ASSURE - Lesson Plan
Civil Rights
Introduction
Lisa Scharf
A:
Analyze Learners:
This lesson is designed for 10th grade U.S. History students. The students in my classes range in skills greatly. There are students in the classes who should be in honors or advanced placement level courses, and in contrast there are some unmotivated students who seek to do the bare minimum. At the start of the school year, students completed an inventory on learning styles. The majority of my students described themselves as predominantly visual or kinesthetic learners. Students are of a middle-class background, and the majority of students are in the middle, “college preparatory,” academic track. Class sizes vary from 26 to 13 to 16, and of the 55 students, 54 are Caucasian. The school is more than 96% white, so most students have no experience with people of other cultures.
The pre-existing knowledge that students need to have to be successful include a general knowledge of the Civil Rights movement. Students will also need to utilize their knowledge gained from last semester of U.S. History. Last semester, students studied post-Civil War restrictions placed on the lives of African Americans, including: poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, Jim Crow laws, and the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. For this lesson, students will need to utilize visual, listening, and cooperative learning skills.
S:
State Objectives:
From the State of Ohio, Social Studies Benchmarks, Grades 9 – 10:
· Analyze the origins, major developments, controversies, and consequences of the civil rights movement with emphasis on:
a. Brown v. Board of Education
b. Changes in goals and tactics of leading civil rights advocates and
organizations
c. The linkages between the civil rights movement and movements to gain
justice for other minority groups
The State of Ohio objectives listed above are utilized as unit objectives.
Lesson Objectives:
· In pairs and based on prior knowledge, the students will be able to formulate a list of at least ten examples of the problems and inequalities that African Americans faced prior to the Civil Rights Movement.
· After viewing the video, The Fifties: Volume 6, the students will be able to summarize in written form, racism present in the Emmet Till story.
· After viewing the video, The Fifties: Volume 6, the students will be able to verbally explain their emotional reactions to the film.
· As a class, following the discussion of the video, the students will be able to create at least four additional examples of problems and inequalities that African Americans faced prior to the Civil Rights Movement.
S:
Select Methods, Media, and Materials:
Since the students have prior knowledge of examples of racism against African Americans, the class will start the Civil Rights unit by reviewing. Students will be allowed to choose a partner and together they will have a little over five minutes to make a list of the problems or inequalities that African Americans before civil rights protests. Each pair will try to create a list of at least ten items that show discrimination against minorities. The use of partners will help students build off of one another’s prior knowledge. After the majority of pairs are finished, the class will share their lists. On the chalkboard or on the overhead projector, the teacher will create a master list based on the responses of the partners. The verbal learners will benefit from hearing their classmates share their lists of U.S. race problems, while the visual learners will benefit from seeing the list written as their classmates share.
For a transition, the teacher should explain to the class that this list clearly shows there was a need for the Civil Rights Movement, as there were so many inequalities that needed to be addressed. Obviously, there were even more issues that effected race relations. The class will be watching the first 18 minutes of the following video:
Halberstam, D. (1997). The Fifties: Volume 6: The rage within and the road to the sixties.
History
Channel. New York: A & E Home
Video.
This tape introduces the race issues found in 1950’s America. It explains one of the most important pre-Civil Rights era court cases, the Emmet Till case. The visual learners will benefit from watching the interviews and still images relating to the event, while the verbal learners will benefit from the moving narration.
Another important material needed for students is a video questions sheet. This is important to keep students focused on the video content. It will also give the teacher a method to evaluate how closely the students paid attention, while viewing the film. The last important method in this lesson is to return to the large group discussion. The class will come together to share their feelings and opinions about the viewing. This should help students to recognize the emotional effect that the topic had on them, as they viewed. This will give students of all learning styles and ability levels the chance to share and connect with the story.
The class will then conclude by adding on to the initial list of pre-Civil Rights racial issues. The viewing should give the class more examples of problems that needed to be addressed by protestors in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.
U: Utilize Media and Materials:
R:
Require Learner Participation:
While working in pairs, each student will have a specific role. Both are expected to contribute to the formation of the list. One student will act as the recorder, while they create their list. The other student will serve as the reporter, who will share the list during the class discussion. All groups are expected to participate in the discussion and will earn participation points for their contributions. During the viewing of the video, students will be actively watching and listening. They will each be answering questions over what they see, so that they are engaged in identifying the key points of the tape. When the video is complete, students will be involved in sharing their opinions on the Till case. Students will be actively involved, because the case is very emotionally charged. Class members will again need to participate for points during the discussion. The more quiet students will be called on to give their opinions as the class debriefs after the viewing. Finally, the learners will participate in the final discussion, where they will add on to the list of discriminatory problems that existed prior to the Civil Rights Movement.
E: Evaluate and Revise:
Students will be evaluated for participation points. As students take part in the conversation, points will be recorded in the grade book, when they answer a question or share information. From the discussion in class, the teacher will determine whether or not the students displayed an understanding of the lesson concepts. Students will also be evaluated by grading the class work questions over the video. The materials will be evaluated during the lesson, as the teacher looks for and listens to the students’ reactions to the viewing of the film.
After the implementation of the lesson, I was able to determine that students gained a stronger understanding of pre-Civil Rights discrimination through the watching of the video. As a large group, the students were able to add on to the discrimination issues list, after the viewing. From the video debriefing, I was able to determine that the students not only learned the tragic story of Emmet Till, but also that the video choice itself was a strong choice in creating an affective learning experience. Students were clearly moved by the story and angered at the lack of justice. This lesson provided a strong introduction that motivated the predominantly white students to have an interest in why the Civil Rights Movement was so important and necessary.
For future lessons, I would revise the in-class video questions. The first four questions are said too quickly and the only way that students can catch them is through pausing and helping students with the answers. Also, the first few questions are out of chronological order. This takes away from the more student-centered approach, where they should be relying on their own listening and viewing skills to find the answers.
The final way, I would like to revise the lesson would be to add elements of instruction that assist students who are kinesthetic learners. Students were active in the lesson, but did not leave their seats, except for their initial pairings. Trying to find a way to incorporate movement or a hands-on experience would help these learners more than the lesson does as it is currently written.