African American Lit.
Unit
Monday, Jan 19, 2015
BellRinger: What do you know about the slave trade? What do you
want to know?
Lesson: Introducing African American Lit Unit
-Explanation of Unit/Standards/Learning Goals
-Create your own seating chart. Move your desks together (no more than five to a
formation). Give yourselves a last name and family member roles.
- Read “Kidnapped” from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
(1789) on p. 53-55 in your families
-Create Sequencing Map to organize incidents in Equiano’s narrative
Closure: What struck you the most about Equiano’s story? Did any
of it change the way you think about the slave trade? How?
Tuesday, Jan 20, 2015
BellRinger: What do you know about the Middle Passage? Use
figurative language in your description
Lesson: The Experience of the Kidnapped Slave
- Sit with what is left of your family/new family.
- Slave ship experience
- Read “Slave Ship” from (p. 56-59) in your families
- Create Sequencing Map to organize incidents in Equiano’s narrative
- Start vocab bubble map (5 words)
Closure: Create a Quote Sandwich in your families answering this
question: Which incident in todays reading seemed to have the most
influence on Equiano? How do you know (look at language)
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2015
BellRinger: What images come to your mind when you picture
slavery in America?
Lesson: Harriet Jacobs- A slave narrative (1861)
- Read “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” p. 405-410
- Create sequence/flow map
- Vocab bubble map - at least 5 words
- Create Double Bubble map: Equiano’s and Jacobs’s slave narratives
Closure: Which narrative did you find more powerful? Why?
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015
BellRinger: Make a double bubble of Equiano and Jacobs’ narratives.
*New seats! Don’t get too comfy!
Lesson: How are we shaped by our experiences?
-Flow map share - RETELL!
- Create a quote sandwich for both accounts
*Reconnect with bio
-Large group share
- Vocab circle maps - 10 words (Due Wednesday Jan. 28)
Closure: What will you remember from these narratives? Share.
Friday, Jan 23, 2015
BellRinger: Why do you think cultures evolve over time? How
much influence do you think the past has on the present?
Lesson: The influence of slavery on the Harlem Renaissance
- Active Reading/Discussion: Frederick Douglass “My bondage and my freedom” (1855) p.
413
- Active reading- “Follow the Drinking Gourd” (p.481) and “The Weary Blues” (1922)
-Focus:: tone, figurative language, meaning, audience
- Listening skills: Langston Hughes / Follow the Drinking Gourd
-Write as you listen: compare and contrast tone
- Clip: Langston Hughes “I, Too.”
* Vocab circle maps - 10 words (Due Wednesday
Jan. 28)
Closure: How do you think the experience of the slave influenced
Clips
“Follow the Drinking Gourd”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjBZEMkmwYA
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSb273c9tm4
Langston Hughes - “The Weary Blues”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM7HSOwJw20
drinking gourd
constellation
Monday, Jan 26, 2015
BellRinger: Answer the essential question! *hand in bellringer
Lesson: Model Writing - “Incident”
- Create a list of the incidents in your life that you think have shaped the person you are
-Quick-write p. 747 in Lit Book
- Read Countee Cullen’s “Incident” p. 747
- Think-Pair-Share discussion
- Model-writing: Using Cullen’s poem as a frame, write about an incident that shaped you
- Share
* Vocab circle maps - 10 words (Due Wednesday Jan. 28)
Closure: After reading the poem and writing your own, do you
think that we are shaped more by small, everyday moments, or by
bigger events?
“The Incident”
Respond to the following questions about the poem in your
small groups:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Summarize the poem
What is the author’s purpose?
How does he say it? *Look for rhetorical devices!
So what?
*Have a speaker ready to share large group!
Tuesday, Jan 27, 2015
BellRinger: Why do we hide our feelings from others? Give an example.
Lesson: “We Wear the Mask” and “A Dream Deferred”
- Share Incident Poems
- Langston Hughes - “I, Too”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CUKyVrhPgM
- “We Wear the Mask” group analysis
- “A Dream Deferred” group analysis
- Vocabulary work time
* Vocab circle maps - 10 words (Due Wednesday Jan. 28)
Closure: What common theme do you see among the three poems analyzed
today? Explain in a complete sentence.
We Wear the Mask
1. Look for rhyme, figurative language, repetition, imagery, etc.
2. Summarize what the poem is about?
3. What is the author’s purpose? What can you infer?
4. So what? Connect this to what you already know from
previous readings?
“Harlem” or “A Dream Deferred”
Make a tree map for each of the six examples:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Denotation: The literal definition of something
Connotation: Implied meanings; associations with something
Explain in your words - what you INFER this to mean
One-word summary
Create an example (for each line)
*Be ready to share!
Wednesday, Jan 28, 2015
BellRinger: What is the American Dream? Is it available to everyone?
Explain in 3 sentences or more.
-VOCAB Circle Maps Due!
Lesson: “A Dream Deferred”
- Small Group Presentations - Add to Tree Map!
Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1959)
- Assign roles
- Read Act I sc. i together as a class
Closure: Write a summary of what you learned about Lorraine Hansberry
and/or what you learned about Hughes' poem “A Dream Deferred”
Lorraine Hansberry
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Born 1930; Granddaughter of a freed slave
Her family moved to a white neighborhood in 1938. Supreme Court case ensued when the
Hansberrys refused to move out
Studied writing at University of Wisconsin, Madison
Dropped out and moved to New York
Wrote for a progressive black
newspaper, Freedom
Wrote for a feminist magazine
about homophobia and
feminism
Wrote A Raisin in the Sun, which
opened to rave reviews
Became active in the Civil Rights
movement
Died of cancer at age 34
Friday, Jan 30, 2015
BellRinger: What would you do with $10,000?
