Lesson Plan 2 - Building Background Knowledge
- 1. Tess McNamara TL525 LESSON PLAN: Building background knowledge of activism during Civil Rights Movement OBJECTIVES Content: SWBAT identify and explain a variety of viewpoints on segregation and racism from various key figures during the Civil Rights Movement/ from the surrounding historical context of The Help. Language: SWBAT extract the viewpoint and main idea from a historical text, and then summarize and communicate those ideas in writing, as well as in small-group and whole- class discussion. (Lesson Preparation) ASSESSMENT -Teacher will assess the quality and level of contributions from the class during the whole- class KWL chart activity. -Teacher will assess students’ summarization skills, verbal communication skills, and listening skills during whole-class KWL chart activity. -Teacher will collect student packets at the end of class to assess their responses while individually reading texts, and the information they gathered during small-group discussion. (Review & Assessment) CONNECTION TO STANDARDS STATE STANDARDS College & Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading 6-12 Key Ideas and Details, 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. Key Ideas and Details, 2. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. Craft and Structure, 4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
- 2. Craft and Structure, 5. Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter). Craft and Structure, 6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, 7. Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, 9. Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”), including how they address related themes and concepts. WIDA STANDARDS English Language Development Standard 1: English language learners communicate for social and instructional purposes within the school setting. English Language Development Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of language arts. WARM UP/DO NOW (Building Background, Lesson Preparation) Students complete a brief KWL chart in response to the following questions: -What are Jim Crow laws? How did they affect Jackson in the time of The Help? -What was happening with educational segregation in the south during the time of The Help? (Lesson Preparation, Building Background, Strategies) INTRODUCTION OF NEW MATERIAL 1. Students share responses of their KWL charts during whole-class discussion while teacher writes their responses on the board in a large KWL chart. (Interaction, Lesson Delivery) 2. Teacher explains when Jim Crow laws were written and why they were written. Teacher pauses for students to ask additional questions. (Building Background, Comprehensible Input) 3. Teacher explains reading jigsaw activity of the day: around the room are numbered folders containing multiple copies of different texts from the Civil Rights Movement,
- 3. many of which are primary source documents. The texts vary in viewpoints – some are written by or in support of civil rights equality, while some are written by racists, and others are written from an objective stance. Teacher clarifies what those three viewpoints mean and what types of text formats would be more likely to have certain viewpoints. (Building Background, Comprehensible Input, Strategies, Lesson Delivery) Teacher then walks around the room to each station and gives a brief overview of the texts’ authors, context, and stance on civil rights equality. Then, the teacher explains that students will be given time to read at least two of the texts – one of which will be individually assigned to each student, and the second of their own choice. (The individual text assignments are selected by the teacher with consideration of reading level and student interest.) (Lesson Preparation, Comprehensible Input, Practice and Application) The teacher distributes a handout to each student that lists their mandatory text at the top, and then a graphic organizer chart with guiding questions to answer as they read. After students have sufficient time to read the texts, they will then split into groups of four, also planned ahead of time by the teacher based on reading level and diversity/relatability of the assigned texts of those four students. (Lesson Preparation, Interaction) The students in the group will summarize the texts they read, their reactions to the texts, and then compare and contrast the ideas and the presentation of ideas in the texts. (Strategies, Interaction, Practice and Application) *Introduction of new material occurs during whole-class KWL discussion, and again when teacher briefly reviews the authors and contexts of each text. (CGUIDED PRACTICE 1. Teacher asks students if they have any questions about the activity directions. (Comprehensible Input, Lesson Delivery, Review and Assessment) 2. Teacher distributes handouts with graphic organizers and personalized reading assignment, but tells students not to begin yet. 3. Before allowing students to begin individualized reading, teacher uses projector to display a text excerpt similar to the ones that the students will read on their own. (Strategies) 4. Teacher asks student volunteer to read passage aloud while teacher replicates the graphic organizer that students have on their worksheets and draws it on the front board. (Interaction, Practice and Application) 5. In whole-class discussion, teacher facilitates by asking and explaining the questions, but then calls on students to share their responses to the questions in the graphic organizer. (Comprehensible Input, Interaction, Practice and Application, Review and Assessment) 6. To make the discussion interactive and to give the students more autonomy and
- 4. responsibility, teacher will establish a system in which each student is given a number (by having the students count off from 1 around the room). Then, the teacher will have a cup with numbered Popsicle sticks, each representing a student. After each student shares their response to the questions on the graphic organizer, that student will pull a Popsicle stick from the cup. The student whose number was pulled will then repeat the first student’s response in their own words and try to paraphrase their main point in a clear way. If the student was not paying attention or had a difficult time understanding the original student’s idea, then they may ask a friend to help them repeat the response’s main idea. After the main idea of the original student’s response is stated, then the teacher will write that main idea in the graphic organizer on the board. In addition to making the discussion interactive for all students and ensuring that all students remain engaged, it gives students an equal opportunity and responsibility to practice listening, to track the speaker, to practice oral communication skills, to articulate their thoughts, and to foster community building. (Lesson Preparation, Comprehensible Input, Strategies, Interaction, Practice and Application, Review and Assessment) INDIVIDUAL PRACTICE 1. Teacher asks students if they have any final clarifying questions before beginning the activity on their own. (Comprehensible Input, Lesson Delivery) 2. Teacher tells students to find their assigned text and read that one first. They do not necessarily have to read at their desks, so they may read on a spot on the floor if they prefer. (Teacher will always keep a storage trunk in the classroom with large pillows for students to retrieve and sit on for individual reading time if they prefer to sit on the floor with a pillow instead of at their desk.) 3. After ten minutes, teacher will give warning that students should be moving on to the second text if they haven’t already, and that there are ten minutes left. (Comprehensible Input, Lesson Delivery) 4. After the next 8 minutes, teacher will let students know that they should be wrapping up and that they have 2 minutes left. (Comprehensible Input, Lesson Delivery) 5. At the end of reading time, teacher will assign the groups of four and tell students to find their group members. In small-group, students should summarize the main points of their article, what surprised them, and what did not surprise them while reading. Then, students can compare and contrast how similar topics were viewed by various people at the time and how those viewpoints were represented in the texts. (Strategies, Interaction) 6. The last page of the packet includes an organizer that asks students to record the title, author, and brief main idea of the each text that their group members read. (Lesson Preparation, Comprehensible Input)
- 5. 7. Teacher asks each group to select one representative to share their major findings and responses to the texts they discussed with the whole class. (Interaction, Review and Assessment) * Potential full texts or excerpts that will be hung around the room: -articles on MLK’s march on Washington D.C. (mentioned in The Help) -Jim Crow laws -Junior League pamphlets and newsletters -articles from The Rebel Underground on James Meredith enrolling at Ole Miss -Ross Barnett against desegregation -JFK on desegregation -responses to the death of JFK -LIFE Magazine on Medgar Evers death -Jackson Daily News on Medgar Evers death CLOSING/EXIT TICKET (5 min.) After reading and discussing several texts about several topics from several viewpoints, what surprised you and what questions arose in your head? HOMEWORK (if appropriate). Read chapters 16-17 of The Help.