This lesson is for teaching about Reconstruction and its end following the American Civil War. I did not follow the “script” to the letter, because this is the type of lesson that you have to speak from inside yourself–not off a piece of paper:

Individuals, Groups, and Institutions

• help learners understand the concepts of role, status, and social class and use them in describing the connections and interactions of individuals, groups, and institutions in society

Explanation: Role, status and social class are important to understand: these are frequently described as part of cultural capital. It is this cultural capital the greatly influences success and failure tithing society. Where people fall in these categories also affects interaction within and between groups, and the interactions between people and the institution that make up society. To ignore the importance of these factors in favor of a Horatio Alger Myth is immature. People do not always have boots to find those magical bootstraps to pull.

This lesson illustrates the cruel and unfair class relations in the South after the end of Reconstruction. It shows white supremacy coming back to the South and underscores the enforcing roles on African Americans—the sending back to the fields and into subservience.

Unit: Reconstruction

Purpose: Students will know the significance of the end of Reconstruction? Students will know the following: KKK, Jim Crow, Black Codes and Share Cropping. Students will comprehend the severity of oppression both legally and emotionally of this time period.

Overview: Students are given a presentation at the beginning filled with powerful words and images. Emphasis in placed on the importance of learning this time period. The relationships between blacks and whites in the South are illustrated throughout the poem and describing the images. Further instruction through ‘acting out’ key terms and creating visual examples with student participation will help students remember these facts.

Procedure:

Entry/Hook: PowerPoint Presentation: “What Happens to a Dream Deferred?”

• Brief 4-1-1 on Langston Hughes
• Recite “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes in its entirety
• Begin going through slides, which have portions of the text highlighted in red, followed by slides on only images. Images of freedmen working in fields, lynchings, and KKK meetings:

What happens to a dream deferred?

• What happens to a dream delayed? What happens to dream of freedom is so real that it feels tangible, but then is taken back and you are forced back into the cotton field… forced to work for the master who once owned you?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?

• Do you lose your passion? Do your desires dry up? Have you ever had a dream that you wanted so badly almost reached, but then denied to you. Do you stop caring about that dream? Do you stop caring about other dreams? Do you revert back into yourself?

Or fester like a sore–
And then run?

• Or do you let anger build inside you? Do you grow to resent your situation? Do you let hate build in your heart towards the world and people that put you in this unfair and cruel situation? Does your anger pour over into the other areas of your life?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

• Does it destroy your very flesh as it eats away at you? Imagine the suffering of knowing a taste of freedom during Reconstruction, only to have the government abandon you to the rule of white supremacy, to the free reign of the KKK in the South?
• Look at the bottom right-hand corner of this image. Notice the little girl in her Sunday best. Think about what these little girls’ mother and father are telling her about black people. Did you believe in Santa when you were a kid? What will these girls believe about African Americans?

Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

• Imagine that you are forced back into the fields by the people you hate most, while knowing any attempt to retaliate, fight back or even assert your equality could put you and your loved ones in danger.
• And the danger that you would put your loved ones, I mean the kind of danger that could leave your body burned to crisp for an audience who would celebrate your death. This image is of a post card that someone could send to a family member. This was a dirty secret of the fringe of society.

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

• How weary would it be to live in a world with the up and the down? How tiring would it be to work in those same fields that you worked in before you were free in the hot sun, growing the one thing you want to grow least in this world? How exhausting would be for a parent, supposedly now free, to believe that your children would likely die in a world designed to punish them in the same fields for which they had been oppressed for generations?

Or does it explode?

• How long can it take before people must take action? How do you express you anger when you don’t get a video game or pair of jeans that you want? How would you express your anger if this was your life? Langson Hughes did not write this during this time period, but during the Harlem Renaissance. …
• Explain the importance of learning about this time period. Explain the importance of remember those who suffered and honoring those who worked to make things better. Explain the responsibility of members of a democracy for safeguarding the rights of all its members, not just those live in places like us, look like us and have the same about of money as us. It privilege and responsibility that include knowing past, and refusing to be ignorant to what has happened.

