The following three lesson plans are designed to illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of this unit. One focuses almost exclusively on information concerning black baseball, while another uses material from the unit’s content as a means of developing reading skills, and the final plan links black baseball with the Civil Rights Movement. Hopefully, the information and suggestions given in the narrative portion of this unit will provide the teacher with many other avenues to approach learning in their particular classroom.
Lesson One: Our Own Baseball Cards
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Subject Matter Areas: Social Studies, Language Arts, Art
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Vocabulary: Trading cards, logo
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Objectives: To develop the ability to research individuals and summarize the basic information on that person’s life.
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To decide on material appropriate for printing on each player’s card.
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To design a logo and graphic setting for your particular set of cards.
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To create your own set of trading cards of Negro League baseball players.
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As pupils begin to realize that during their lifetime many superior baseball players were denied the respect and rewards they were due merely because they happened to be born black, they should be ready to do their small part to right these injustices. They will create their own set of baseball trading cards for members of the Negro Leagues which they have or will research.
Though there are some Negro League trading cards commercially available, the number is dwarfed by representations of white players from the same time periods. In recent years a number of commercial sets have been created. I have obtained a relatively large set which I will show to the class, but these cards lack information on birth, death, and any available career statistics. If pupils chose to include statistics on their cards, it must be noted that most are estimates, since accurate records were not usually the rule.
When creating their own set each pupil will begin by selecting ten players they wish to represent on their cards. This number may be expanded if time and ability allow. Pupils will then decide what information each wishes to include on the back of each card. A number of formats are possible, but the setup will be limited by the available space and the means of reproducing the material. Typing by the teacher or student will provide the most order and clarity.
After students have researched and summarized the material they will include on their card, they will be ready to select an appropriate picture for each card. Besides those depicted on the set of commercially produced cards which I have, there are many small photos from information found on the Internet or in text books on the subject. These will be set in some type of boarder or logo which the student creates.
The actual means of producing the cards will vary depending on the materials available and the skill of the teacher. In simplest form, they could be produced on ditto paper and copied. To make them more substantial, they could be copied on thicker paper or pasted to oak tag or some other type of cardboard. Color might be added to the boarder or logo once the final product is available. The cards may then be shared with other pupils, classes, and/or displayed on a bulletin board. Students might even do what the cards’ name indicates: trade them.
Lesson Two: Using Unit Content to Develop Degrees of Reading Power
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Subject Matter Areas: Reading, Social Studies
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Vocabulary: Will vary with each lesson developed.
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Objectives: To develop skill at using various context clues to identify unknown words and as a result to develop reading power.
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To reinforce introduce or reenforce information related to the unit’s content.
The goal of developing independent readers is a primary objective of the elementary school. One means of achieving this goal is through an approach which teaches pupils to look for various clues within the context of the material being read as a means of recognizing and understanding unfamiliar words which the student may encounter. Besides teaching these techniques for unlocking unfamiliar words, this approach trains pupils to read more carefully, resulting in an overall improvement in comprehension. All New Haven teachers are familiar with this program designed to increase each pupil’s “degrees of reading power.” There are a wide variety of materials available to use while working with students in such a program. Basically, these materials provide paragraphs where key words have been omitted. Students are asked to find the appropriate word from among four choices, all of which could “fit” within the sentence’s structure, but only one makes sense within the context of the larger piece. Students learn to explore the context before and after the missing word in order to find clues which will help in identifying the missing word. The important skills developed here are the procedures used to explore the context for clues and developing the ability to recognize and utilize these clues.
In this lesson plan, I suggest using material related to the unit’s content to create original worksheets which may be used to develop the skills discussed above. This would have the advantage of serving as reading instruction material as well as a source and, even, review of information related to the unit. It’s primary function, however, would be to improve the student’s reading ability. Initially, the important procedure to follow would focus on the context that leads one to the appropriate missing word. Discussion relative to content could then follow. It is best to use material with information that pupils have not yet encountered, since this would eliminate the use of previous knowledge to identify the word. If, however, this happens to be the case, the experience of finding the context clues which unlock the missing word is still of considerable value. The completed worksheets could be saved in a folder for future reference related to this unit’s content.
Here is a brief sample, related to the life of Jackie Robinson.
Jackie Robinson
Read each section of these statements about Jackie Robinson. Select the appropriate missing word from the choices listed below. Be ready to identify the clues which lead to your selection. You may underline those word which helped you make your choice.
On the opening day of the 1947 baseball season, a new Brooklyn Dodger rookie stepped up to bat. It was his ________ year in the Major Leagues.
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a. last
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b. first
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c. only
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d. third
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After Jackie’s father ________ the family, Jackie’s mother moved to California with the children. On her own, she worked to keep the family together .
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a. worked
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b. saluted
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c. left
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d. cooked
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Jackie immediately boarded a ship for California. He didn’t wait a second. He left ______.
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a. at once
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b. later
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c. quietly
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d. alone
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Jackie ignored insults. He never fought. He always tried to hold his ________.
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a. bat
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b. hand
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c. glove
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d. temper
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Many fans liked the way Jackie played. When he came to bat, they would ________.
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a. boo
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b. cheer
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c. leave
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d. sleep
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Many people soon changed their opinion of Jackie. It ________ take a long time for them to appreciate his skills.
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a. will
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b. might
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c. didn’t
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d. did
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Lesson Three: Compare and Contrast Jackie Robinson and Ruby Bridge
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Subject Matter Areas: Social Studies, Language Arts, Social Development
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Vocabulary: Integrate, prejudice, separate but equal, segregate
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Objectives: To be able to compare and contrast the experiences faced by Ruby Bridges and Jackie Robinson as they each integrated a previously all-white domain.
To be able to express, orally and in writing, the similarities and differences between these two situations and the individuals involved.
In the course of this unit, pupils will observe a number of films related to the life of Jackie Robinson. They will also read related material and see numerous photographs of Jackie taken at various times throughout his life. They should become relatively familiar with the events leading up to his hiring as the first African American in the Major Leagues, the struggles he was forced to endure, and the personal traits which characterized him as an individual.
As part of the student’s investigation of related events in the area of Civil Rights, pupils will focus on school desegregation. After appropriate investigation and discussion, they will be shown the Disney film about Ruby Bridges, a six year old African American student who integrates an elementary school in New Orleans in 1960. The film clearly shows the trials which Ruby had to endure. It easily stimulates questions and discussion from students who are able to relate to Ruby in many ways.
Once pupils are familiar with both individuals and their role in integration, they should be able to make comparisons and contrasts between the two. Suggested areas to explore include the negative treatment they both received, their courage, their temperament, how they may have felt at various points during their experiences, support from their family, support from positive white figures, and the value of their contributions, their legacy. Pupils might write letters to either or both Ruby and Jackie commenting of their lives and/or asking pertinent questions. They might also create diaries pretending that they are Jackie or Ruby reliving some important event they have just experienced.
Such discussion and writing could easily lead into examples of integration in the area of lunch counters, buses, other public facilities, and housing. There is also a film, “The Ernest Green Story,” about the experiences of Ernest Green and others who integrated Little Rock’s Central High School. This film would further reinforce the material covered in these activities.