TITLE: What is a neighborhood?

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GRADES: 11-12

• Language Arts
• Creative Writing

• Students will be asked to think about the neighborhoods in which they live. They will be asked the following guiding questions:
  • "What is a neighborhood?
  • "What is a community?
  • "What is the difference between a neighborhood and a community?
  • "What are the boundaries [borders] of Hallandale Beach?"
  • " What are the current issues their neighborhood may be facing.

• " Hallandale" By Robert McGoun
• the World Wide Web

• Students will:

1. Define: Neighborhood, Community, Demographics
   Neighborhoods are part of a larger civic body, the many parts make up an entire city. Neighborhoods have different characteristics, which evolve over a period of time. Some questions for discussion:
   
   • What is the difference, if any, between a neighborhood and a community?
   • What is the importance of a neighborhood?
   • What are demographics
   • Have there been large demographic shifts in who has lived in your neighborhood over the years?
   • What groups lived there and when?

2. Research: The History of Hallandale Beach, Florida
   Hallandale Beach, Florida was established in 1896 by Rev. Luther Halland, the son of the Reverend Bengt Magnus Halland of Stanton, Ohio. The younger Halland was the brother-in-law of James Edmundson Ingraham, general agent to Henry Morrison Flagler and the Florida East Coast Railroad. Ingraham persuaded Halland to found a "Swedish colony" along the lines of the Danish Colony in what is now kown as Dania Beach, Florida. Halland enlisted the aid of Olof Zetterland to promote settlement of the "large tract of the most excellent land for growing...fruits at cheap prices..." Halland set up a small trading post and became the colony's first postmaster.
   • Who was Henry Morrison Flagler?
   • Who was James Edmundson Ingraham?
   • Who was Julia Tuttle?
   • Who was Luther Halland
   • Who was Olof Setterlund?
   • Who was Matilda Gieges?
   • Who was Alvern Andren
   • Who was Charles Ericson?
   • Who was Carl Eliason
   • Who was Edwin Anderson
   • Who was John Larson, Sr.
   • Who was F.E. Rogero
   • Who was H.F. Ingalls
   • Who was C.E. Ingalls
   • Who was Ansel Saunders?
   • Who was J. W. Moffitt, Sr.?
   • Who was Frank A. Curci?
   • Who was Durand Searle
   • Who was Peter Timmons?
   • Who was B. F. James?
   • Who was Chester A. Moore

Ask students to think about the neighborhood in which they live. Assign a (minimum) two-page essay*, a poem*, a short story, a digital story* or photo essay, a sketch or a painting. (Starred items are required of every one.)

• Create a portrait of your neighborhood, using the following questions as a guide.
  • Describe your neighborhood.
  • Where is it exactly?
  • Who lives there?
  • Are there people of different ages and ethnicities?
  • Are there people who have lived there for a long time, any newcomers?
  • What do you like best about your neighborhood?
  • What do you dislike?
  • What parts of it would you want to keep or change?
  • What would be your ideal neighborhood?
  • What changes have you seen or do you see going on now in your neighborhood?
  • If there are changes going on in your neighborhood, such as development, or concerns about the environment, are your neighbors fighting for or against change?
  • Describe the issues that are being fought over.
  • What do you think of their struggle? Why?
  • What is an issue that would motivate you to join in a neighborhood cause?
  • Describe any organizations which have been created to assist people who live in your neighborhood with legal services, health care, or grassroots activism, etc.
  • What kinds of businesses exist in your neighborhood, if any?
  • Who owns the businesses? Are there banks, liquor stores, video stores, etc.?
  • How do these businesses impact the neighborhood in a positive or negative way, and why?
  • What kinds of transportation do people take in your neighborhood?
  • If there is no public transportation, such as buses, how do young people and the elderly get around?
  • Does public transportation serve your neighborhood well? Is it on time, convenient, clean and safe?
  • How do you get to school?

Community mapping:

• Students will map out a three or four block area around their home or school. They will label each business, who owns the business and for how long. Students will compare and contrast maps from different neighborhoods; or compare their map of the same neighborhood created by their fellow students.

• Find a familiar neighborhood personality, someone who has lived in your neighborhood for a long time, and set up an informal interview with them (an older family member is fine).
  • How long have they lived there?
  • What changes have they seen?
  • Do they think the changes are positive or negative?
  • Did they participate in the evolution of the neighborhood?
• Find someone who is new to your neighborhood.
  • What do they think about the neighborhood?
  • Why did they move into it?
  • Do they know any of its history?
  • Are they planning on staying awhile?

• Videotape
  
  • Students can make a video of the people they interviewed for the research exercise. Include footage of landmarks described in the person's story, or insert family photographs taken in the neighborhood.
• Creative Writing
  • Students can write poems, short stories, narratives, digital stories, songs and lyrics of their impressions of Hallandale Beach's history and people, their neighborhoods and experiences growing up in Hallandale Beach.
• Visual Arts
  • Students can sketch, draw, paint and photograph their impressions of Hallandale Beach's history and people, their neighborhoods and experiences growing up in Hallandale Beach.
• Web Design
  • Students can create or maintain web pages, blogs and digital portfolios of their multimedia impressions of Hallandale Beach's history and people, their neighborhoods and experiences growing up in Hallandale Beach.

This lesson addresses the following national content standards found in the McRel Standards Database: www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks.

Grades K-12:

Civics:
11. Understands the role of diversity in American life and the importance of shared values, political beliefs and civic beliefs in an increasingly diverse American society.

Language Arts:
Writing:
4. Gathers and uses information for research purposes.

Go to Lesson 3 & 4

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