Celebrate Black History Month!

Wednesday, 2/3/2010

Honor African American Heritage this month with in-depth standards-based lesson plans. We’ve broken the lessons down by grade band, but many can be modified or adapted to fit your class.

Grades K-2

• The Underground Railroad, Scholastic: Students experience the sights and sounds of the Underground Railroad with this online interactive lesson. The in-depth teacher’s guide features creative tips to help guide and augment the interactive tour.
• Mankala Counting Game, FamilyFun.com: Students will learn about African culture and tradition while refining their counting skills with this fun craft/game.
• Rosa Parks Shape Book, ABCTeach.com: Students can cut out and illustrate this shape book that tells Rosa Parks’ story.

Grades 3-5

• Slave Narratives: Constructing US History Through Analyzing Primary Sources, EdSitement (National Endowment for the Humanities): Students read several short narratives from the Born in Slavery project, and create story pyramids about each. They compare and contrast the vastly differing view-points and experiences of the former slaves, and discuss how first-person narratives offer history in a unique way.
• Protest Signs, Smithsonian Museum of American History/Thinkfinity.org:  Students compare and contrast two protest signs from the Civil Rights Movement, and use them as a model create one of their own.

Grades 6-8

• The Poet’s Voice: Langston Hughes and You, EdSitement: Students study several poems by Langston Hughes to create a working definition of voice in poetry. Students then write their own poetry that expresses their personal voice.
• Justice is Blind, Colorblind That Is, New York Times Learning Network: Students compare and contrast two New York Times articles, one from 1954 and another from today about Supreme Court Decisions regarding race and segregation in education. Students then create a “conversation” between the historic and modern perspective.

Grades 9-12

• Birth of a Nation, the NAACP and the Balancing of Rights, EdSitement: In this lesson, students learn about the film Birth of a Nation and its historical and social ramifications on the Civil Rights Movement.
• Slavery and the American Founding: Inconsistency Not to Be Excused, EdSitement: Students study primary documents from America’s founders, and discuss and write short essays about their views about slavery.

General Resources:

• National African American Read-in: NCTE and the Black Caucus of NCTE encourage you to host a read-in in your classroom, library or community. This can be as simple as getting together a few friends to read a book by an African American, or as elaborate as arranging for guest speakers or creating a media presentation to go along with the book. Visit NCTE.org for a suggested reading list.
• New York Times Learning Network: The Learning Network lists dozens of fantastic lesson plans and articles. As all feature New York Times articles, historical and contemporary, it’s a great way to incorporate secondary sources into Civil Rights lessons.

Posted by » walden
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