Unit on African-American Culture

African Athletes and Writing

  by Brad De Beer

Titles include:

Day One

Title: Getting Started

Time: 50 minutes

Materials: Book "Black Boy"

Objectives: The student will read the book "Black Boy" to gain an understanding of the life of author Richard Wright and his views as a black man.

Pre-Lesson: Teacher will discuss with the students rather or not they have read any books by African-American authors.

Lesson: Students will begin reading individually in class the first third of "Black Boy". The students will continue to read the book during free time and as homework throughout the next four days.

Post-Lesson: Students will start a journal of their thoughts and feelings as they read.

Day Two

Title: More On Writers

Time: 50 minutes

Materials: Pencils. Paper, Thinking Caps

Objectives: The students will be able to construct a story that will tell of their own life.

Pre-Lesson: Discuss with the students the role of writing in society today. Probe them for answers to questions like: "What kind of writing tells a story about something?", and "Are rap artists writers?". Explain how rap artists are writers and ask for examples they may have.

Lesson: The students will be asked to write a rap song that tells a story about an event or happening in their life that was significant to them. They should be as creative as possible yet making sure their words are appropriate. The raps need only be a few lines long for this part of the lesson. This rap will be used more in following days.

Post-Lesson: The students will continue writing in their journals about the way they felt when doing the lesson of the day.

Day Three- Day Five

Title: Writer Research

Time: 3--- 50 minute periods

Materials: Paper, Pencils, Library skills

Objectives: The students will be able to compile information and present it in an organized manner.

Pre-Lesson: Have the students brainstorm ideas that make up a good oral report. Make a list on the board of these ideas and explain to the students that the reports they are going to prepare must contain these elements. Explain to them that they are going to be evaluated on these different criteria.

Lesson: Explain to the students that over the next two days they are going to be preparing reports that will be given orally to the class on Friday.(The reports will take the whole class period on Friday.) They are to go to the library and research an African-American author from a prepared list the teacher has given them. The reports will be 2-3 minutes in length and the students may prepare any visual aids they may need as well. Along with the criteria they selected the student must include a collection of works from the author they chose to write about. During day four we will take about 20 minutes to discuss "Black Boy", which they should have finished reading by then.

Post-Lesson: Students will continue to reflect on days activities and their feelings in their journals.

Day Six

Title: Learning About Language

Time: 50 minutes

Materials: Paper, Pencils, Tape Recorder

Objectives: The students will be able to become better communicators by learning how language is perceived.

Pre-Lesson: Discuss a little bit with the students where language comes from and what does it do? Probe them to give answers that relate to both written and spoken language.

Lesson: Tell the students they will be allowed two minutes to talk with their neighbors about whatever they would like. As the students are doing this the teacher should start his/her tape recorder and tape record the class engaging in conversation. This should be done without the students knowing they are going to be recorded. Play the tape back to the students and ask them if their voices sounded different to them than they thought. Ask them to give adjectives that describe the way their voices sounded to them. Discuss with them how our first impression on most people is our voices. Discuss the way we sometimes disguise our voices to hide our true intentions. (Ex. Lying, crying, blaming, apologizing, etc...)

Post-Lesson: Have the students write in their journals. They should write about some of the different ways of using our voices and reflect on times when they have done the different things we discussed.

Day Seven & Eight

Title: Creating Slang Dictionaries

Time: 50 minutes

Materials: Notebook, pencils, overheads, boards

Objectives: The students will be able to write definitions to words that are commonly used but not in a dictionary.

Pre-Lesson: Ask students to give some slang words they may have heard African-Americans use. These words can also be words they may already know.

Lesson: Ask each student to write between 5 and 10 appropriate words he or she frequently uses that are not in the dictionary. Have the students get into groups of three or four and share their words with one another. Have the students choose their three favorite words per group. Students will then write a definition of their word including terms and notations that may appear in a dictionary. Teacher will model this by writing a word from the dictionary on the board for all students to reference. Their words should also be accompanied by an example of its usage. The students will then alphabetize the words on the board with the teacher and discuss the meanings. Making a dictionary of all the words may be an option for the students.

