questions on the Freedom Riders

Examples of questions that they self-generated after learning about the freedom riders: -What would you do if you was a freedom rider? -Why did white people decide to be freedom riders? -Why didn't white freedom riders fight back? -Why did the police leave the freedom riders? -Where was MLK and Rosa Parks during this time? -Were they able to escape? -Why did they beat the black people up just coming in stores? -What was on the black minds with all these unequal rights? -Why are they called Freedom Riders? -Did the Freedom Riders know MLK? -Did that man help all the people off the burning bus? -Why did they burn that bus during segregation? -Why did the white people beat up another white? -Could white freedom riders fight back? -Why did they hate us because of the color of our skin? +I have a theory that as student knowledge of some content progresses, so does the average level of their questions on Bloom's Taxonomy. To test this out, I should ask them to generate more questions about the Civil Rights Movement when we're done studying it. +I wish they would ask deep questions about the overarching themes of the 1960's Civil Rights Movement, like how and why the activists used non-violent resistance, and what the advantages and disadvantages of this ethos were. Do I need to step in and just ask them this? Next time I teach this unit, I'll be sure to do a few lesson on Ghandi and non-violent resistance to build prior knowledge.