Lindsey Ward

English 112B Dr. Warner

Unit of Study

December 8th, 2008

 

Literary Nonfiction Unit

 

 

Rationale:

            Biographies are some of the best selling books on the market today. To me, literary nonfiction does not have to be a story but has to come from the heart For my Unit of Study in the genre of �Literary Nonfiction� I chose to make my centerpiece the Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, an American Slave which is an autobiographical piece by Fredrick Douglass. This unit I have created is meant to be informative and historical and has many other non-fiction pieces included in it such as letters, speeches, poems and essays. It is meant to show the importance historical importance of African Americans as well as the importance of the individual to larger communities. I chose to create my unit based around African-American history because I feel that it is something I never learned much about until college and I find it very interesting and important and feel that most high school students need a new viewpoint from which to view it.

            I decided on a slave narrative as my centerpiece because it is an often overlooked genre. Slavery, unfortunately, built this country yet the slaves themselves are not really taught about. I want the students to see that slaves were people first and that they had a huge impact on their world and people around them as well as African Americans have a huge, solid position in the national community. The looming project of this unit is for the students to write their own narratives which explain how they have impacted their world.  This writing will be reinforced and brainstormed by smaller writing assignments given throughout the unit. The various writing assignments are meant to keep the students engaged in their readings as well as spread out the writing process for their final paper.

            The narrative shows Douglass born a slave and growing up with no sense of family. He is witness to violence, death and injustice but tries to see the positives in his life. He learns the alphabet, begs and bribes children to help him read and teaches himself to write. The determination of Douglass is shown in his attempts at discussion over treatment of his self and in his desire and belief in being a free man. I want this and my other chosen pieces to show students history and that dreams are possible so long as there is a passion and determination behind them; that one person can affect change whether it is in their own life or in the lives of others as well.

 

 

Launching the Unit:

 

Rationale:

I would launch this unit with a clip from YouTube of Morgan Freeman giving his thoughts against Black History Month. His theory is that Black History is American History and that it should not be relegated to just a month. Since my idea is to show the students the importance of African American history to their lives today, regardless of their skin color, I would then open the class up to a healthy discussion. I would start the discussion with a list of questions for them to answer and let them take the discussion where they are able.

 

Assignment: Discussion

 

Activity Materials:

Multimedia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO214IFRW1M

Questions:

1.     Do you agree with Morgan Freeman that Black History Month is �ridiculous�?  Why or why not?

2.     What do you know about African American history?

3.     Is there anything that you would like to learn about African American history?

4.     How do you think African American history should be taught to students?

5.     Are there any other �histories� that you would like to learn about or that should have their own month?

 

 

Rationale:

In high school most students will probably have not heard of a slave narrative so introduce them to the concept of slave stories with songs they may have heard in their past such as �Follow the Drinkin� Gourd� or �Swing Low, Sweet Chariot�. Go over the song lyrics with the students and give them a new perspective of the songs they have probably heard before. 

 

Assignment: Discussion

 

Activity Materials:

Multimedia: There are recorded versions of these songs on iTunes and can be played for students to help them better connect with the emotion of the words

Handouts: Follow the Drinkin� Gourd and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot song lyrics

.

Introduction to the Text:

 

Rationale:

To introduce the students to the text, give a brief lecture on the timeline of Fredrick Douglass� life. Let them know what they are going to be reading. Also give a small lecture on the idea of the Slave narrative. Keeping a journal while reading the novel will keep them participating as well as hold them accountable. This can be seen as a way to check the students reading if they are checked each class period. The check does not, daily, need to be for content, but for completion. They can be thoroughly reviewed and graded at the end of the unit.

Assignment:  Have students start a reflective journal in response to the narrative. Have them write a paragraph of summary and a paragraph of personal response for each chapter.

Activity Materials:

Handouts:      

            Biography of Fredrick Douglass taken from Adolescent Literature As A Compliment to the Classics Vol.2 pg 47

            Excerpt:

    ~1818: Born in  Tuckahoe Maryland. Mother is a slave, Father is unknown

      ~1818-1825: Lives on �Great House Farm� plantation. Master is Captain Anthony.

     ~ 1825: Sent to Baltimore and is overseen by Hugh Auld.

      ~ 1825-1832: Learns to read and write by bribing and begging poor white children.

      1832: Is sold to Master Thomas, who is known for starving his slaves, as a punishment.

