The main point of the unit is to engage kids using the same analytical skills they would use on a written text that they would on a visual text. My hope is by having students hone these skills using a visual text that is less language rich, the students will be able to focus mostly on their ability to decipher the texts without the language barriers.
Lesson One: Introduction to the Six Hats
This activity can be approached in several different ways. For my students, they are more productive when they are provided the opportunity to do something over multiple days. I would present the first part of the activity on Day 1, but then do each additional part over several days, combined with reading the text, A Raisin in the Sun. It could also be presented all at once without some of the reinforcement pieces that are designed to reactivate prior knowledge given that time will have passed between different parts of the lesson.
To begin with, I would give students a limited amount of time to respond to the journal prompt: describe a time you had to make a difficult decision and explain how you made it. After giving students time to just write, students would then be provided the opportunity to share with the class what they wrote.
After the journal prompt, students would be provided a copy of a diagram of the six thinking hats with questions to keep in the binders. Students will give it a specific page number so they will be able to refer back to it throughout the unit. The teacher will briefly review the key points of each hat on the worksheet having the students highlight critical words to develop understanding of the definition of each hat. 33
After completing this, students will then have an opportunity to watch a small section of Bill Duke’s 1989 production of A Raisin in the Sun and practice using the six hats technique.
On the second day, students would begin students will view a video from the Big Ideas Growing Minds channel on YouTube called “Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono: Animated Summary.” During the video, the students will be asked to take additional notes on the six hats.
Students would then take a short assessment asking them to identify the meaning of the six hats while also rating their comfort with the hats. Based on this information, I would spend more time reviewing and providing opportunities for students to work on a balance of hats they felt most comfortable with as well as well as ones they didn’t. In whole group opportunities, I would limit the hats to 2 to 3 hats per discussion initially. Later, in smaller group assignments, students would be provided individual hats and they would rotate.
Lesson Two: Comparing Multiple Versions of a Film
Throughout the unit, students will be reading the text in a mix of whole class situations, listening to audio, and watching video productions of the play. It will be important for students to understand that plays can be interpreted different ways and that no one way is right or wrong. The main purpose of this activity is for students to not only notice how different directors approach material, but to realize that there are often no right and wrong answers when it comes to literature. Students should feel comfortable interpreting things their own way as long as they can support their interpretation (red hat) with facts (white hat) while also thinking critically (black and yellow hats).
To start the activity, students would be provided several movie / theatrical posters advertising different versions of A Raisin in the Sun. Students will use the six hats technique to look at what specifically is being brought to the forefront in order to entice an audience. As part of the process, students will be asked to consider who the audience for these movies is. As a final reflection, students will be asked to compare the movie art based on the time period (1960s vs. 1980s vs. 2000s) and react to any similarities or differences they notice in the art. Individually, students will then be asked to design a theatre / movie poster for a modern day representation of the play and consider the audience they are trying to target.
Activity Three: The Spiral Group- Art as Protest
Students will be asked to explain what role art plays in bringing about change in the world? After giving them some time to write and respond, the teacher will then provide some brief background information about the Spiral Group before providing the students the opportunity to read “'Why Spiral?': Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden, and Others on the 'Contradictions Facing Them in Modern America,' in 1966.” Students will be asked to identify the main idea of the article.
Afterwards, students will examine art work using the six hat method. Examples of art by the Spiral Group artists can be found in the Content section. It may be helpful to start with some of the more concrete images before moving to the abstract. Still allow students the opportunity to explain their thoughts on the abstract pieces.
As a final part of this assignment, students will create a piece of art in the style of one of the artists about a topic of their choice. This could be used later in the final project.
Lesson Four: Lorraine Hansberry- Activist
A critical piece of this unit asks the students to understand that there is a link between art and protest. Often, when students are studying writers, they are provided any background information on the writer. For this activity, students will not only get background knowledge, but they will also dig deeper into who Hansberry is as a person before studying her larger fictional text A Raisin in the Sun.
For the first activity, students will be asked to make a book jacket biography for Lorraine Hansberry’s work. The students will determine what they think belongs in a biography by looking at several examples from book jackets. Students will then be provided a longer biography about Lorraine Hansberry and asked to determine what should go in that biography. In small groups, students will be asked to write said biography.
On the second day, students will be provided a checklist based on what they deemed was appropriate for a biography. In their small groups, they will rate the example biographies and be asked to give suggestions on how to improve those biographies or explain why those biographies are well written. In the second half of the assignment, students will be asked to rate their own biographies and look to make improvements before turning them in.
