The Mission

Educational Uses of The Mission

The Mission, the first program in this series, provides significant opportunities for learning - both inside and outside the classroom. "What could be more intriguing than exploring the history of a neighborhood?" says Carol Marquis, Past President of the California Council for the Social Studies. "The Mission provides students and their teachers with a colorful journey through history and tells a compelling story of people in a unique location."

Educators can use The Mission to explore historical, geographic and anthropological topics, as well as contemporary social science issues such as immigration, multiculturalism and urban studies. To help educators explore the rich historical materials, this resource guide provides lesson ideas for grades 4, 8, 9 and 11. (See pages 5 to 8.) The program may be recorded off-air for educational use by K-12 schools and kept in perpetuity.

Community groups, schools and families will find The Mission a welcome companion in journeying beyond the surface to discover our community's origins and culture, using the discussion questions and activities on page 10 as a guide.

We invite all viewers to rediscover our history, not as a series of dates and remote events, but as a continuing story that lives in the streets of every neighborhood and in the hearts of the people who were born there, or who left their homes to establish new lives there.

After viewing The Mission, we hope you can stand on a single street corner and tune in to the drumbeat of the original inhabitants, the voices of the early settlers, the screech of the streetcars and the whistle of the wartime factories with an enriched appreciation for the contributions of those who walked before.

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