Review and discuss concepts introduced day before:

• KKK
• Black Codes, Jim Crow
• Literacy Texts: Example with volunteers. Write on dry erase board. Ask for a volunteer to be a white male in the South. Ask the volunteer what is written on the board. Congrats! You can vote. Ask for a volunteer to be a black from the South. Ask the volunteer to read what is written on the board. Sorry. You can’t read sir. You can’t vote.
  • Full-class discussion
• Grandfather Clause: Why would this be a problem?
• Poll Taxes
• Share Cropping: Shady economics math on dry erase board to help scaffold student comprehension of the exploitative aspects of sharecropping, and how share cropping bound blacks to the land once again through debt and legal maneuvering.

Closure: Discussion: What is then the significance of the end of Reconstruction? What happens to a dream deferred?

Resources:

Dry erase board

Dry erase makers and eraser

PowerPoint Presentation: “Dream Deferred”

Projector

Laptop

In this photo is Lauren, my best friend, and me. She is also pursing an M.Ed., but for Spanish. She constantly challenges me to have a bigger heart, and I am very lucky to have her in my life. She is the reason that I used to volunteer with SARNCO, a truly wonderful organization for very meaningful cause.

I met her working at Ohio State Calling, but became much better friends with her after graduation.

Her wit is unparalleled. She never fails to find the most amusing stories and make delightful comments. She brings laughter into every conversation.

]]> http://alicehickey.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/lucky-me/feed/ 0 alicehickey Lauren & Ali... me with bangs http://alicehickey.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/france-defeated-again-this-time-by-france/ http://alicehickey.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/france-defeated-again-this-time-by-france/#comments Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:41:18 +0000 :) http://alicehickey.wordpress.com/?p=42 ]]> *This was an example assignment created for students on my class blog. Students created an article for “The Onion,” but they wrote it as if they were living during the French Revolution. At the end of the assignment, students were to create a series of “References,” which explain the real facts that may have been altered or manipulated for the sake of delightful humor:

January 21, 1793

In keeping with a longstanding tradition of losing, the French have continued their streak. After an abysmal performance during the Seven Years’ War, the Louis’s of France have continued to define defeat. Military experts from Britain predict future military ineptitude.

Bill Pitt, British military infantryman, stated that “The military incompetence of the French is only surpassed by their decadence.”  Standing outside Versailles, it becomes clear why Pitt’s feelings are shared by so many British citizens—and the Sans-Culottes.

“Ridiculous that King Louis XVI has divine right to rule? I think not. He looks as noble as a hog dressed for the theatre.”

Although Necker advised Louis XVI that he “shouldn’t lose his head” when the unrest began, it seems as though he did not take that advice to heart. The odious little monarch continued to succumb to political waffling.

Combined with the financial spiral, only accelerated by Marie Antoinette’s spending, it is not shocking that many Parisians are outraged. Despite attempts to appease the French by offering cake, Marie continues to hold the number one spot on “Marat’s 10 to Mutilate.”

Today, with the drop of the guillotine, the ancien régime of France witnessed its final defeat. There will be an auction in the “Friend of the People” for the former monarch’s head. Proceeds will support the revolution and the executioners’ retirement fund.

Fortunately for the European powers, there is a new France to squash like a bug in future military adventures.

Explanation of References:

1. The Seven Years’ War contributed to the debt of France, which would eventually leave the aristocracy bankrupt.

2. King Louis XV and King Louis XVI were failures in nearly all their military and economic endeavors, turning a once prosperous and powerful country into a shell of its former glory.

3. The Sans-Culottes were a group that wore full-length pants in defiance to aristocratic dress. By wearing full-length pants they were making an egalitarian statement.

4. King Louis the XVI was an unpopular king, and his personality and appearance helped matters little. Coupled with Enlightenment thinking, his divine right to rule was greatly put in question.

5. Necker, for a short period of time, was a financial advisor of King Louis XVI, who was very popular. His dismissal angered the French people and contributed to the start of the French Revolution.

6. Marie Antoinette was King Louis XVI’s very unpopular wife, who in fact did not say “Let them eat cake.” However, it was largely circulated that she said it, and it made her even more despised.