Lesson: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1959)
A Raisin in the Sun: An Introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_uk7iNJx_w (3:52-13:40)
- Begin completing character chart
- Assign roles
- Read Act I sc. i together as a class pp. 3-26
Closure: What are the three dreams that the Younger
family has?
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015
BellRinger: What are your impressions of Raisin so far? Write a couple
of sentences (about characters, themes, predictions, etc)
Lesson: Roots 11 and A Raisin in the Sun
- Roots 11 (*Due with TEST on Wednesday, Feb. 11)
- Discussion choice activity
- Finish reading Act I sc. 1 together
- Write summary on back of character chart
Closure: What bothers or affects you about A Raisin in the
Sun? What surprises you or makes you uncomfortable?
(at least 2 sentences)
Wednesday, Feb 4, 2015
BellRinger: Describe Mama. What is her role in the family?
Lesson: Reading: A Raisin in the Sun
- Finish Act I s.i as a class
- Write summary on back of character chart
- Read Act I s.ii (Small groups or as a class)
-Roots 11 Due WEDNESDAY Feb. 11 w/ TEST
Closure: Draw a double-bubble map comparing what we
know about George Murchison to what we know about
Joseph Asagai
Thursday, Feb 5, 2015
BellRinger: Pick a character from A Raisin in the Sun and write
about how you think events in their life (or in their cultural history)
have shaped them.
Lesson: Roots 11 and A Raisin in the Sun
- Finish reading Act I s.2 in groups
- Continue filling out character/scene summary chart
- Discussion
- Roots 11 work time/ Start Act II?
Closure: Why does Beneatha want to be a “Queen of the
Nile?”
Friday, Feb 6, 2013
BellRinger: Why is “assimilation” a controversial topic? Relate it to
the American Dream.
Lesson: A Raisin in the Sun - Act 2.1
- Read Act II s. i (Same Groups?)
- Continue filling out character/scene summary chart
- Discussion
- Roots 11 practice
Closure: How do we see assimilation as an issue in
Raisin?
Monday, Feb 9, 2015
BellRinger: Summarize any of the scenes you don’t have
summarized on your chart. Fill out major conflicts from Act I. (REFER
BACK TO THE BOOK IF YOU CAN’T REMEMBER!)
Lesson: A Raisin in the Sun - Act 2.2
- Read Act II s. ii p. 60-70 - NEW GROUPS
- Student-led discussions
- Roots 11 (time permitted)
Closure: Hand in discussion question with notes
Tuesday, Feb 10, 2015
BellRinger: Recap Act 2.2 and prepare for group discussion.
Lesson: A Raisin in the Sun - Act III / Roots Review
- Student-led, question-based discussion of Act 2.2 - take notes and turn in
- Work on roots - due tomorrow!
- Kahoots Review - Roots 11
Closure: Predictions for RITS Act 2.3?
Wednesday, Feb 11, 2015
BellRinger: Study for the test
Lesson: Roots Quiz - Raisin in the Sun - Act 2.3
- Roots 11 Quiz
- Read Act 2.3
- Discussion/Fill out character chart
Closure: Fill out what you can of the bottom two rows of
the character chart
Thursday, Feb 12, 2015
BellRinger: Make a prediction: How do you think each member of
the Younger family will be shaped by Walter losing the money? (at
least 3 sentences)
Lesson: A Raisin in the Sun - Act III
- Read Act III
- Finish character chart
- Discussion - How are the characters shaped by what they experience from the start of the
play to the end?
Closure: Which line of Hughes’s poem do you think best
applies to the Younger family? Why?
Friday, Feb 13, 2015
BellRinger: What did you like best about A Raisin in the Sun? About
our African American Lit. unit in general?
Lesson: A Raisin in the Sun - Movie
- Watch clips- A Raisin in the Sun (2008)
- Create Double/Bubble comparison map
- Discuss Process Writing
- Begin drafting
Closure: If you were to add one more scene to the play,
what would be in it?
Wed, Feb 18, 2015
BellRinger: Self Reflection for Conferences
Lesson: A Raisin in the Sun - Essay
- Finish character chart-turn in!
- Discuss Process Writing
- Begin drafting
- Create Tree Map
- Find support/quote sandwiches
Closure: What can you do to improve your essay?
Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015
BellRinger: Take out your tree maps and keep drafting
Lesson: A Raisin in the Sun - Essay
- 20 minutes: Finish Tree Map
- Begin drafting on Chromebooks
- Rough draft due Friday for peer editing.
- Final draft due MONDAY.
Closure: On the bottom of your tree map, write down one
problem/question/area of writing you want help on
during peer editing
Monday, Feb. 23, 2015
BellRinger: SPOT CHECK! Tree Map/Outlines (get them out!)
Lesson: A Raisin in the Sun - Essay 1st Draft
- Spot check outlines
- Grammar/sentence review activity
- Finish Rough Drafts
- Share with one other person in class
- HW: Review and make comments on one person’s draft
Closure: What can you do to improve your essay?
**********Final Draft Due Tuesday!**********
Tuesday, Feb 24, 2015
BellRinger: Write 2-3 sentences using “they’re/their/there,”
“two/too/to,” and/or “your/you’re” correctly.
Lesson: A Raisin in the Sun - Essay Due!
- Peer edit with a partner
- SPOT CHECK rough drafts
- Finalize drafts, attach, turn in
- Begin argumentative writing/quickwrite unit
- Roots
Closure: 3-2-1: Write 3 things you learned in this unit, 2 ways your
writing/thought process grew, and 1 ACT concern