Beacon Lesson Plan LibraryRoll With the Punches: Can't We All Get Along?Shirley BakerDescriptionAfter participating in a segregation experiment, students reflect and explore their feelings and reactions to the experiment through poetry.StandardsFlorida Sunshine State StandardsLA.B.1.3.2 The student drafts and revises writing that -is focused, purposeful, reflects insight into the writing situation;-conveys a sense of completeness and wholeness with adherence to the main idea;-has an organizational pattern that provide for a logical progression of ideas;-has support that is substantial, specific, revelant, concrete, and/or illustrative;-demonstrates a commitment to and an involvement with the subject;-has clarity in presentation of ideas;uses creative writing strategies appropriate to the purpose of the paper;demonstrates a command of language (word choice) with freshness of expression;has varied sentence structure and sentences that are complete except when fragments are used and purposefully; andhas few, if any, convention errors in mechanics, usage, and punctuation. LA.E.1.3.4 The student knows how mood or meaning is conveyed in poetry, such as, word choice, dialect, invented words, concrete or abstract terms, sensory or figurative language; use of sentence structure, line length, punctuation, and rhythm. Florida Process Standards Information Managers 01 Florida students locate, comprehend, interpret, evaluate, maintain, and apply information, concepts, and ideas found in literature, the arts, symbols, recordings, video and other graphic displays, and computer files in order to perform tasks and/or for enjoyment. Critical and Creative Thinkers 04 Florida students use creative thinking skills to generate new ideas, make the best decision, recognize and solve problems through reasoning, interpret symbolic data, and develop efficient techniques for lifelong learning. Multiculturally Sensitive Citizens 10 Florida students appreciate their own culture and the cultures of others, understand the concerns and perspectives of members of other ethnic and gender groups, reject the stereotyping of themselves and others, and seek out and utilize the views of persons from diverse ethnic, social, and educational backgrounds while completing individually and group projects. Materials-Signs to designate areas as "Brown Eyes Only"-Construction paper -Markers, crayons, etc. -Copies of novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. Puffin Books: New York, 1976. Preparations1) Make "Brown Eyes Only" signs.2) Inform faculty of the experiment ahead of time. If possible encourage the whole team to participate. 3) Gather materials for illustrated poem (construction paper, markers, crayons, etc). 4) Locate an area to display poems. 5) Visit the web Links and bookmark them. Procedures1) If the class is reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, the segregation experiment works best after chapter 5.2) The day before, announce to the students that they will be participating in a segregation experiment. During the experiment, students with brown eyes will be the "privileged" group and students with blue eyes will be the "oppressed" group. (Note: anything other than brown (e.g. hazel, green) will be considered blue eyes.) 3) Outline acceptable behavior during the experiment (e.g. no touching, rude language, etc). 4) The morning of the experiment, post "Brown Eyes Only" signs above a preferred water fountain, several restroom stalls, etc. 5) Throughout the experiment, give the brown eyes special privileges. Allow them to sit where they please, run errands, line up first, answer questions, etc. 6) Make note of behavioral observations for the debriefing discussion. Watch for blue eyes trying to pass as brown eyes, passive resistant behavior, superiority complexes, etc. 7) The next day have students write journal entries reflecting on the experience. Possible journal questions include: - How did you feel during the experiment? - Did any event during the experiment remind you of an event in the novel? - Which character in the novel did you relate to during the experiment? 8) Conduct a debriefing discussion using the above questions as a guide. Discuss the observations made and draw analogies to historical events and events in the novel (e.g. Jane was trying to "pass." Did you know that some African-Americans tried to do that? Etc.) 9) Instruct students that they will write an illustrated poem using their feelings, reactions, and observations from the experiment. Conduct an embedded mini-lesson on strong word choice by sharing examples of poetry that have vivid word choice. Discuss how the poet's word choice creates the mood and meaning of the poem. To find poems with strong word choice visit the Best Poetry website listed in the Web Links section. 10) After students understand the concept of word choice introduce the rubric to them. 11) If time is limited, students may be directed to write a haiku or acrostic. AssessmentsPoems will be scored for strong, appropriate word choice and final draft form. The six-trait writing rubrics developed by the Northwest Regional Educational Lab for word choice and conventions work very well.See the attachment for an outline of the rubric. Web LinksWeb supplement for Roll With the Punches: Can't We All Get Along?Six Trait Writing Assessment Web supplement for Roll With the Punches: Can't We All Get Along? Wingnuts-Etc. Attached FilesA summary of the Six Traits Writing Assessment criteria for word choice and conventions. File Extension: pdfReturn to the Beacon Lesson Plan Library. |