7. Marat was a professional malcontent that wrote a newspaper that published lists of people who were supposedly counterrevolutionaries. He called for these people’s death by guillotine.

8. January 21, 1793 was the day the King Louis XVI was guillotined in France. His death was the true end to the ancien régime.

I rented a documentary (actually 3 documentaries) about the Spanish-American War from Netflix. However, this glorious spiel will be about “The Spanish American War: Birth of a Superpower.” This History Channel documentary was made in 2005 and is narrated by actor Fritz Weaver. It is the shortest of the Spanish-American War documentaries that I found on Netflix, running only 60 minutes.

This would be a decent documentary to use in class. It contains a lot of information that is useful and chronological, though it lacks in the maps/diagram department. It is strong on primary source videos and pictures. Like most History Channel documentaries, it does also include numerous talking heads… a crime teachers will have to except.

The documentary provides a great outline, but I believe that its best use would be through stopping frequently to discuss ideas and to probe the implications of the facts presented. Additionally, this could be a great documentary for teachers to use to brush up their knowledge and brainstorm ideas without actually showing it. For example, mentioned early in the documentary are American journalists William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. This would a great opportunity to talk about yellow journalism. Later in the documentary it talks about news coverage over the sinking of the USS Maine and how this news coverage helped propel America into was in 1898 (what is more important–the truth or what people perceive to be the truth?).  Think about the variety of assignments that could be offered to students… (differentiation, holla buzz word!). This would also provide an excellent opportunity for students to examine political cartoons. Yellow journalism provides a plethora of obvious political cartoons that may help scaffold students who are not yet experienced analyzing political cartoons.

Another item mentioned that I believe would be helpful to discuss with students is the U.S. tax placed on sugar, and how it escalated the internal conflict in Cuba. This opens the door to discuss how economic policies may also serve as military policies. One could even mention America’s policies that restricted the access of the Japanese military to oil, which was one of the main reasons that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor during WWII. Do we pay attention to the economic policies made by Congress today? Do we know and understand the implications of what our leaders do? When we think about the politicians for whom we vote, do we consider their international economic policies? Do we think our leaders understand the implications of these international economic policies? How can we as voters understand the implications? Why should we?

Continuing on the importance and power of writing theme, the documentary also provides the opportunity to talk about the influence that a single text can have one the public. For example, the influence of the book The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890) by Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan on U.S. naval doctrine as mentioned in the documentary can be compared to other influential texts such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Silent Spring. Even more recent texts such as Nickel and Dimed may be discussed in comparison. Will someone in this classroom write a book that is this influential? What is so important to you that you could write a book that would change the world? If you were given the opportunity to change the world through a book or blog, what would it be about? How were these books influential? What was important about them? What is how they were written? The content about what they were writing? Who are the authors today that are having an influence on society?

When discuss the impact the Mahan’s text had on military spending, this could be an amazing opportunity to discuss military spending today. There are plenty of current news stories/politicians/political radio hosts who either support or oppose are current military spending. Using video or audio clips and news stories to present different sides of the issue, then have students define and support their opinion on military spending through various assignments–papers, blogs, presentations, debate… Another idea might be to do a compare and contrast assignment, possibly after they have formed their opinion on today. Compare the opinion they have on military spending today with military spending of the past. Should America have followed Mahan’s lead in spending on the navy? Would Americans have described the Spanish-American War as a “splendid little war” if we have not possessed a strong navy? What would have happened at Manila if our naval technology had not surpassed the Spanish Navy?

I know that I want to use it, but using it will not be enough to provide data for me. Should I create a Web 2.0 forum to discuss its use in the classroom? Should I give students weekly paper surveys? Should I analyze the Web 2.0 products that my students create? Should I use a combination of all these things? And the pondering continues…

Wish me luck!

Mr. Mo encouraged students to sign up for swaggle–a free service that allows him to send homework and test reminders to students via text message. I think this is going to be very helpful for students, especially since most of them seem completely attached to their mobile devices! (I may need to sign up for a larger text package with Verizon…)