Classroom Activities
Week One
The introduction to this unit will explore civil rights and civil liberties. Students' knowledge of these words should be basic, understanding that these words are similar in meaning but are often used to talk about different situations. Students will learn that civil liberties are the guaranteed individual freedoms stated in the Constitution that the government can't take away. Civil rights are basic rights being given equally and we usually talk about issues of these rights being given to certain groups of people.
Lesson: Asking Sybil Liberty
Instructional Focus- Write the words civil, rights, and liberty on the board for students. Ask students to look at these three words and to write about what they think these words mean. After the students have had time to think about these words, ask them to put civil with the other two words. Have students write ideas about what they think these two words mean together (civil rights and civil liberties).
Practice- After students have been given the opportunity to explore the words civil, rights, and liberty, talk about their responses. As students give responses, guide them to the idea that civil liberties are our rights as citizens, written in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Give an example to students by using prior knowledge about the Bill of Rights by talking about the 1st Amendment. Students will discuss what they learned about the 1st Amendment. Make the connection that freedom of speech is a right we have as both persons and citizens. In their teams, have students brainstorm all the rights and freedoms that we have as persons and citizens.
Class Review- Students will share the rights they came up with. List these rights on chart paper to post in the classroom.
Application- Using the ACLU packets titled "Asking Sybil Liberty" students will explore rights they have as students. Each team will have a different packet that explains a certain right. I have chosen four different rights to talk about with my students: The Right to Equality in Education, The Right to Fair Treatment, The Right to Privacy, and The Right to Keep School Records Private. Students will read their packets in teams to learn about the right they have been given. Students will report on their right by presenting in front of the class. Their presentations may be oral or students may create an informative poster for the class to see.
Assessment- Students will present their ideas to the class with their teams. Once they have finished presenting, students in the audience will ask questions and teams will use what they have read in their packets to answer any questions.
Maintenance Moment- Go back to the beginning activity that students completed exploring what civil liberties and civil rights are. Ask students if they have anything to add about these words now that they have learned more about them. Discuss and wrap up this lesson with students having a good understanding of civil liberties and rights.
Week Two: Events Leading Up to and During the Civil War
Students will explore, in detail, the Civil War in Virginia. This will start out with exploration of the differences between the North and the South. Students will have some background on the economies of the North and South from previous units. With this background we will explore how different the North and South became. Through this examination, students will compare and contrast the differences and how these differences led to war.
Week Three: Reconstruction
Through the study of Reconstruction, students will learn how the abolition of slavery and the amendments to the Constitution brought about change in the lives of African Americans. The selection Tell All the Children Our Story: Memories and Mementos of Being Young and Black in America, 2001, by Tonya Bolden will be used. The book is broken into three different parts, highlighting the African American journey. Part II- "Longing for the Jubilee," will be used to learn about Reconstruction. Throughout this section, letters and stories of African American children are highlighted. These first-hand accounts of the trials and tribulations of African American children will guide students through this part of history.
Lesson: A Day in the Life of an African American Child during Reconstruction
Application- The teacher will read a section (pgs. 54-57, 59-60) of Tell All the Children Our Story: Memories and Mementos of Being Young and Black in America, by Tonya Bolden. In this section, students will learn about what freedpeople did after the Civil War ended.
Guided Practice- The teacher will pose the question to students: When the Civil War was over and slavery ended, how did African American children feel? The teacher will look for responses that some children "jumped for joy" while others were "bewildered" (Bolden 2001 54). What was the main focus of the freedpeople? Responses should be to find their family and get an education.
Class Review- The teacher will lead a class discussion about what life must have been like for former slaves. Students will be guided to think about what they would have done and how they would have felt about being free. The goal of this discussion will be for the teacher to remind students that this was not only a time of great joy for African Americans it was also a great change that they had to get used to.
Application- The teacher will read page 58 of Tell All the Children Our Story, which will also be shown on the overhead so students can read along as the teacher reads. This page is a letter from George Wells, an African American child from Athens, Alabama. George's letter was written in 1868 to a Sunday school class in the North. The letter talks about how George's life has changed since the war- he eats with a fork instead of on the floor with his fingers, he wears clothes with pockets in them. From the reading and the letter, students will have enough information to write about what a day in the life of an African American child during Reconstruction would be like. Students will be given a list of questions to prompt them to write.
Questions to give students for the "A Day in the Life" writing:
- What was your reaction to the ending of the Civil War?
- - Have you found your family? If so, how?
- - Do you go to school?
- - Do your parents attend school?
- - What do you do if you are not in school?
- - Do you have things you didn't have before- like more clothing, food, a better home?
- - Is it a good feeling to be free?
- - Do you feel safe or are you still worried about your safety?
- - Are you thinking of moving to the North or West?
Assessment- Students will read their letters to a partner in their teams and vice versa. Students will then report to the class what their partner's day was like.
Maintenance Moment- To wrap up, review with students that life during Reconstruction was very exciting for African Americans yet very challenging at the same time.
