Applying the Four I’s of Oppression 

3-Hour Lesson Segment
U.S. History and Geography (11th Grade)
Constructed by Ryan Trammell

Ideological, Institutional, Interpersonal, and Internalized Oppression

Note: Please read through the “curriculum-thinking/rationales” behind this lesson before reading the hour-by-hour explanations.

About the Lesson & Learning Objectives

With this activity, I am hoping to introduce and develop the skill of applying a lens to what they are learning. In this case, the lens being The Four I’s of Oppression applied to the historical content we will learn throughout the year.

The majority of my students are BIPOC and are barely learning these concepts. They have experienced these concepts throughout their lives, but they are now putting a name to their experiences. I have a lot of refugee students who left countries in which they were targeted for religious, ethnic/national, and political reasons. The hope is that they will be able to relate to some aspects or maybe even sympathize/empathize with oppressed groups within society, including their historical experiences. The aim is to apply the Four I’s of Oppression to what we are learning, but also helping the students apply them to their own lives through critical reflection and self-realization.

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