      1833: Is sent to Mr. Covey as a �problem slave� and is beaten and tormented. He runs away looking for help but gets none and must return

      1834: Hired out to Willian Freeland who is not as violent as other masters. Douglass starts to teach other slaves how to read and write

      1835: Is caught with other slaves before their planned escape to freedom. Is later taken on as an apprentice in a shipyard.

      1838: He plans to and escapes slavery to New York

 

 

 

1st Activity

Rationale:

In class I would go over this letter to the public written by William Lloyd Garrison in his newspaper The Liberator. Going over it in class would be for clarification of the text because it is of heightened vocabulary and kids will more than likely need help.

Assignment:

Have the students pick an issue in their world which they feel strongly about. Remember that their world is school, home and sometimes work. They may be very opposed to the idea of getting licenses at 16 or they may want to vote at 16 instead of 18. They may really not like the dress code or the fact that their curfew is 10pm. Accept their positions and have them write a letter to the public in support of their view. 

Activity Materials:

Handout of William Lloyd Garrison�s �To the Public� found at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2928t.html

 

 

 

2nd Activity

Rationale:

Show the students the poems �Phenomenal Woman� by Maya Angelou �Let America Be America Again� by Langston Hughes �The Rose That Grew From Concrete� by Tupac Shakur and have a class discussion about the hurdles each author speaks about or is known to have overcome

 

Assignment:

Have the students take the last writing they did on an issue the feel strongly about and visualize the outcome they want has happened. Have them write a reflective poem about the journey.

 

Activity Materials:

Poems

Phenomenal Woman: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/phenomenal-woman/

Let America Be America Again: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/let-america-be-america-again/

The Rose That Grew From Concrete: http://www.afropoets.net/tupacshakur10.html

 

 

 

 

 

3rd Activity

Rationale:

Showing the students a video of Martin Luther Kings �I Have a Dream Speech� and Barak Obama�s presidential acceptance speech can wrap up the unit activities.  With these speeches, the students will see how effective oration is and will have the texts and be able to see the literary techniques used by the speech writers. Students will also be able to see alongside the slave narrative, how far African Americans have progressed from the time of Fredrick Douglass� narrative. Have a discussion following the speeches about what has changed and what still could change in our world.

Assignment:

Have a discussion about what has changed between the time of Fredrick Douglass and Martin Luther King and between the time of Martin Luther King and Barack Obama. What are/were the dreams? Have they been fulfilled? If yes how did it happen and if not why? Have the students take the writings they have done in class as well as in their reading journal and create either an essay or a short story telling about how they have affected change in their life. Make sure the components of this paper include looking to the past as well as looking toward the future.

Activity Materials:

Martin Luther King speech video and text found at: http://www.mlkonline.net/video-i-have-a-dream-speech.html

Barak Obama speech video and text found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfHbw3n0EIM (video) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/us/politics/28text-obama.html?_r=1 (text)

 

Extending the Unit/YA Recommendations to go with this Unit

(All taken from Books for You An Annotated Booklist for Senior High by Lois T. Stover and Stephanie F. Zenker)

 

Collection of Commencement speeches by famous, accomplished people such as Colin Powell and Jimmy Carter

Information on people and what they do to protect and learn about the earth.

Pictures, data, index of participants of peace movements in the World

Being able to help children is important because they are often unable to help themselves. This is the story of Marian Wright Edelman who spent her life doing this.

A timeline of events that have occurred over the battle for people�s first amendment rights.

An overview of immigration into the United States and how it has impacted the country.

 

 

Works Cited:

Stover, Lois T. & Zenker, Stephanie F. Books for You An Annotated Booklist for Senior High 13th ed. National Council of Teachers of English, 1997

 

Kaywell, Joan F. Ed. Adolescent Literature as a Complement  to the Classics Vol.2. Christopher-Gordon Publishers, 1995

 

Africans in America. 11/1994. Public Broadcasting System. December 1st 2008. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2928t.html

 

Morgan Freeman on Race and Black History Month. 2/03/2008. YouTube. December 1st 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO214IFRW1M&feature=related

 

Barack Obama Acceptance Speech. 11/04/2008. YouTube. December 1st 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU

 

Martin Luther King�s I Have a Dream Speech. Unknown. Mlkonline. December 1st 2008. http://www.mlkonline.net/video-i-have-a-dream-speech.html

 

Poems selected from various person webpages:

            http://www.newtunings.com/kidmid/drinkingourd.html

            http://www.afropoets.net/tupacshakur10.html

            http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/swinglow.html

            http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/phenomenal-woman/

            http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/let-america-be-america-again/