Subject: 6th Grade Language Arts – Segregation and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Allotted time: 90 minutes
Organization: large group
Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the components of a narrative by using images of segregation to write the narrative.
Student Worksheet available at http://www.trinaallen.com/rollofthunderstudent.html
Teaching mode: live
Provision for individual differences: students mix heterogeneously. The combination of teacher and student modeling will help meet the needs of different skills in the classroom. This task is open enough for all students to find success “where they are” (Gardner, 2004).
Teaching strategies: Some reading, dialogue, exemplification, discussion, critical group, planning.
Behavior Teaching Approach: The focus will be as a facilitator. Students will lead the lesson by creating the model used to demonstrate narrative writing.
Materials needed for this lesson:
oOne copy of an image representing segregation for each student, ideally with larger copies available for fine detail.
oPaper-pencil
transparency, whiteboard and markers, or chalk
oGeneral classroom supplies
Lesson activities:
Step 1. Anticipatory set: (Motivation)
oAs a review, have students write a definition of segregation. Volunteers will indicate their definitions. Write the definition on the board for students to refer to as they write their narratives. (Students should have read and discussed segregation and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry prior to this lesson.)
oDistribute pictures that represent segregation, one for each student. Or ask students to bring pictures from magazines that demonstrate segregation or reverse segregation. Hang several larger pictures on the wall so students can use them for more detail.
oStudents will examine their drawing individually for five minutes, writing the details on the worksheet.
Note: Newspapers and magazines are good sources of images for this lesson, as are the following online museum websites.
Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/index.htm
Norman Rockwell Museum http://www.nrm.org/
National Gallery of Art Online Tours http://www.nga.gov/onlinetours/index.shtm
Web Museum, Paris http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/
Step 2. Objective (Summary of learning outcomes for learners):
Students will use images of segregation related to their unit of study for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry to:
o demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of narrative writing by writing a narrative.
demonstrate connections between pictures and words by using narrative writing to build understanding of content.
use detailed vocabulary when writing your text.
Step 3. Presentation (Entry) of information:
Students will review the following characteristics of narrative writing as a whole class: develop plot, character, and setting using specific details, and order events clearly using chronological order.
Direct students’ attention to a picture on the board. Ask students to brainstorm possible events and characters this image illustrates about segregation. Place the words or phrases under the following headings on the board as students share their ideas. Ask students to fill in this information on their worksheets.
Characters Scenario Situation Feelings Vocabulary
Step 4. Modeling/Examples:
Use a character from the class table. Model writing a narrative on the board from the character’s point of view by asking students to provide details. Encourage students to describe the image and come up with an original story related to the segregation illustrated in the image. Decide as a class whether to tell the story that leads up to the image or narrate the events that follow the image. Write the events in chronological order on the board and include the character’s thoughts and feelings.
Step 5. Understanding Check:
Ask students to evaluate the story written on the board that they created by marking the blank space before each item of narrative writing that they find in the class story about segregation.
1. _____ A character’s point of view.
2. _____ Details about the character.
3. _____ Details about the environment.
4. _____ Details about the situation.
5. _____ The story was in the correct chronological order.
6. _____ The narrative contained feelings and thoughts.
Circulate as students work to check for understanding. Ask students to share their assessment to ensure that all students understand the content.
Step 6. Guided practice:
Using the image assigned to them (or the one they brought from home), students will brainstorm possible events and characters by filling in their ideas on the same chart used in Step 3:
Characters Scenario Situation Feelings Vocabulary
Circle to check understanding.
Step 7. Independent Practice:
Ask students to choose a character from the chart and write a narrative similar to the one modeled for them in step 4 from that character’s point of view. Students will invent an original story related to the segregation illustrated in the image. They will decide whether to tell the story that leads to the image or narrate the events that follow the image. They will write events in chronological order and write about the character’s feelings and thoughts.
Step 8. Closing:
Students will be assessed using the same rubric used in step five, Check for Understanding. Refer students to that assessment rubric and ask them to give the example of the story previously written on the board to illustrate each area of the rubric. Stories can be assigned as homework or completed as class work based on teacher preference.
Note: This lesson is modified from Gardner, T. (2004). A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: From Picture to Detailed Narrative, from http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=116.