I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Civil Rights

Essential Question:

What is the history of the U.S. civil rights struggle, and does it have a universal application?

Bridge:

The Music Influence

Content:

The U.S. Struggle

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: The students will understand what it means to be treated differently.

Activity: The teacher will set up the classroom with a broad aisle. Students will be separated based on their date of birth. Students born on even numbered dates will sit on one side and receive a special privileges. Students born on odd numbered dates will sit on the other side and will receive none of the special privileges.

Assessment: Teacher observation of student reaction.

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: To allow students an opportunity to reflect upon and analyze their experience and to develop an understanding of segregation and its impact upon people.

Activity: Students will participate in a free response writing to debrief the activity. Using Venn diagrams, the teacher and students will analyze and discuss the simulation experiences of each group.

Assessment: The students will turn in their writing assignments. Student participation in the creation and analysis of the diagrams will also be used as an evaluative tool.

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: To help students develop an appreciation for and an understnading of the music of the Civiil Rights Movement and the role that music played in uniting people of all races. To examine pictorial records of the Civil Rights Movement.

Activity: Students will listen to music associated with the Civil Rights Movement. Suggested songs include: “If I had A Hammer”, “We Shall Overcome,” “Blowing In The Wind”, “This Is My Country” and “Say It Loud:I’m Black and I’m Proud” Other works may also be used. Students will write one word to describe the message of each song
Using placards from the History Alive Civil RIghts Unit, students will take a “gallery walk” around the clasroom and create an analog for each placard.

Assessment: Students will turn in their listening and gallery assignments.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective:
- To explore the meaning of citizenship, duty, responsibility, human rights and civil rights.
- To examine the contributions of early “pioneers” like A. Phillip Randolph in the struggle to obtain basic human and civil rights.
- To compare and contrast the civil rights movement directed by Ghandi with that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- To examine the causes, directions, impact and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States with special emphasis on Birmingham, Alabama
- To become familiar with leaders of the Movement and their contributions.
- To view the struggle to obtain civil rights and human rights from a universal perspective. Special attention will be given to emerging world democracies.

Activity:
- Interactive slide lectures based upon teh History Alive! Model
- Students will view segments of the film series Eyes On The Prize to get a first hand account of the era.
- Students will read a novel on teh Civil Rights Movement; The Watsons Go To Birmingham
- Students will take a tour of a Civil Rights Institute. Following the tour, they will begin research using material available at the Institute on the subject, “The Struggle for Civil Rights During The Twentieth Centry.”
- Guest speakers from the Civil Rights Institute and the local area will be invited to share their experiences and knowledge with the students.
- Students will take a field trip to the Southern History Department of the Public Library. At the library, students will use new film footage, micro-film and other archival resources to explore the subject, “The Struggle For Civil Rights During The Twentieth Century.” Based on sources available and student interest, the research could center on the United States, South Africa, Germany, Northern Ireland, Eastern Europe or China. This is a very broad range, but it will show the universal nature of the struggle to obtain civil/human rights.

Assessment: Each student will be required to use an interactive notebook. Students will record lecture notes on the right hand side and will create graphic illustrations on the left-hand side to reflect their understanding of the material covered during the lecture. Student participation in Q/A sessions with the guests will be used for evaluation. Class discussions and tests on the novel/lectures will also be used as evaluation tools. Students will prepare research journals based on their visits to the Public Library. The journals must contain at least twenty annotated and illustrated entries. The illustrated entries afford students an opportunity to develop and apply the skills they developed using their interactive notebooks. Journals will be graded based on a rubric developed by the teacher. Students will be given tests and quizzes on the novel, lectures, videos and reading assignments.

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective:
- The student will analyze the author’s use of diction, word choice, tone and various literary devised to develop a specific purpose for his/her writing. Purposes for writing include the following: to inform, to elicit empathy, and to persuade.
- The student will explain the Biblical and philosophical allusions used by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to justify his position on civil disobedience and “extremism”
- The student will recognize the influence of Thoereau’s position on civil disobedience on Dr. Martin Luther King’s support of non-violent protest and civil disobedience.

