Provide hands-on activities for practice and mastery. Check for understanding of concepts and skills by using relevant standard materials, i.e. worksheets, text problems, workbooks, teacher prepared exercises, etc.
Analyze literature and develop essays. Complete class and homework assignments
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.