Week Four: The Progressive Era
The Progressive Era arose out of the time period following Reconstruction (most histories put the Gilded Age between). During this time, Jim Crow segregation laws, poll taxes, and literacy tests were put into effect. African Americans lost the rights they had gained during Reconstruction and were segregated and discriminated against. During this time, the idea of separate but equal ruled African American lives. After students have been introduced to Jim Crow Laws, they will complete an activity using the website http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/geography/courtcases.htm . This site describes cases dealing with Jim Crow laws and the Supreme Court. By clicking on Virginia, three court cases are described which entail events that occurred in Virginia.
Lesson: Looking at What Occurred During Jim Crow
Instructional Focus- To explore in more detail the Jim Crow segregation laws and what occurred in our nation during that time, students will have the opportunity to use the website http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/geography/courtcases.htm to read about actual cases that occurred in Virginia. The teacher will introduce this website to students by demonstrating how to get to the website and to pull up information on Virginia. This can be done by displaying the computer screen on a classroom screen or through the television. Students will observe the teacher complete the steps and write down the steps they will take to get to the site.
Guided Practice- In pairs, students will follow the steps they have written down to find the website and discover the court cases in Virginia. With their partner, students will read the cases and discuss what each case was about. If extra time allows, students may explore other states and what court cases occurred in other states affected by Jim Crow. This would give students a good understanding that these laws did not just occur in Virginia and that there were other ways Jim Crow laws affected African Americans.
Class Review- The teacher will direct students to come back together to discuss what they discovered on the website. Students will discuss the court cases and talk about how the Jim Crow laws segregated African Americans and whites. The teacher will ask students for other examples of segregation. Students should respond with answers such as: separate drinking fountains, separate neighborhoods, and separate places of worship- to name a few. The teacher will review with students that these are all things that occurred because of the Jim Crow segregation laws.
Application- The teacher will direct students to choose one thing that students read on the website or learned from the class discussion that Jim Crow segregation laws did to African Americans. Using magazines, newspapers, and any other material that students may cut, students will find images that deal with the idea they chose. Students will cut and glue these images onto their construction paper to display. Students will write a caption for their picture which entails two things- what Jim Crow laws were and what their picture describes. For example, students might decide to choose that Jim Crow laws separated schools into white and black. Students may find a picture of a school building and label the school a black or white school. In the caption, students would say that Jim Crow laws were laws that separated blacks and whites. One example of this was white and black children attending separate schools.
Assessment- As students are creating their pictures, the teacher will discuss their idea and will ask the students questions about Jim Crow laws and how they affected the lives of African Americans.
Maintenance Moment- When students have completed their creations, they will briefly share what they have made with the class and read their caption. The teacher will display these pictures in the hallway so that students in the school can learn about Jim Crow segregation laws and what they were about.
Week Five: Students will read Mississippi Bridge, by Mildred D. Taylor.
Jeremy Simms, a white child from Mississippi, witnesses two African Americans board a bus- a grandmother visiting a sick relative and a black man named Josias who was traveling to a new job. As time draws near for the bus to leave, a white family arrives. The bus driver tells the two black passengers to get off the bus. Josias, Jeremy's friend, argues with the bus driver about having to give up his seat, but eventually gets off the bus. The bus leaves and ends up veering off a bridge. Josias, along with many other townspeople, attempt to rescue the passengers on the bus.
This historical fiction text gives students a chance to read first hand what it was like to be discriminated against and what it would feel like to not be able to protect your rights. . Though the setting is not in Virginia, my students will be able to see that discrimination occurred all over the nation. In this lesson, students will explore the decision Josias makes and what consequences he faced in making his decision.
Lesson: Should You Put up a Fight?
Instructional Focus- Students will read pages 32-47 in their books with their literature groups. Before students read, ask them to think about what happens to Josias as they read. When they finish, encourage students to discuss with their groups how that made them feel. Students will write their responses as a team. When students have finished, ask them to share the feelings they discussed as a group with the class. Write these words on the board.
Guided Practice- In a whole class discussion, ask students what they feel like they would have done if they were Josias. Would they have gotten off the bus? Would they have argued with the bus driver but still gotten off? Would they have refused to get off the bus? Through asking these questions, guide students to understand that there are positive and negative consequences to all of these answers. Create two charts (Figure 1) for students to use to write about the consequences of Josias' behavior. (http://teacherlink. ed. usu. edu/tlresources/units/byrnes-literature/delange. html)
Class Review- With the chart on an overhead, the teacher will fill in student responses for the positive and negative consequences of the decision.
Application- Students will debate this issue with their classmates. Review the two sides of the argument to students (getting off the bus and staying on the bus). Students will complete a debate called "Take a Stand." The room will be split in two sections. Guide students to discussing that one side of the room will be for those for arguing and staying on the bus and the other side will be for those who are against staying on the bus. Before allowing students to choose their side, remind them that they must have reasons why they chose the side they did. Students will be asked to argue their side and all students must actively participate in the debate. The teacher will prompt students to the debate question and have them choose their side. Begin the debate by appointing one person from each side to start discussion.
Assessment- Assess students' knowledge of decision making and their realization of consequences with their activity with their teams and the class debate.
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