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All grades  Project 9 weeks

Neighborhood Voices Unplugged

Joseph S
Updated
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.7
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.5
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.5
+ 11 more
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The Challenge

You are often handed simplified stories about neighborhoods through headlines, crime statistics, tourism narratives, or algorithmic summaries that leave out history, culture, institutions, and lived experience. As AI tools increasingly mediate how you research and interpret place, inaccurate, incomplete, or unverified information can reinforce stereotypes, distort public understanding, and weaken trust in whose knowledge counts.

Challenge Question

How might we create and present accurate, well-sourced TED-style stories about Chicago neighborhoods so that peers, staff, and invited community guests can better understand the lived realities of the young people who call them home?

Standards

  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1 - Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11—12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.1 - Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9—10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.6-8.7 - Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.5 - Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.9-10.5 - Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7 - Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
  • [Computer Science Teachers Association] 1B-IC-20 - Seek diverse perspectives for the purpose of improving computational artifacts.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.7 - Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

Competencies

  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.
  • Academic Mindset - Students establish a sense of place, identity, and belonging to increase self-efficacy while engaging in critical reflection and action.

Learning Partners and Clients

aiEDU supports the project’s AI literacy strand by providing the “Agency with AI” lesson sequence that students use alongside their neighborhood storytelling work. YOUmedia at the Harold Washington Library serves as a creative learning partner and possible presentation support space for drafting, revising, and polishing public-facing TED-style talks. Special Collections at the Harold Washington Library provides access to archival and local history resources that help students research their neighborhoods with stronger context, evidence, and source credibility.

Phase Overview

Phase Key Experiences
Discover
I can map my neighborhood story through memories, images, and discussion, then identify how stereotypes, missing perspectives, and unverified AI summaries can flatten the real experiences of people who live there.
Examine
I can generate focused questions about how my neighborhood has shaped my identity and what stories about it are often missing or misunderstood. I can gather evidence from credible sources, library archives, and local media to learn how my community is represented and where those representations fall short. I can conduct an interview or collect firsthand observations so my TED-style talk includes lived experience, not just secondhand information. I can compare human sources and AI-generated information, verify claims, and decide which evidence is accurate enough to include in my research dossier and script.
Engineer
I can develop a clear, evidence-based TED-style talk script and slide deck that combine my research, interview insights, and personal perspective into a truthful story for a public audience while using AI to support my thinking without replacing my voice or judgment.
Do
I can rehearse my talk with peers, collect feedback on clarity, credibility, and impact, and use that real-world response to revise my delivery, evidence, and digital media before presenting.
Share
I can share my TED-style neighborhood story with peers, staff, families, and community partners, explain how my research and judgment shaped what I chose to say, and reflect on what I learned about my voice, my community, and my responsibility as a storyteller.