This course is designed for three hours a day for eight weeks. The normal class process will include a reading component, a writing section, and a discussion or activity section. It is always necessary to continue the format of the three elements mentioned above. Repetition of the format helps organize the time for the class, and also helps the student know what to expect when so that he can fulfill the course requirements.
The following are methods of organizing and presenting materials to the class:
Plan 1
Objectives
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1. Help student understand the relationship of autobiography to US History.
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2. To help students express themselves in writing.
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3. To have students read the autobiographies of black Americans.
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4. To help students find relationships between their lives and the lives of other people.
Methods
Read excerpts from the autobiographies of black Americans. The stories to be used are
The Autobiography of Malcolm
X, written by Alex Haley,
Nigger
by Dick Gregory, and
The Long Shadow of Little Rock
by Daisy Bates.
After reading selections from the early years of these black Americans, students will write a childhood experience they had. Before students begin to write, the idea of autobiography and childhood experience should be discussed, keeping in mind that although everyone does not have the
same
experience, there is a relationship in the kind of experiences children have. The idea of similarities of childhood experiences can be begun by having them remember their first adventure, their first time losing somebody (death, getting lost in a strange place, losing a friend), the first time they realized that they were different from other people.
Plan 2
Objectives
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1. Help students appreciate the black experience.
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2. To help students see the relationship between black history and the autobiographies used in class.
Methods
Have students read the chapter on “The Coming of the Depression” in the US History text
The Afro-American in U.S. History.
Discuss
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1. What was the depression.
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2. What were the causes of the Great Depression.
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3. How were black Americans hurt by the depression.
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4. How relief programs were begun.
Review Vocabulary
poverty, production, depression, stocks, unemployment, relief
Write
Have students write about what happened during the depression using the vocabulary and the information discussed and read in the text.
Plan 3
Objectives
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1. Help the students appreciate the black experience.
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2. To help students see the relationship between black history and the autobiographies used in class.
Methods
Have the students read excerpt from
Nigger
by Dick Gregory.
Discuss
How the depression is described by Dick Gregory as he saw things as a youngster. (the shame of the relief, the separation of his family, his hunger/ poverty, and his shame caused by his teacher)
Write
Have students write in human terms what the depression was. They should use the papers from the day before (Plan 2) for factual information. This will help them use the facts and the human factor and hopefully have an understanding for both.