Review

Discuss Kizzy Ann Stamps

Book Talks: Civil Rights books; other books

YA Lit in civil rights units

Looking at “Unit Plan” assignment

3-28-13

Last week, we looked at a variety of ways to use poetry to teach and

assess content.

Do you have any lingering questions?

Book talks

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech

That envelope and the writing paper are so creamy and thick. . . . I haven’t ever held on to paper like that before. Mrs. Warren gave us paper to write our letters to you. I go to her house each time I need new paper and she gives me more. She told me she will give me as much as I want, but paper is not something we just have lots of sitting around. I didn’t even know it came in different types. I guess there are lots of things I don’t know, though.

from Kizzy Ann Stamps, 3-4

[Frank Charles] lives on the next farm over, and even though we have farmed our place for nigh onto three generations (my ancestors got it fair and square after the war), Mr. Feagans doesn’t take kindly to having darkies (that’s what he calls us, and I really hate that word) living so close. He even moved his homeplace across his land and built a whole new house so as not to have to see our land when he gets up of a morning. I wonder how Frank Charles feels, seeing cows in his old living room and hay stored up tighter than a tick on a dog’s head in the whole upstairs of his childhood. (21-22)

“Most of the teachers won’t eve look at us kids,” he said. “They don’t call our names on the roll, and you can’t take tests since you didn’t show up on the roll according to the way they call it. If anybody asks, they say you didn’t come to class, because you didn’t answer the roll. But of course, you didn’t answer because they didn’t call your name. I heard them talking—they call it their ‘silent protest.’ They say that Dr. King isn’t the only one who can have a nonviolent protest. They don’t give us textbooks so we can’t study, and they don’t call on us in class, even if we raise our hands. It’s like we’re invisible.

“The one time a teacher did speak to me, he said, ‘Mister, they may tell me I have to let you in my room, but they can’t make me teach you. So there.’” (97)

March 13, 1964

I won the bee! The words pouring over my mind, spilling off my tongue! I’m going to Richmond! The rush of beautiful words. I was not amazed at the hug from you—I know by now that you really do love me even if you are white and I am not—but when the crowd gasped, I thought we were in trouble. I think Mrs. Warren saved the day when she came up and wrapped you and me both in a hug that stunned us all. (157)

March 21, 1964

Yes, ma’am. I see. I should have known that winning the spelling bee wouldn’t have meant I could really go. Of course they wouldn’t have a way to reserve a room for a black girl in the hotel. Of course that will mean the runner-up, Laura Westover, will have to go. Of course I understand. You owe me no apology. This is the way things are. This is the way things are for me.

(166)

“Gifted Hands” trailerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31kep9XRHcU

What other passages from Kizzy Ann Stamps might you use in conjunction with, say, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” or other often-studied texts?

How might you use other YA books for civil-rights or civil-rights-era units of study?

Part 1:Introductory

Activities

Part 2:Major “Content”

of the Workbeing Studied

Part 3:ConcludingActivities

& Final Assessment

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

sDaily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

sDaily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Presentation of Projects

and/or Exam

Sample 11-day “Unit”

Part 1:Introductory

Activities

Part 2:Major “Content”

of the Workbeing Studied

Part 3:ConcludingActivities

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

s

Presentation of Projects

and/or Exam

Sample 5-day “Unit”

Possible Units:

• American RevolutionYA component: YA graphic novels for content

• Author StudyYA component: YA author(s)

• Rhetoric of “Letter from Birmingham Jail”YA component: various YA novels

• Literature of WarYA component: Things a Brother Knows

• Genre Study: DystopiasYA component: 2 or 3 YA dystopian novels as

options

• Unit Overview (narrative: mention goals, standards, rationale; “arc” of study)

• Lesson Plans (outline or narrative OK)

• Supplemental Documentss (study sheets/questions, ppts, texts)

• Assessments (quizzes, tests, paper assignments, rubrics)

What You Need to Turn In:

In short, provide enough material to allow a colleague to use or adapt the unit for his/her own class.

Create whatever documents or files you would use for yourself (such as lesson plans, lecture notes, and PowerPoint or Prezi presentations), plus everything you would give to students (such as handouts, assignment directions, study questions, quizzes, review sheets, and exams) for the unit. Create the materials in electronic form (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or html files) and post them on the "Sample Units" page on the class wiki. (If you have trouble posting, you may email the files to me and I will post them for you.)

Grading - This assignment is the big "take-away" from this class. It is therefore the most heavily weighted assignment, at 30 points. I will grade the unit holistically, focusing on the theoretical soundness of your use of YA lit, the thoroughness of the documents (that is, the degree to which everything necessary for the unit is included, so a colleague could use the posted materials to teach the unit), and the general practicality or feasability of the unit. Grades will be assigned as follows:Superior: 27-30 pts; Above Average: 24-26 pts; Adequate: 21-23 pts; Less Than Adequate: 0-20 pts.

From the website:

Posting your work (due April 11):

Questions?

Looking Ahead:

April 4 – spring break; no class

April 11 – Unit Plan due; explain plan briefly in class

April 18 – Final Exam due; wrap-up and celebration