Kelley N. Robinson
Lesson 1—The blues
Lesson 2—“Mystory
Lesson 3—Metamorphic Memoirs
Lesson 4—African Americans with Good Character
Lesson 5—Soldiers on the Battlefield
Lessons 6 and 7-—I am Somebody
Lesson #1—Goal:
Begin to understand and appreciate the meaning of “blues culture.
Objective:
Through literature discussion and role playing, identify the importance of confronting fears and challenges. Discover also ways in which to overcome.
Vocabulary:
the blues, confront, persevere, character
Materials:
white paper, pencils
Background
The read aloud story for this lesson is
A Love Song for Seven Little Boys Called Sam
, by C. H. Fuller, Jr.* This story deals with the racial hardships that seven African American elementary school boys had to encounter in an all white school. The boys were verbally harassed and physically tormented daily. What made it worse was that their teacher was also an African American but treated them just as harshly. C. H. Fuller, Jr. has done a great job with showing how trouble can be backbreaking and persistent as well as unavoidable. He also shows, however, that it must be dealt with if one expects to make gains in life. The seven boys are triumphant in the end and their personal character is enhanced (“They seem different now. Stronger. Taller. ). They learn to stare adversity in the face, accept it and solve their problem. Of course not all problems are solved the way these boys chose to solve their problem but a plan must be established and some sort of struggle, more often than not, is inevitable. This is reality.
One caveat to this story is the language. The author did a wonderful job at writing a realistic story. Unfortunately, with this came some terms that one may consider inappropriate. Before doing this lesson, I would seek permission from the principal and parents.
*If this story proves to be unacceptable for your class, an alternative story is
The Gift-Giver
by Joyce Hansen. This story looks at the problems that two children, Amir and Doris, are faced with living in an impoverished area of the Bronx and how they survive without falling apart. Please see the bibliography for complete citation.
Activity:
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The teacher will introduce vocabulary and read aloud the story.
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The teacher will give each student one piece of white paper. Students will write a problem form the story on one side and how it was solved on the other.
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The teacher will open a discussion on what the story teaches.
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The students will get in groups and create 5 minute skits in which one or more characters are faced with a problem. Encourage them to be as creative as they wish but make sure the problem finally has a solution.
Discussion Questions:
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What did you think of the story? Explain.
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What were Reuben and his friends “blue about?
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What were your thoughts on the behaviors of the white boys? The teacher? Reuben’s parents?
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Do you think the mother was really angry with Reuben for tearing his coat?
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Do you think the parent’s action was right? If you were Reuben’s parent what would you have done?
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How did the seven boys “confront their dilemma?
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Do you agree with the way Reuben and his friends solved their problem? What else might they have done to solve their problem?
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Would you say that Reuben and his persevered to the end? How?
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What did the action of Reuben and his friends do for their “character ?
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What do you think the author’s purpose was in using the language he used? Do all stories have to be written this way?
Evaluation:
Write one lesson learned from this story and share it with the class.
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* This story is part of a compilation of modern stories edited by Arnold Adoff. See number 1 in the annotated bibliography for complete citation.
Lesson #2—Goal:
Recognize and affirm personal memories as an intimate and important part of self.
Vocabulary:
same as lesson 1.
Materials:
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11 x 14 construction paper (various colors), 11x14 white paper, book binding ribbon, hole puncher, scissors, rubber cement, markers, pencils, crayons.
Background
In all of us, there is something good. In an effort to build ourselves up, we need to not only encounter struggles, but we also need to recognize the good in our life and reflect on it. As I stated before, it is the good that often helps us get through rough times. This is why pictures and photo albums are cherished so much. People can go back and reminisce on events, places and people. Pictures provide a source of encouragement for all of us that ‘trouble don’t las alway’. In this lesson, the students will create memory books of their history (instead of “His story it becomes “My story). In their books, they can put pictures from birth to present age, first words, toys, trips, etc. This experience will not only affirm the students but may enhance the relationship they have with their family members. To elaborate, in researching their information, the students will need to talk with mothers, fathers, and any other family members that can provide them with the information they need, thus enhancing, if not facilitating, communication. Lastly, this book gives them ownership over something they created which always makes one feel better about themselves.
Activity:
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Students will gather information they would like to include in their books (if children are in need of ideas, a “Baby’s Book of First’s” is a great source) and bring the information to class (you may want to have them to start collecting information earlier in the unit).
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Place art materials on tables and allow students to begin putting their book together. Make sure for each object placed in book, a caption is written with it.
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Before binding book, write an essay explaining how putting this book together has made them feel.
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Put books together and allow students to share if they want.
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Display books and reflect upon them.
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Note—some students may have painful memories. If they want to include them I would allow it because through this, healing and growth could occur.
