Week 2 Lesson Plans

Monday:

Standards: CC.11-12.R.L.1 Key Ideas and Details: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to
support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,
including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Goal: To provide information about what domestic life was like on a Southern plantation during
the height of slavery using Douglass’s narrative as well as beginning to think about the
differences in writing style & content of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Incidents in the Life of a Slave
Girl (from Week 1).

Materials:
 Text: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
o Link to Text:
https://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Douglass/Narrative/Douglass_Narrative.pdf

Procedures:
 We will begin class giving a brief overview of Frederick Douglass and his life as well as
a plot summary of the narrative as a whole—allowing students time for brief questions &
comments (15 minutes)
o Content included in this lesson: Facts about Frederick Douglass’s birth,
upbringing, some political work, death, plot overview of his narrative based on
what content is included in each chapter.
 Students will read Chapter III of the narrative as whole class using DR-TA (25 minutes)
o Using what we just went over in the PowerPoint about Douglass and his narrative
as a whole, what do you expect to read about in Chapter III? Based on the
cover/frontispiece, title? We will record predictions on the board.
o Have students begin to read Chapter III on their own, beginning with “Colonel
Lloyd kept a large and finely cultivated garden…” and having them stop at,
“…barouches of the most fashionable style.” Ask students about predictions &
record them on the board: how many were true? False? What predictions do you
have about the next chunk of text?
o Have students keep reading, starting with, “This establishment was under the care
of two slaves—”, having them stop at “…great ridges upon his back.’” Repeat
process with predictions & record them on the board: where are we at now with
our predictions? What will happen next?
o Students will keep reading, starting at, “To describe the wealth of Colonel
Lloyd…”, ending with, “…a series of plain questions.” Again ask students about
predictions & record.
o Students will read from “It is partly in consequence…” up until the end of
Chapter III and will stop.

 Brief Discussion & Journaling (10 minutes)

 o Revisit predictions: Overall, how did we do in our predictions? What did we
learn?
o Journal: Students will continue to write in their journals they have been keeping
since the beginning of the unit using a brief journal prompt that will be written on
the board at the end of the class.
 Prompt for today: How is Frederick Douglass’s narrative and style of
writing different or similar to either Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s
Cabin or Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl that we
discussed last week? What do you think one or two main themes are from
Douglass’s narrative?

 Assessment: Students will be assessed about their knowledge of Frederick Douglass’s

narrative through the journal prompt, encouraging them to tie in their knowledge about
the two main texts we discussed from the week before (See CC.11-12.R.L.1)
Tuesday:

Standards: CC.11-12.R.L.1 Key Ideas and Details: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to
support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,
including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Goal: To focus on another viewpoint of slavery on a plantation, encouraging students to analyze

why or why not Northup’s account is impactful/moving/interesting, etc. as well as comparing
and contrasting the narrative to Douglass’s.

Materials:
 Text: 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
 Link to full text: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/slavery/Twelve_years_a_slave.pdf

Procedures:
 We will begin class giving a brief overview of Solomon Northup and his life as well as a
plot summary of the narrative as a whole—allowing students time for brief questions &
comments (10 minutes)
o Content included in this lesson: Facts about Solomon Northup’s birth, upbringing,
some political work, death, plot overview of his narrative based on what content
is included in each chapter
 Students will read Chapter IX of the narrative as whole class using DR-TA (30 minutes)
o Using what we just went over in the PowerPoint about Northup and his narrative
as a whole, what do you expect to read about in Chapter IX? Based on the
cover/frontispiece, title? We will record predictions on the board.
o Have students begin to read Chapter IX on their own, beginning with “As the sun
approached the meridian…”, stopping at “...apparently not well pleased.” Ask
about predictions & record new predictions on the board: how have we done so
far? Were any of our predictions right? Wrong? What do we predict will happen
next based on what we just read?
o Students will keep reading from “I endeavored to raise the hammer…”, stopping
at, “...over which a black freeman may not pass.” Check in with students. Repeat
the prediction process & record on the board: Where are we at now? What
predictions do we have going forward? Are we following along ok?
o Students will continue to read from “Tibeats, in the course of half an hour…”,
stopping at the end of Chapter IX.
 Brief Discussion & Journaling (10 minutes)
o Revisit predictions on the board: Overall, how did we do in our predictions? What
did we learn? What questions do we still have?
o Journal: Students will continue to write in their journals they have been keeping
since the beginning of the unit using a brief journal prompt that will be written on
the board at the end of the class.
 Journal Prompt: Pick one moment in the text that you found especially
impactful, moving, or interesting and explain how Northup’s writing style
and content contributes to why it’s impactful, moving, etc. How is his
 writing about plantation life different or similar to Douglass’s narrative?
Make sure you use textual evidence.
 Assessment
 Students will be assessed through their daily journal prompt, making sure to focus on
analyzing writing style & content (see CC.11-12.R.L.1).
Wednesday:

Standards: CC.11-12.R.I.1 Key Ideas and Details: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to
support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,
including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Goal: To encourage students to begin thinking about the way slavery & the literature surrounding
it has impacted the viewpoints of slavery in the 21st century.

Materials:
 Link to Azie Mira Dungey’s “Ask a Slave” series, episode 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1IYH_MbJqA

Procedures:
 Introduce and discuss Azie Mira Dungey’s “Ask a Slave” series
o Introduce Azie Mira Dungey (5 minutes)
 DC/Maryland/Virginia (DMV) area native
 Graduate of New York University
 Actor
 “Worked at Mount Vernon in 2010 as an interpretive guide portraying a
house slave for Martha Washington. Dungey channels this character into
‘Lizzie Mae’ in the show, responding to and critiquing actual questions
and comments that visitors posed to her on tours…challenges the
ignorance expressed by many plantation visitors using humor and satire ”
(Teaching Difficult History Through Film 167)
 “Questions [posed in the series] seem to result from a whitewashed
education about the harsh realities of chattel slavery…[and] a common
motif among whites that slave owners and masters were generally kind
toward slaves, and slaves in return were faithful and dependent upon their
owners” (Teaching Difficult History Through Film 168)

o Watch Episode 1 (4 minutes)

 Discussion (10 minutes): During this discussion, the teacher should model
how to develop strong evidence-based observations and inferences by
connecting insights and conclusions to specific examples from the video.
In addition, the teacher should provide scaffolding for students by
encouraging them to support their answers with textual evidence and/or
inviting others in the class to point to evidence that supports or challenges
the claims students make in response to the discussion questions listed
below:
 What do the questions asked in the “Ask a Slave” series tell us about how
fictions of slavery created and perpetuated throughout the eighteenth,
nineteenth, and twentieth centuries shape the ways in which people think,
talk, and learn about slavery today?
 Why do people produce and sustain these fictions about slavery? How do
they continue to influence the ways in which we interact as a society?
  How has Dungey been impacted by her experiences as a historical actor
portraying a slave? How has she responded to these experiences?
 How effective is her approach to counteracting the fictions of slavery that
exist in our society today? What are the positive aspects of her approach?
Are there any ways in which her approach might be considered
problematic?
 What other approaches might someone take to counteracting fictions of
slavery? (Brainstorm as a class and write on the board.)
 How could these approaches make a positive impact on the way
people think and talk and learn about history in our country?
 What might be problematic about these approaches?
o Talking about the hard history of slavery in the classroom (and elsewhere) can be
difficult and uncomfortable. But what happens when we don’t know or tell the
truth about slavery? Let’s take a look…

 Reciprocal Teaching (30 minutes)

