American Voices: Listening to Fiction, Poetry, and Prose

Objectives

When reading The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, one cannot escape the authority of voice projected on the page. If voice is power, Douglass's narrative is one of the most powerful texts in American literature, emancipating the silenced voices of his fellow slaves, while enabling future African Americans to lend their voices to change. In this autobiography, his voice represents hope for his fellow slaves and acts as a platform for social justice and change that is echoed in the power of speeches from the Civil Rights Movement and the presidential election of 2008. ¹

This unit incorporates reading and writing and the study of voice. Throughout the unit students will examine the components of an autobiography, but will focus mainly on the concept of voice, as a writing skill, and as a metaphor for emancipation. Since voice is such an abstract concept, it will be studied within certain parameters. My overarching goal for this unit is help students develop their voice in writing by examining rhetorical devices in persuasive writing. Students will study voice in various non-fiction texts (narratives, letters and speeches), as well as poems. Too often, when students write persuasively, they include a lot of their opinion and little else. By exposing them to different forms of rhetoric, students will understand the craft of writing persuasively: include fact and philosophy, establish credibility, develop personality on the page, and build rapport with an audience. By reading many different texts and examining the voice of each, students will be able to develop their voice in writing. The cumulative assessment will be to write a brief narrative, letter and speech employing rhetorical devices studied in the unit in their own voice.

Interdisciplinary units are very common in middle school Language Arts and Social Studies classrooms. It would be impossible to teach the Narrative without delving into the history of slavery in America; students are always pining for historical information that reaches beyond the text we read in class. This unit affords me a great opportunity to collaborate with the eighth grade Social Studies teacher to create meaningful activities and to exchange resources. I am fortunate to teach across the hall from the eighth grade Social Studies teacher and plan with her on a regular basis; I have access to maps, history textbooks and primary documents that enhance the content of my unit. Interdisciplinary units are so important in middle school language arts classes because they allow students to explore different works of literature beyond the standard language arts textbook. All of my interdisciplinary units cover some math, science, social studies, and art (visual, performing or musical) so students can hone in on their area of expertise or interest. Sometimes this poses a problem; I have a difficult time incorporating a lot of math in my units because I do not excel in math. Bar graphs, pie charts and percentages are usually as far as I can delve on my own. In the future, one I would like to find ways to collaborate with the math teachers at my school to enhance the math content in my units. I have found that students really appreciate and succeed in units that go beyond the walls of the classroom. They know that their teachers work together to create meaningful units and lessons, and their level of participation increases when they recognize this.

The reason I use Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass in my eighth grade language arts class is threefold; to introduce narrative writing, focusing on the significance of when the book was published; to discuss the dehumanizing effects of slavery; and to provide a deeper understanding of voice as power, enabling students to develop their own voice in writing and perhaps even develop a deeper appreciation for their education. My students are always taken by Douglass's extensive vocabulary and long, descriptive sentences, amazed at how he taught himself how to read and write, a crime punishable by death, and amazed that he was only twenty-seven years old when he published this autobiography. One goal for this unit is to have students understand the role of Douglass's voice in his Narrative within the context of the Abolition Movement. Douglass was an escaped slave who enlightened himself to the realities of slavery by teaching himself to read and write, in turn, creating a vehicle for his inevitable escape. It is important that my students understand the power of Douglass's autobiography; it was published in 1845, seven years after Douglass's escape from slavery and, more daringly, twenty years before the end of slavery. Since this unit is so heavily laden with historical information I need to keep in mind my overarching goal by focusing mainly on how voice is developed in writing. I want my students to begin developing their own voice in writing and analyze the different techniques employed in analyzing voice in speeches, letters and narrative.

As students read various texts in this unit I want them to pay attention to the role of the storyteller in each text. One of my goals for the unit is for my students to be able to understand how their voice can tell a story and can act as a catalyst for change. The Narrative takes the reader on a physical and psychological journey of slavery through the eyes of the leader in abolitionist rhetoric. His combination of personal circumstances and public awareness as well as his use of both fact and philosophy truly make this Narrative different from any other narrative text read in my eighth grade classroom, unique in the context of American Literature. By incorporating letters by Douglass to fellow abolitionists and a former slave master, as well as several of his speeches given overseas, students will be able to see how his formative role as a slave helped shape his role as storyteller, abolitionist and orator. I want my students to understand the significance and impact Frederick Douglass's voice has had on the marginalized or oppressed, whose voices were often unheard as well as the connections between public rhetoric and power, authority, and social change. ²

When I have taught the unit on Frederick Douglass's Narrative in the past, I focused on the components of non-fiction text, chronological order, internal/external conflicts and theme. These objectives are prescribed for First Quarter lessons by the Pacing and Alignment Guide for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District. However, for this unit, while working within the parameters of the Pacing and Alignment Guide I am going to focus the unit around the voices heard in Douglass's Narrative, studying speeches and letters in order to examine the differences in voice between the written word and the spoken word with an emphasis on rhetoric. My rationale for having the students examine three different types of texts centered on the common theme of abolition, or social justice for slaves, is to enable them to compare and contrast the rhetorical devices used within each text. I estimate the unit will take approximately nine weeks to teach; I see each language arts class every-other day because I teach at a magnet arts school. A traditional middle school schedule includes seeing each class everyday; if that is the case, adjust your teaching time to approximately four or five weeks.

It was not until I began writing this unit that I thought of how closely the topic of voice as power related to some of my students. I teach at Northwest School of the Arts, a magnet arts school in Charlotte, North Carolina. Northwest has a very diverse student body, as it houses middle and high school students from across Mecklenburg County. It acts as a safe haven for the many openly gay and lesbian students who attend the school, who might otherwise feel uncomfortable at their home school (the school they would be assigned to if they did not choose to go to Northwest). The open-minded atmosphere in the halls of the school allow for open discussions about sexuality and social issues within the classroom. Later in this unit I will discuss how Frederick Douglass began many of his speeches by downplaying his abilities in order to placate his white audience. I began to wonder how many times my students, of any color, religion, or sexual orientation, have had to suppress their true identities to be accepted by their peers. My hope for this unit is to open a dialogue on how Douglass's struggles as a marginalized member of nineteenth-century American society are closely related to the struggles faced by Americans in today's society.

The power of voice. Dr. Burkhard Henke, a German professor at Davidson University, revealed to me what I consider very valuable information for my unit and my students. The German word mündige literally means "of mouth," but in the court of law it means "of age," that is, one who is able to speak for himself; one who "has mouth" has the power to represent himself in society. Similarly, the English word emancipation means "out of man's hand"; it is a legal term meaning that the freed slave has been released from the master's hand or control. ³ After Douglass escaped he began penning public letters to Thomas Auld, his former master, which symbolized his freedom from the hands of slavery. Following his escape, his voice became his power; he used his voice to persuade others to fight against the institution of slavery. In contrast, unmündige, means someone else is doing the thinking, a concept Douglass explored thoroughly in his years as an Abolitionist and an orator. Voice and power are synonymous. Frederick Douglass's role as a slave made him "under age," or voiceless in the court of American society. He could not become "of age," or have a power until he emancipated himself from the galling hands of slavery. This concept reminds me of the struggles adolescents face on a daily basis. Adolescents are always trying to act older, whether it is defying their parents' orders to be home at a certain time, or mimicking the actions of older peers at school. They are not "of age" in society until they are eighteen years old, four or five years older than they are when I teach them. However, to an adolescent, being younger than eighteen does not mean that they do not have voices or that their voices do not matter. The goal of this unit is to help them develop their voices so they can be heard loud and strong in the classroom, at home, and in society.