Evaluation:
Completed book
Written piece about work
Lesson #3—Goal:
Reflect on personal dreams for the future and recognize the importance of endurance while striving for them.
Objective:
Students will discover and list “endurance traits they think they need to reach their personal goals.
Vocabulary:
aspiration, endure, perseverance
Materials:
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Copy of reading selection, cut-outs for each student of a caterpillar and a butterfly, dried flowers, small stones, cardboard, glue gun, white and colored construction paper, scissors.
Background
Endurance is paramount to survival. If we want to make it in this world, we must endure. The focus of this lesson is to show students that where we start does not have to be where we end up. There are many famous actors, sports figures, and musicians who did not find their beginnings in the lap of luxury. Two things that aided them in being successful were dreaming and enduring. It is my hope that through this lesson, children will begin to realize that reaching those goals requires hard work but also patience.
A brilliant story entitled
The Butterfly
, by Hugh Morgan Hill*, tells of a depressed caterpillar who truly had “the blues . He was blue because he was tired of crawling around and greatly desired to “boogie up the sky . His dream was to become a butterfly. He kept trying all kinds of “quick tactics to get there but none of them worked. He was encouraged by another (the tree) to hang in there because it was the caterpillar’s “destiny to become a butterfly. This is profound in that in life, we all have a destiny to be something great. The caterpillar made a home (cocoon) which got pretty difficult for him to live in and he began to panic. Another encourager (the moon) comes along and tells him to hang on. The caterpillar struggled to go through and in the end, he overcame—he reached his destiny. This story allows children to see that there is something wonderful in all of us and no one can ever take that away. I love this story.
This is a story that needs to be read with an abundance of expression. Therefore, if you don’t feel comfortable enough reading it yourself, a suggestion may be to bring in a storyteller or drama student to read the selection.
Activity:
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Teacher will read aloud,
The Butterfly
, by Hugh Morgan Hill.
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As a class, discuss the problem the caterpillar had and how he overcame.
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Students will make wall hangings—metamorphic memoirs—showing how they would like to change from a caterpillar to a butterfly:
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On the cut-out of the caterpillar, they will list those things that say who/where they are now in life.
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On the cut-out of the butterfly, they will list their future aspirations.
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Between these two pictures they will list between five and ten things they will need to do to reach their goals.
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After putting their memoir together, they will create a frame for them and share them (use cardboard, flowers, and stones).
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The students will display their memoirs and reflect upon them.
Evaluation:
Finished Metamorphic Memoir
* This story is part of the anthology,
Talk that Talk
, compiled by Linda Goss and Marian Barnes. For complete citation, please see number nine on the annotated bibliography.
Lesson #4—Goal:
Expose students to famous African Americans that have endured tribulation.
Objective:
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Meet, through research, famous African American musicians, scientists, and other leaders whose lives have withstood long-suffering.
Vocabulary: tribulation, triumphant
Materials: pencil, paper, library, computer, cardboard for book covers.
Background
Most often we discover our dreams based on what we have seen others do. If we enjoy studying the planets and we see someone go to the moon, we may say, “I’d like to go the moon someday. Likewise, if we enjoy studying the parts of the body and we visit our doctor, we may say, “I think I’ll become a doctor. It’s great to dream but so often our dreams stop there, particularly for African American children. The doctors and astronauts, they tend to see may not be African American and this can be a little disheartening. This dream then, remains a dream and becomes harder to conceptualize because the majority of the brothers and sisters they know are struggling like them. Growing up in an urban environment where negative patterns of life are ever-present makes it hard to see yourself “becoming the butterfly . There have been, however, many African Americans to rise up through their oppression and become prominent figures in the community and, on a larger scale, the world.
In this lesson, children will discover some of these famous people and see that hard times did not start with themselves but extends back into history. As mentioned earlier in the paper, there were people such as Louis Armstrong and Richard Wright who grew up very poor. It is important for the children to know how those before them made the best of what they had and remained optimistic.
Activity:
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Choose one African American leader from the list below and read about their life:
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Frederick Douglass
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Sojourner Truth
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Louis Armstrong
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B.B. King
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Oprah Winfrey
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Wilma Rudolph
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Use a Venn diagram to compare themselves and their lives to that famous person.
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Pretend they are now famous people in society (can use aspirations from previous lesson). Write an autobiography about their life and include the hurdles they had to overcome (try to use real life hurdles).
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Bind the document and make it a book.
Evaluation:
Completed autobiographies
Lesson #5—Goal:
Continue to expose students to those that have endured tribulation.
Objective:
Compare the lives of slaves to the lives of the “Buffalo Soldier” .
Vocabulary:
Buffalo soldier, slave, *bloodletting, gumbo box, heroic medicine, Johnkannaus, Jumping the Broom, pattyrollers, peck, peru-bark.
Materials:
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audio recording of Buffalo soldier (Bob Marley), copies of
Letters From a Slave Girl
, paper, pencils.
Background
This lesson will allow students to learn of other not so well known African Americans who may have had it harder than most. In this lesson, students will read letters written by Mary Lyons but based on the autobiography of Harriet Jacobs. Harriet Jacobs was a women enslaved from birth. Going through many ups and downs (times where she thought she would be freed but wasn’t), Harriet finally experiences freedom.
Like the war that Harriet had to fight, the Buffalo soldiers were in war too. In the late 1800’s, thousands of black calvarymen were recruited by the United States government to open the West. They had many jobs but among them were the battles fought against the Native Americans to strip them of their freedom. This story shows how Blacks and Native Americans were put against each other in an effort to survive.
In the vast land of the West, men of two outcast races met in battle for more than twenty years, while the government that hated them both imposed white dominion over them and their people (Cox, 1993). It is depressing to think of what their lives were like but even in defeat, they acted with incredible heroism. This is what will be recognized in both of the stories as we look for their similarities.
The former reggae singer, Bob Marley, recorded a song entitled “Buffalo Soldier”. The relationship will also be observed between this song and the two stories.
Activity:
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Discover role and importance of the Buffalo soldier in the late 1800’s (teacher directed) then read (individually) narrative,
Letters From a Slave Girl
. Discuss the story and write an essay comparing Harriet Jacobs’s life to the life of a Buffalo soldier.
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Listen to Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier” and analyze the lyrics. Take the first eight lines of the song and rewrite them to fit the life of Harriet Jacobs (work in groups). Sing song for the class.
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Note-—source of information for Buffalo Soldiers is the book,
Unforgotten Heroes
by Clinton Cox. For complete citation, please see bibliography.
Evaluation:
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Essay
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Song
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* The meanings for these vocabulary terms can be found in the back of
Letters From a Slave Girl
.
Lessons #6 and 7—Goal:
Recognize the history in African American cemeteries.
Objectives:
Students will research their own genealogy and build monuments that represent who they are.
Vocabulary:
family tree, monument
Materials:
toothpicks, oaktag, woodglue, white glue, utility knife, boxes of different sizes, scissors, hole puncher, string, duct tape, masking tape, construction paper, crayons, markers, and other art supplies you want to use.
I have chosen to put the two lessons together, but they can be separated.
Background
We cannot go forward unless we realize that we are important and have worth. We have to feel good about ourselves in some aspect if we intend to make it. Suicides occur because people have lost all hope in the world and themselves. This attitude of “giving up’ is not indicative of the blues culture and it is certainly not the attitude we want our youth to have.
The first activity will show children how to find out about their family beyond their grandparents. In completing this activity, it is my hope that and increased level of self pride will occur. I strongly believe that so many other nationalities and races generally succeed because they know their past. Their relatives sat them down and told them of Aunt So-and-So who survived the Holocaust. They share with their children how an uncle was physically and mentally tormented during the Vietnam War. Those people know their family history and we need to know ours. Creating a family tree is a way in which to begin (this lesson can also be a segueway into a unit on families).
What better way to end the unit than by building a monument dedicated to you. Historically, funerary procedures for African Americans were very important. Many of those enslaved believed that after their death they would return home—to Africa, so burial customs included making the resting place (cemetery/grave) just right, so the spirit could move in peace. Objects such as lamps, coins, broken possessions, and even bed frames were placed on the graves to “help the spirit on its journey home. These artistic expressions survived for years and may still live in the hearts and minds of some. Whether in death or life, however, it is important to have peace. We need to be at peace with ourselves—who we are—so we can move forward.
In the second part of this lesson, students will build monuments (instead of tombstones) and put on it things that say who they are; things that bring them peace. They can make it any size they want but it must be their own work. They will be dedicated at a closing ceremony.
Activity:
Family trees—
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Talk with family members, go to the library and gather information on their family as far back as they can go.
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Bring information to school and organize it from the oldest relative.
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Using toothpicks and glue, design a tree on oaktag with many levels (branches) for family members.
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Record the names of family members starting with the oldest at the roots. Pictures may be added after the names have been recorded.
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Share trees and reflect on the effort put into finding information and making the tree. Punch a hole in the top of the oaktag and hang them for display.
Monuments—
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Bring in boxes of different sizes/shapes.
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Use the boxes and other art supplies to design and build personal monuments. Put on it whatever makes them feel special and important (pictures, words, songs, sayings, etc.). Encourage students to make their monument the way they want it—not the way someone else wants theirs.
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Teacher will organize an official dedication ceremony where everyone will unveil their monument and explain (if they wish) what they did. Note: teachers may want to invite parents to the unveiling.