Provide a metaview, lifting students into a wider view of the concept. Use another medium (not reading or writing) to connect students' personal knowing to the concept (i.e. visual arts, music, movement, metaphor, etc.) Involve learners in reflective production that blends the emotional and the cognitive.

Students role play reactions to the Declaration of Independence

Objective: To help students image the incompatibility between slavery and the political ideals of liberty and equality expressed in the Declaration of Independence.

Activity: 1) Proclaim the following excerpt from the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and are endowed by the creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it . . .." Conclude by saying that our forefathers used these words to justify rebellion against oppression. 2) Have students dramatically or graphically represent the inconsistencies between these words and the inequalities experienced in the simulation. or 3) Re-enact the responses of slaves, free blacks, Yeomen, plantation wives, and other hypothetical individuals upon hearing this proclamation.

Assessment: Variety of responses, intensity of emotions; engagement of students and quality of individual contributions.