o Guiding questions students will explore and discuss as they read (will be
projected on Smartboard): “What are the consequences of not telling the hard
truths about slavery—by misrepresenting them or simply refusing to talk about
them—in our schools, museums, and communities today? What happens when
people do tell and acknowledge the truth about slavery?”
o Students will be split into groups of four (with one group of five) and assigned
one of the following readings. The teacher will determine groups ahead of time,
distributing strong readers evenly across groups to support other students.
Readings will be preassigned to groups based on groups’ overall reading levels.
 Reading 1: “‘Workers’ or slaves? Textbook maker backtracks after
mother's complaint”
 Reading 2: “Plantation Tours: Don’t Expect to Hear How Horrible Slavery
Really Was”
 Reading 3: “American Slavery: Separating Fact from Myth”
 Reading 4: “Analysis: Report raises big question on how schools teach
American slavery”
 Reading 5: “Lessons taught on Civil War and its causes can depend on
where you live”
 Reading 6: “West African country struggles to come clean on its role in
slavery”
o Students will annotate with sticky notes as they read, then work in groups to
discuss their assigned articles. Students have practiced reciprocal teaching
throughout the year and are familiar with the process. Students will stop every
2-3 paragraphs to summarize, clarify, discuss, and predict before moving on to
the next portion of the text. Students may use their reciprocal teaching
bookmarks to guide their discussion. In every group, each student will take on
one of the following tasks:
o Questioning – ask questions for discussion, make connections to other
topics already discussed in class
 o Clarifying – clarify challenging phrases and vocabulary, identify ideas
and phrases that stand out in the article
o Summarizing – outline the main points of the reading, synthesize
questions and discussion, clarify points
o Predicting – predict what will come next, point out any questions that
were not answered in the article, anticipate questions for further
inquiry
 After students complete their reading, they will be asked to briefly present to the class
summarizing their articles, discussing how the information presented in their article
addresses the guiding questions posted on the Smartboard (above), and posing a question
for further reflection raised in their small-group discussion (10 minutes).

 Assessment:
o CC.11-12.R.I.1 Key Ideas and Details: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence
to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn
from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

o The teacher will model how to build strong evidence-based answers and provide
opportunities for students to practice this in the first portion of the lesson, as the
class discusses the “Ask a Slave” video. Students will demonstrate their ability to
craft evidence-based insights and inferences when they give their brief
presentations for the class. Students will also have the opportunity to practice
considering where texts leave matters uncertain by discussing potential issues
with the “Ask a Slave” series and demonstrate this skill by posing a question for
further reflection/inquiry at the end of their presentation.
Thursday:

Standards: CC.11-12.R.I.7 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Integrate and evaluate multiple
sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as
well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.

Goal: To incorporate visual media to present differing viewpoints of slavery in comparison to the
literature we have read so far.

Materials: Links to Movie Clips:

o 12 Years a Slave (2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdJv7rohcoA
o Gone With the Wind (1939): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ7r2OVu1ss
o The Birth of a Nation (1915): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYCaob7MDA8
o Roots (1977): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiYEpgKevjM

Procedure:
 Introduction & Viewing of Movie Clips
o Provide a brief lesson in which background on each film (or TV show in the case
of Roots) is presented to the class (5 minutes)
 Information included in the lesson: Background on each of the 4
movies/TV show as well as reception of each film. A forewarning will be
given to the students about some thematic context involved in each clip
including some violence and language (usage of the n-word).
 Encourage students to keep notes on each film clip: what they notice, what
bothers them, what questions they have, as well as making note of unique
film techniques such as lighting, music (or lack thereof), dialogue (or lack
thereof), costumes, makeup, setting, etc.

o Showing of 12 Years a Slave Clip & Discussion (10 minutes)

 The scene from 12 Years a Slave will be shown as well as having a class
discussion about the scene.
 Questions to Consider: What kind of role does Patsy play on the
plantation? How is she treated differently than the male slaves?
o Showing of Gone With the Wind Clip & Discussion (10 minutes)
 Questions to Consider: How is Mamie portrayed? What kind of
relationship do her and Scarlett have? How is this different than
Patsy and her master?
o Showing of Birth of a Nation Clip & Discussion: (10 minutes)
 Questions to Consider: How is the representation of a black man
portrayed? What is his interaction between the female character
like? What are the differences between the black man and white
man?
o Showing of Roots Clip & Discussion: (10 minutes)
 Questions to Consider: How is the representation of Kunta Kinte
different than that of the black man in Birth of a Nation? Do the
 roles reverse for white men & black men? Why do you think a
black slave is whipping another black slave?
o Final Discussion & Journal Writing: (10 minutes)
 Encourage classroom discussion in which students share their notes on
each clip as well as comments, thoughts, questions. Do we see any major
themes in these movies? Themes about men vs. women? How do these
representations compare or contrast to the texts we’ve read about the way
slavery is represented?
 Allow students time to write in their journals.
 Prompt: Write down your thoughts & reactions about these clips—
it can be anything from something that bothered you, to something
you have questions about, or general thoughts. Write down one
major difference and one major similarity between any of the clips
we watched and any of the texts we’ve read.

Assessment:
 Students will be assessed through their journal writing and comparison/contrast of texts
we have read and film/television clips. Ideally, students will be able to state one major
difference or similarity in the representation of slavery between literature and visual clips
(see CC.11-12.R.I.7)
Friday:

Standards: CC.11-12.W.HST.8. Research to Build and Present Knowledge: Gather relevant

information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches
effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the specific task,
purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of
ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format
for citation.

Goals: To begin the brainstorming & research process for the cumulative research project due at
the end of the unit.

Procedure:
 Introduction to the Brainstorming Process
o Students will be reminded of research topic and will begin the brainstorming
process with the groups they were assigned at the beginning of week 1, with the
goal to narrow down to 2-3 potential research project ideas based on texts read so
far, film/television clips, journal writings, & discussions. (15 minutes)
 Potential Project Ideas (Students will be allowed to choose a topic other
than those listed below, but must get prior approval from the teacher—
these are simply good suggestions & places to start):
 The Slave Trade (including conditions on slave ships, the Middle
Passage, etc.)
 Treatment of Slaves/Life on Plantations (how did slaves get their
names? Treatment by owners? Working/living conditions?
Identifying differences between plantations & owners)
 Slave Literacy (were slaves allowed to read & write? What about
the authors of slave narratives? How did enslaved people become
educated?)
 Marriage & Family During Slavery (Did slaves marry? Was it
legally binding? What about slave trading? How did this impact
families? Was marriage amongst slaves promoted or opposed by
Southern white society?)
 Slave Codes (what are they? Implications?)
 Slave Rebellion (when, where, how did slave revolts occur?
Results of rebellion?)
 Slavery & the Civil War (how much impact did slavery actually
have on the start of the Civil War? Slaves fighting in the war?
Amendments after the war regarding slavery?)
 Life After Slavery (what changed for former slaves? What was life
like post-Civil War)
o Research Project Assignment Description:
 Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to critically
evaluate and strategically employ various meaning systems (text, audio,
images, film, etc.) by investigating primary sources available in digitized
online archives, identifying a particular aspect or experience of slavery
 they wish to discuss or retell, and producing 3-5 minute digital texts.
Working in groups, students will conduct research, write scripts, complete
storyboards, then combine audio, visuals, and text using PowerPoint and
iMovie to create their final products: informative digital texts that
ultimately promote cultural restoration by challenging silence, myths, and
denial surrounding the history of slavery in America by exploring and
recounting the hard truths of what really happened.
 Mini-Lesson on Research Skills & Sources (10 minutes)
o A multimodal presentation will be used to provide a brief lesson/reminders on
how to search for credible sources, what is defined as a credible source, examples
of primary & secondary sources, and an introduction to the digitized archives the
students will be required to use for their final research projects.
 Digitized archives/resources students will use in class to conduct research:
 Library of Congress: Born in Slavery, Slave Narratives from the
Federal Writers’ Project: https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-
narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-
this-collection/
 Docs Teach: the National Archives:
https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-
writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/
 Slavery Resource Guide: Digital Collections, the Library of
Congress:
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/slavery/memory.html
 History Matters: George Mason University:
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
 Google Scholar
 In-Class Research (25 minutes)
o Using the classroom Chromebooks, students will begin researching through the
digitized archives information about the 2-3 topics that they brainstormed with in
groups earlier in order to try to narrow down to one topic. Teachers will circulate
around the classroom where students will be encouraged to run topic ideas by
them as well as ask questions about the research process as a whole. Students will
be required to come up with 3 potential credible sources in class that they want to
use in their project research.

Assessment: Students will mostly be assessed through participation in the research process in
class as well as coming up with 3 credible sources as a part of this participation (see : CC.11-
12.W.HST.8).