Post-Lesson: Write in journals what they have learned about slang words using some of the words from class.

Extension Activity: Make crossword puzzles or word finds using the students word lists.

Day Nine- Day Twelve

Title: Poetry In Motion

Time: 4-50 minute periods

Materials: Paper, Pencils, Research Tools

Objectives: The students will be able to perform reader's theater plays using poetry after researching African-American poets.

Pre-Lesson: Review research methods and library etiquette. Put the students in groups of four or five and give them lists of African-American poets to research and study.

Lesson: The students will be looking up poets and creating poems that, in their groups, they can perform as reader's theater plays. The students will be looking for different styles and ways to write poems. Collaboratively the students will write up their skit and perform it for the class. This lesson will run through a three day weekend In order to keep the students on track, the teacher will take 15-20 minutes the day they come back, to review what has been done and what needs to be done to present skits on that Wednesday. That Wednesday the students will present their reader's theater.

Post-Lesson: The students will take approximately 5 minutes at the end of every period to reflect about their findings in their journals.

Day Thirteen - Day Fourteen

Title: Timeline In Science

Time: 2-50 minute periods

Materials: Timeliner 4.0(if available), Any available computer timeline program, Research tools

Objectives: The students will be able to put information they find into a timeline of historical inventions in African-American history.

Pre-Lesson: Students will see a finished timeline that the teacher will have prepared for them in order to demonstrate what is expected of them.

Lesson: Students will go to library and research inventions that have made by African-Americans and put them into a chronological timeline. These will be done in pairs of students. The finished products will be displayed either around the room or in the hallway of the school. If the student does not have access to a computerized timeline the lesson will be adjusted in order to give the students time to create the machines as art projects.

Post-Lesson: Students will, after the second day, reflect in their journals about what they learned about scientific inventions.

Day Fifteen & Sixteen

Title: Athletes In Action

Time: 2--50 minutes

Materials: Pencils, Paper, Research Tools, Newspapers

Objectives: The students will be able to gain knowledge of what it takes to be a good team member as well as how sports helps people's self-esteem.

Pre-Lesson: Ask students to brainstorm names of famous African-American athletes and what sports they were or are involved with. The students should be encouraged to come up with both male and female athletes.

Lesson: The students will be put in teams of three and asked to come up with a team of athletes consisting of both men and women. The students will then find newspaper articles, magazine articles, or anything else they can find to gain information about the athletes they have chosen. They will bring together the information they have found and present a 5 minute play depicting the team they chose.

Post-Lesson: Record in their journals about the athletes lives and how much athletics has meant to them over the years. Tell them to write any feelings they may have about sports or their favorite activities.

Day Seventeen, Eighteen & Nineteen

Title: African-American Tastes

Time: 3-50 minute periods

Materials: Foods discussed in class, Fryers, Recyclable utensils, other materials to make what class decides on

Objectives: The students will be able to tell what foods have come from African-American origins.

Pre-Lesson: Discuss what foods the students like. Ask them if they have any idea where those foods may have come from.

Lesson: Students will take two days to research foods that are native to African-Americans. They will decide as a class, which foods they will make in class on the last day. The students will be able to prepare 2 -3 different foods and then share the foods they have made with other classes in the school. The students will be strictly researching the foods during the first period and then reporting to the class what they found on the second day.

Post-Lesson: The students will write in their journals on the last day, how they felt about eating those certain foods and how they might make them different.

Assessment: The students will write a 2 -3 page paper on everything they learned from our African-American unit and why Black History Month is so important.

BOOK LIST

Author-Rosa Guy

The Friends

The Disappearance

And I Heard A Bird Sing

Author-Virginia Hamilton

The House of Dies Drear

The Mystery of Drear House: The Conclusion of the Dies Drear Chronicle

The Planet of Junior Brown

Author-Joyce Hanson

Which Way Freedom

Out From This Place

Author-Mildred Taylor

Song Of The Trees

Mississippi Bridge

The Friendship

Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry

Let The Circle Be Unbroken

The Road To Memphis

The books above are books that can be used to give students a look at African-Americans as the main character. These books are very good for children in the fifth grade and above. The books can be used in mystery units, historical units, and family relationship units.