/or other identities that impacts power dynamics in a social situation (e.g., whose voices are treated as more credible or whose needs are prioritized).	I can identify something I have heard about race and/or other identities that could be impacting the power dynamics of a social situation/context. Project-specific: I can identify something I have heard about race and/or other identities that could be impacting the power dynamics in a social situation by using evidence from a text, story, video, or conversation.	I analyze how dominant narratives about race and/or other identities are impacting the power dynamics of a social situation/context. Project-specific: I can analyze how dominant narratives about race and/or other identities are shaping power dynamics in a social situation by explaining which details are emphasized or left out and how that affects people’s experiences.	I analyze how dominant narratives about race and/or other identities are impacting the power dynamics of a social situation/context, and how I might respond to that in order to reduce inequity. Project-specific: I can analyze how dominant narratives about race and/or other identities are shaping power dynamics in a social situation, and I can describe how I might respond (in my words, choices, or art/theatre work) to reduce inequity and create more authentic inclusion.
Cultures	Cultural difference	I can recognize and/or describe the cultural and linguistic likeness and difference between world cultures. Project-specific: I can describe how cultural traditions, history, and everyday language shape how people experience and respond to art and places differently I can use grade-appropriate vocabulary to name similarities and differences I notice between cultures.	I can distinguish and connect sub units of historical, linguistic, and social likeness and difference between world cultures. Project-specific: I can distinguish how specific cultural perspectives and social contexts (e.g., political or economic conditions) influence what details are emphasized in different accounts of the same neighborhood or topic I can connect those likenesses and differences to my own observations and responses using accurate terms.	I analyze and synthesize the nuances and complexities of historical, linguistic, and social interactions and intersections between world cultures to help others understand, appreciate, and relate to other cultures. Project-specific: I can analyze how cultural difference connects to history and power by synthesizing evidence from multiple sources (text, images, oral accounts, and/or media) to explain nuanced perspectives I can use new context and culture-specific understandings to shape and justify my choices in drama, artwork, or design in ways that help others appreciate and relate.	I apply my understanding of world cultures to advocate for my community or a community other than my own. Project-specific: I can apply my understanding of cultural difference to advocate for a community space or group by presenting a clear, evidence-based message that reflects both my perspective and the cultures involved I can incorporate culturally authentic elements and explain how traditions, history, and context influenced my artistic/dramatic choices and intended impact on an audience.
Community Advocacy	Self and injustice	I can describe how to be an upstander for myself and others when faced with exclusion, prejudice, or injustice. Project-specific: I can describe how to be an upstander for myself and others when I notice exclusion or unfair treatment, using respectful language and clear examples from what I have seen or read.	I can be an upstander for myself and others when I see exclusion, prejudice, or injustice. Project-specific: I can be an upstander by speaking up or seeking help when I see prejudice or injustice, and I can explain how culture, history, and social context influence how people respond to those situations.	I actively try to disrupt and stand up to exclusion, prejudice, and discrimination in my community. Project-specific: I actively try to disrupt and stand up to exclusion, prejudice, and discrimination in my community by proposing an action (or performance/story idea) that highlights whose voices are missing and why fairness matters.	I reflect on how I challenge exclusionary, prejudicial, and discriminatory local/societal practices, beliefs, and policies in order to grow the effectiveness of my efforts. Project-specific: I can reflect on how I challenge exclusionary, prejudicial, and discriminatory local or societal practices, beliefs, and policies by using evidence from multiple accounts (texts or media) to identify what worked, what didn’t, and how I will improve.
Logical Thinking	Contextualizing my perspective	I can tell a story of my lived experiences that is connected to an idea, challenge, or question about which I am thinking. Project-specific: I can tell a story of my lived experiences that connects to an idea, challenge, or question about my neighborhood, culture, or belonging that I am thinking about.	I can describe how my lived experiences are impacting my thinking about an idea, challenge, or question. Project-specific: I can describe how my lived experiences are shaping what I notice, value, and believe about the idea, challenge, or question I am thinking about.	I identify and analyze how my lived experiences impact my thinking about an idea, challenge, or question. Project-specific: I can identify and analyze how my lived experiences influence my thinking about the idea, challenge, or question by using evidence from specific details (including vocabulary about culture, history, race, or power).	I evaluate how my lived experiences impact my thinking about an idea, challenge, or question in order to interrogate my own biases. Project-specific: I can evaluate how my lived experiences impact my thinking about the idea, challenge, or question by interrogating my own biases and adjusting my perspective using evidence from multiple sources and cultural/historical contexts.