Resume

Joan C. King

THE LANGUAGE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT:
A UNIT IN HISTORY, ENGLISH, AND TECHNOLOGY LITERACIES

This unit provides both rich context for studying poetry and a tangible end-product that students will be excited to show to others. The rich context is the U.S. Civil Rights movement (and its sister, the Black Arts movement), during which major American writers such as Langston Hughes, Sonia Sanchez and Gwendolyn Brooks created some of their finest work. The tangible end-product is a simple Microsoft Word-based website designed and developed by students working in pairs. The site features a work of poetry and the students' analysis of it and its relationship to the movement. Studying poetry in its historical context and applying new knowledge to a new technology will help students retain the competency gained in this unit.

Objectives
1. Students will apply critical thinking skills and a command of cultural history to analysis of works by African-American poets.
2. Students will compare and contrast the styles of the two most influential leaders of the U.S. Civil Rights movement, and describe various techniques of persuasion.
3. Students will understand ways in which the civil rights struggle rages on today
4. Students will demonstrate their ability to use Microsoft Word to create a simple web page with hyperlinks to their analysis

Grade level: 10th

Time: Twelve 50-minute periods.

Activities/Learning Events/Directions
Day 1: Overview of the Civil Rights Movement and timeline (30 minutes). Play John Coltrane music. Read and discuss "Harlem (What happens to a dream deferred)" by Langston Hughes (1951). Speculate as to why African American writers produced more poetry during this period than novels. Exit card at end of class period.
Day 2: Introduce assignment to create poetry website. Discuss and distribute the steps for creating the site and the rubric. Read aloud the five poems about which students will create websites:
"I am a Black Woman" by Mari Evans (1969)
"Did John's Music Kill Him" by A. B. Spellman (1969)
"For Saundra" by Nikki Giovanni (1968)
"Nikki-Rosa" by Nikki Giovanni (1968)
"Malcolm X" by Gwendolyn Brooks (1968)
Demonstrate "Negro Speaks of Rivers" website as an example. Break into pairs. Allow each pair to choose their two top poems, and divide poems as evenly as possible. Begin working on a close reading of the poems in pairs, using a close reading guide. After class activity: continue to work on close reading (due at end of class Day 5).
Day 3: Overview of Malcolm X. Audio excerpt from "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech; Read "Malcolm X" by Gwendolyn Brooks. Write accordian poem as a class, and have a student read it aloud. Read
Day 4. Read Overview of Martin Luther King, Jr. (15 minutes) Audio excerpt from ""I Have a Dream" speech. As a class, draw a Venn diagram comparing beliefs of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Read "Status Symbol" by Mari Evans (1964).
Day 5. Computer lab day. Student pairs further analyze the poem (allusions, symbols, etc.) and search for biographical information, pictures and related sites on the Internet. By end of class, students will have typed the text of their poems. Close reading guide due.
Day 6. Discussion of autobiography and letter as literary forms. Silent reading of excerpt from Letter from Birmingham Jail (King) and Autobiography of Malcolm X (Chapter 11 [about Malcolm X's imprisonment]). As a class, revise/expand the Venn diagram comparing beliefs and add comparison of influence strategies.
Day 7: Computer lab day. Students type the analysis and links on the bottom of the poem.
Day 8: Computer lab day. Teach students to create links, and let them finish.
Day 9: Run-through day. Student pairs show their websites to another pair, evaluate each other, make revisions.
Day 10: Discuss how a current court case has reopened the Civil Rights movement by reading the New York Times article "In One Last Trial, Alabama Faces Old Wound." Journal: Respond to the statement of Alpha Robertson, the mother of Carole Robertson, who was killed in the Birmingham church bombing: "You can't waste a life hating people because all they do is live their life, laughing, doing more evil."
Day 11: Student presentations
Day 12: Student presentations or contingency day.

Methods for Evaluating Teaching
If students are engaged in the discussion and successful with the website exercise, the Venn Diagram, the close reading guide and the journal, I will have been successful. In addition, the exit card on the first day will indicate student engagement.

Methods for Assessing Learning
Midpoint assessment is enabled by the quality of class discussion, the close reading guide, and observation of students working on the websites. End of unit assessment is based on the journal and the website. Websites can earn a maximum of 50 points. Websites will be evaluated based on (1) the quality and quantity of links to original student commentary and other sources on the Web - maximum 11 points - (2) the quality, specificity, and variety of the student commentary, explanations and definitions - maximum 29 points - (3) the attractiveness and organization of the site - maximum 4 points - (4) the mechanics of the site (i.e., the links work!) - maximum 6 points.

Materials
Exit cards, poems reproduced on transparencies and on paper, Audio Companion of The Norton Anthology of African American Literature (speeches), CD player, Make it Plain (Malcolm X documentary; 150 minutes, King: Montgomery to Memphis (video; 103 minutes), VCR, overhead projector, blank transparencies, transparency pens (for Venn diagram), close reading guide, excerpt from King, Malcolm X, and New York Times reproduced on paper, website instructions and rubric reproduced on paper.

Teacher Resources
Books:
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, ed. Gates and McKay (poems and biographical sketches)
Reader's Handbook by Jim Burke. (close reading guide on page 714), Venn on page 756, Elements of Poetry, pages 424-443)
Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years by Taylor Branch.
Websites:
www.myschoolonline.com/content_gallery/ 0,3138,11342-155128-14-3485,00.html (a timeline of the Civil Rights movement)
http://mailman.bildung.hessen.de/pipermail/bilingual/2002-May/001179.html (New York Times article and discussion questions)
Other:
"Hyper Poetry: Style Analysis for the 21st Century" Diane Tinucci (presented at 2002 NCTE Annual Convention). Booklet and diskette. The instructions and rubric are in the booklet; the example, "Negro Speaks of Rivers," is on the diskette.