Now that they have the author’s biographical information, the students would begin to look at her thoughts about issues.
Students will listen to Lorraine Hansberry’s speech “The Black Revolution and the White Backlash.” Students will listen to the speech once as a class, and then read it again in small groups to determine the main idea and how she goes about supporting this. After working in small groups, students will be asked to share as a class to determine as a class what Hansberry’s message.
After completing this, students will be asked to write a short letter 1-2 paragraphs in response to Hansberry’s speech.
As a homework assignment, students would be asked to watch Michael Schultz’s 1972 production of To Be Young, Black, and Gifted independently. Like in the theatrical poster activity, students would be asked to make a movie poster for the film using details from their viewing.
Activity Five: Writers in Conversation – Hansberry and Hughes
A critical understanding in this unit is the student’s recognition of themselves as not just readers, but writers. That the purpose of reading is not just to study how someone else works, but to improve their own communication by improving their own writing. To this purpose, students will analyze Langston Hughes’ poem Harlem and consider its relationship to the work A Raisin in the Sun.
To start off with, students will examine the poem Harlem through the lens of the six hats. In particular, it will be important for students to consider the white hat, the red hat, and the yellow and black hats. When initially examining the poem, the student’s purpose will be to understand what Hughes is trying to get across. Students should also consider the imagery evoked by Langston Hughes words.
After examining the poem, students will be asked to create an artistic representation of the poem in a medium of their choice: colored pencils, markers, crayons, craft supplies, electronic media, or video. Students will be given a period to plan and then to execute their art project. Upon completion, students will briefly explain in a well-developed paragraph why this represents the art.
After they are completed, students will go around and use the white hats to explain what they see in different people’s work. This is to build to a larger activity where the students are examining each other’s work more deeply. Given my students haven’t had a chance to interact much do to the pandemic, I would keep this to just white hats at first, but feel free to make adjustments based on your own classes.
Activity Six: Conflict Resolution & the Six Hats
Social emotional learning has become incredibly important in the last few years and has continued to be pushed to the forefront with the pandemic. It is important that students are being opportunities to consider their emotional well-being. One of those areas is conflict resolution. With this lesson, students will be provided the opportunity to use the six hats technique to consider conflicts that different characters face in the book and to help them come to a decision that may be similar or different based on the six hats process.
The teacher should model this process using an example from the text. It would be my suggestion that the teacher direct students to the confrontation between Mama and Walter Lee regarding the money. The teacher will take the students through the hats (white, red, yellow, and black). Regarding the blue hat, students will be asked to think about what the thought process is of both Mama and Walter Lee in that scene. With the green hat, students will determine what they feel is an appropriate action for both Mama and Walter to make based on the chart.
Students will then be provided four separate conflicts from the text from a part they already red. They will then take the opportunity to use the six hats to come up with a solution.
This activity, once introduced, could be broken up over several days as a way to start class and monitor student understanding of the six hats.
Activity Seven: Green Hat Artists
In the culminating project, students will be given the opportunity to be the artist and create art that is based on something they feel is important to them.
In the first activity, students will be asked what causes might be important to them. The teacher will then pull four pro / con articles based on student interest. This should be catered to your group of students. Based on my current population, the eighth graders are impacted by things like racial discrimination, immigration, LGBTQ rights, and gender equality among others.
After students have read the articles, students will be asked to consider their thoughts on the article in the form of either a formal reflection, a letter to the writer, or an artistic response to the work which would include a brief explanation of how the work represents their reaction to the article. Students will be made aware that they will be expected to create an art piece at some point and they will be able to use any of the pieces they create in this assignment as part of their final project.
For the art project, students will be asked to choose a mode of artistic expression (drawing, painting, photography, video, etc.) and to create a work that represents what they feel about the issue. For the first part, students will be asked to generate a list of three topics they might be interested in based on what they have already read in class or things from their own life. Students who are choosing a new topic will be encouraged to do additional research to develop their understanding of the issue.
Students will then be given several class sessions to develop their work of art following the steps often used in writing (pre-writing, planning, drafting, revising/editing, publishing). For the revising and editing stage, students will be asked to conference with the teacher about their work and to explain how their work is reflective of their messaging. Teacher will provide feedback on the art’s message.
Once the students have completed their art, the art will be hung in the classroom. In the final stage of this assignment, students will be asked to examine each other’s art using the 6 hats. The teacher will then facilitate discussion and the artist will learn if the meaning of their work is accurate.
After completing the discussion, students will reflect on this process as both a consumer and producer of art.