Activities:
- The student will compare and contrast Mark Antony’s funeral oration on the death of Julius Caesar with Robert Kennedy’s speech on the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- The student will evaluate MLK’s persuasive techniques in “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”
- Students will divide into small groups to research the sources of the following biblical and philosophical allusions: St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Paul, Jesus Christ, Shadrach/Meschack/Abednego, Socrates, Martin Bauber, Martin Luther, John Bunyan, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Groups will provide a summary of their findings in a brief report that includes the source of the allusion and its relevance to King’s “Letter.” Using the jigsaw technique, spokespersons from each group will engage in group discussions of these allusions and their persuasive purposes in King’s “Letter.” (The jigsaw allows students to work in cooperative groups becoming experts on a subject. Havng mastered the subject, students leave the expert groups, form a second group made up of experts from all the areas and share what they have learned with one another.)
- Taking the roles of MLK and Malcolm X, students will use the narrow ridge model to develop a conversation/debate that reflects the respective points of view of these two civil rights leaders. (The narrow ridge model is basically a metaphor for giving equal consideration to both ideas of an issued before formulating an opinion.)
- After reading Thoreau’s essay “On Civil Disobedience,” students will list examples from King’s “Letter” which reflect Thoreau’s philosophies.
- Using the Reader’s Theatre approach, the student will analzye the empathetic qualites of “Ballad of Birmingham.”
- The student will examine the influence of adding music to protest poetry to strengthen its emotional impact.

Assessment: The evaluation will be multi-faceted. Part of the final grade will be based upon the student’s participation in and completion of above activities. In addition, based on the skills taught, students will develop an expository composition in which they analyze the literary qualities of MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Essay grades will be based on rubrics developed by the teacher and student.

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective:
-To improve students’ creative writing skills.
-To enhance students’ technology skills.
-To improve students’ organization skills.
-To allow students an opportunity to develop their creative abilities through a wide range of activities which demonstrate mastery of the subject.

Activity: Based on their studies, their historical imaginations and the benefit of historical persepctive, students will assume the identity of key figures and ordinary citizens of the era. Using a talk show format, students will be given an opportunity to “meet” people associated with the Civil Rights Movement.

Following the “talk show”, students may select one of the following as a culminating project:
1. Write, illustrate and edit an oral history booklet on the Civil Rights Movement.
2. Produce a video documentary of the Civil Rights Movement.
3. Produce a fictional video based on the Civil Rights Movement.
4. Write a short story, play or collection of poetry which relfects the era;
5. Develop a Power Point presentation to summarize key events of the Civil Rights Movement.
6. Create editorial cartoons that depict the political and social climate of the people.
7. Create and maintain a web page for the purpose of collecting and archiving stories about the Civil Rights Movement.

Assessment: Students will select a project from the above list or propose a comparable activity of special interest to them. The teacher will use an assignment calendar to monitor student progress.
The teacher and students will design rubrics for each project.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective:
- To develop cooperative group skills.
- To improve time management
- To allow students an apportunity to plan and carry to fruition the project ideas as outlined in quadrant 3R.

Activity:
- Students will meet with the teacher to get final approval of their culminating projects.
- Working in cooperative groups, students will share and refine their work.
- A cooperative group will be formed of students doing individual projects so that they may also have benefit of peer support.

Assessment: Leaders of each cooperative group will report to the teacher the status of the group by turning in a group checklist at various stages of the project development.

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: To give students an opportunity to share what they have learned with fellow students, parents, administrators and civil leaders.

Activity: The students will re-visit the Civil Rights Institute on their own time. They will plan and host a reception/autograph party to share their work with others.

Assessment: The projects produced by the students will serve as the final evaluation.

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: