Standard
General Education Lesson Plan
Emily Acquino
Lesson Part
Title
Activity description/Teacher does
I Pick Up My Life: How artists tell the story of the Great Migration.
Students do
Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.7
Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment.
Central Focus
(CF)
Academic
Language
How can art help people tell their stories?
The Great Migration, The Harlem Renaissance
Compare/Contrast
Ideas (abstract) vs. Sensory (concrete) details
Learning Target
(LT)
I can compare and contrast Jacob Lawrence’s painting The Great
Migration, with Langston Hughes’ poem “One-Way Ticket,” both in terms of style and what they tell us about The Great
Migration.
The teacher plays jazz by Duke Ellington.
This track has no lyrics, so is a nice option for students who might otherwise be distracted:
Instruction (e.g. inquiry, preview, review, etc.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl9adwIijiY
The teacher displays the lesson’s Central Focus and Learning
Target on the board or projector.
Teacher accesses prior knowledge about The Great Migration, asking students to jot down the major “push and pulls” that caused African Americans to move North.
Students take out their academic notebooks and copy down the Essential Question and Learning Target from the board.
Students write down at least 4
“push and pulls.”
Practice
Activity
or
Support
Informal
Assessment
Teacher prompts a pair-share their “push and pulls” and then asks two students to share their answers.
Students pair-share their “push and pulls.” Two students are cold-called to share their answers.
Teacher distributes a copy of Langston Hughes’ “One-Way
Ticket” and displays images of Lawrence’s Great Migration
Series.
Teacher shows video about Lawrence’s Great Migration Series
Students make observations and inferences based on their careful viewing of Lawrence’s Migration
Series and Hughes’ “One-Way
Ticket.”

and the current exhibit at the MOMA. https://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/interactives/205
/featured
The teacher tells student’s about Lawrence’s connection to
Seattle.
Teacher leads a Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) conversation about panels 1, 10, 17, 58 http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2015/oneway ticket/panel/17
Students build off of each other’s observations and use evidence from the paintings to justify their ideas.


What’s going on in this picture?
What do you see that makes you say that?
 What more can you find?
Listen to Langston Hughes read “One-Way Ticket” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ppjmLWlKgc
Students read along silently while listening.
Teacher may use a choral reading to support ELL fluency.
Teacher asks, What does it mean to “pick up” your life? Have you ever had to pick up your life?
The teacher asks students what they notice about the poem, drawing out theme, repetition, the meaning of Dixie, tone, rhythm, etc.
Students jot ideas in notebook.
Practice
Activity
or
Support
Informal
Assessment
Teacher will do a check-in about the learning target.
Teacher will revisit topics student have questions about and check in with individual students during the next activity.
Students will respond with a thumbs-up, thumbs-sideways, or thumbs-down.
Teacher reviews the idea of a Venn diagram, and distinguishes sensory distinctions/similarities (concrete details) from
Students work in groups (2-3) to create Venn Diagrams that thematic distinctions/similarities (ideas). Teacher may read the compare and contrast Hughes standard for increased student buy-in.
As students work in groups, the teacher circulates to check for understanding. and Lawrence. Students must include at least 3 concrete details and 3 abstract ideas.
Teacher plays music: http://www.wnyc.org/story/moma/
(Share with students that this play list was used for the MOMA’s
Jacob Lawrence Exhibit.)

Informal
Assessment
Teacher asks each group to share 1-2 of their observations, creating a class Venn diagram.
Students share their most insightful observations and add relevant ideas from their classmates.
For homework students will create their own work of art
(poem, drawing, or mixed media) inspired by Lawrence and
Hughes. Thematic connections are required, while stylistic connections are encouraged. Possible themes include: migration, renaissance (rebirth), freedom and oppression, narrative, etc. As part of the assignment, students will include a
“wall text” explaining the connection between their work and
The Great Migration. This assignment will be due at the end of
Closure
Assessment of the week.
Student Voice
Exit Ticket:
What kind of artwork do you plan on producing for your homework assignment? What themes do you plan to highlight?
Students make a plan for their homework and communicate with the teacher if they need supplies.
Rate yourself on the learning target on a scale of 1-5.
Teacher plays more music from the MOMA playlist while students write their exit tickets.
4. Supporting Development through Language a. Language function: What verb appears in your learning target that represents the language function?
The language function for this lesson is “compare and contrast,” indicating that students will need to identify features in Jacob Lawrence’s painting series and Langston Hughes’ poem and determine whether those features are shared or not. b. Language demand: What learning activities or products will students write, speak, or do to represent the language demand and an opportunity to practice the language function?
Students will make observations about the paintings and poem as they are introduced. They will then apply those observations in creating a Venn Diagram that will visually represent the similarities and differences between
Lawrence and Hughes. c. Additional language demand: How will students practice content vocabulary words shown in the learning targets?
When students create Venn Diagrams, they will be asked to include at minimum three concrete details and three abstract ideas. A concrete detail will be defined as an observation from the senses, e.g. color, texture, rhyme, and an abstract concept will be defined as an idea that could be applied to many things, e.g. beauty, home, struggle. d. What learning activities enable students to practice using symbols or abstract representations of information
(syntax), if these are part of the lesson?
The students will gather information from a visual representation (painting) and figurative language (poem). They

will then input their observations and thoughts into a Venn Diagram, which is a visual representation of the operative “compare and contrast.” e. How is discussion (discourse) structured in activities?
For the Jacob Lawrence paintings, discourse is structured through the Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) model; the teacher guides student observation through three leading questions, helping students to connect and build upon each other’s responses. For the Hughes’ poem, students are asked if they have ever had to “pick up” their life. They are instructed to write their thoughts in their academic notebook and then are offered the chance to share what they wrote with the class. There are a number of opportunities for “pair shares” and the Venn diagram activity takes place in small groups with a full class wrap-up. f. What other writing or speaking activities enable students to practice vocabulary and the verb shown in the learning target?
The Venn diagram activity is the primary method for performing the “compare and contrast” operative,. Students are also asked to recall prior knowledge (introduced in another class) about the Harlem Renaissance and The
Great Migration.