LESSON PLAN

Minerva Daniel / Date: April 14, 2008
Subject Area: English / Grade Level: 9th-

OverviewThis is a supplemental lesson plan to the Nelson Mandela Unit

Topic: Mandela The Man
Lesson’s Purpose: To give students a frame to develop descriptive sentences to use in writing an essay on Mandela.
Key Concepts:
  1. Social Justice
  2. Personal Sacrifice
  3. Personal Attributes

Cohesiveness/Continuity: Lesson is used in collaboration with readings of Mandela’s life and the dismantling of Apartheid.
Multicultural/Social Justice Purpose:
  1. Students will be able to reflect on the injustice of the Apartheid system.

Vocabulary: RobbenIsland, Racism, Activism, Protest, Apartheid
Adaptation of Content: This lesson plan builds upon the previous Latin Studies Unit.
Supplementary Materials: Document Camera, Chart Paper,

Standards and Objectives

Standards:
1.0 Writing Strategies
Students write coherent and focused essays that convey a well-defined perspective and tightly reasoned argument. The writing demonstrates students' awareness of the audience and purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process as needed.
Organization and Focus
1.1 Establish a controlling impression or coherent thesis that conveys a clear and distinctive perspective on the subject and maintain a consistent tone and focus throughout the piece of writing.
1.2 Use precise language, action verbs, sensory details, appropriate modifiers, and the active rather than the passive voice.
Multicultural Ethics MCE Standards:
1. Personal Choice concerning social pressures, ethnic/cultural beliefs and understanding of human rights
2. Families serve basic needs, such as family presence in mental and emotional relationships that influence perseverance.
Language Objectives:
  1. Students will follow a model of agraphic organizer shown on document camerato develop sentence frames using descriptive and action related vocabulary
  2. Students will utilize vocabulary in describing Mandela.

Multicultural/Social Justice Objectives:
  1. Reflect on a system based on racism and how that affects a person’s actions.

Social/Affective Objectives:
  1. Students will be aware of the influences that government has over everyday privileges and rights (or lack thereof).
  2. Students will be exposed to the thought of personal responsibility to speak out against injustice and understand activism.

Critical Thinking Objectives:
  1. What is a hero?
  2. What influences a person to stand up for justice?
  3. Is it right for a government to tell people where they can live?

Assessment
Formative Assessment(s) / Summative Assessment(s)
  • Reflection Questions
  • Class discussions
/ .
  • Paper: Awriting on Nelson Mandela.

Lesson Introduction

Duration: 1 day
Strategies:
  • Modeling
  • Class Work
  • Warm-up: Review of vocabulary, concepts
  • Think Aloud: Questioning, Evaluating, Synthesizing, Interpreting

ELL adaptations:
  • Use visual(Document Camera) to introduce lesson and assess students learning from previous class.
  • Have them read a one page bio on Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Review key vocabulary
  • I will go around to each group to give them an opportunity to ask questions or clarify any misunderstandings.
  • Use the graphic drawing (Document Camera) of a man’s figure for students to copy

Description:
  • I will tie the student’s prior learning in the following activities:
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
1. Teacher discusses the vocabulary words ofRacism, Activism, Protest, and checks for understanding. Show the words by placing a word sheet on the document camera as they are reviewed.
2. Pass out one page bio of Martin Luther King, Jr.
3. Show transparency of MLK’s bio on document camera.
  • Prompt: As I read the bio of MLK, I want you to think about the attributes of MLK and what he did in life. In other words, what kind of person he was.
4. Read bio.This can be teacher read Or this can be read with students sharing the reading.
5. Once bio is read show on document cameraa man’s figure and tell the class that class sentences on MLK will be built using a strategy to cover attributes.
Lets start with thinking about the five senses that human possess. Can somebody tell me what they are?
Students will offer: Sight, Hearing, Touch, Taste, Smell
Ok, We’ll start with that – Draw eyes, mouth, nose, ears and a little more detailed on the hands.
Now, Help me with coming up with words that go with each sense, these words should be verbs. (ask for clarification what a verb is – action word)
Point to the eyes, What verbs comes to mind with eyes? Guide students with words like: saw, see, cried, etc
Point to ears What verbs can we use with the sense of hearing? Words: heard, hear
Do the same with nose, mouth, touch, BUT switch the sense of mouth to more action words like speak, sing,
Touch – felt, worked,
6. Tell class, “There is still more we can cover with MLK. What else do people do beside besides smelling, hearing, etc? Lets look at the body, (point to the legs) What do people do with their legs? Guide students towards verbs of: walk, run, march, (Come up with as many verbs that can be used in sentences)
7. Do the same with pointing to the head ( think, thought, visualize, imagined, dreamed, etc)
8. Do the same with pointing to the heart (felt, hurt, love, etc)
9. Do the same with knees, ( knelt, bend, prayed)
10. At this point, with each sense, write comments that can be taken from the bio of Martin Luther King and other readings. For example, by the drawing of hand, write,
Dr. King wrote a response to the clergymen in an open letter title, “Letter from Birmingham” in which he wrote that, “"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Other examples:
Head: He dreamed that one day little black boys and black girls would join hands with little white boys and white girls as sister and brothers
Ears – He also heard many stories of injustice inflicted on those who were not white. During his time, the hanging of black man, lynchings, were very common.
This is continued with the students finding information from the readings or knowledge that students have made a connection with in order to stimulate connection with MLK.
For example, a student may note that injustice made Dr. King sad, hence, writing next to the heart: Martin felt sad in his heart with the segregation laws that were unfair to his people.
This is moved from Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela in the same fashion from any reading that students have on Mandela, follow the same lessons and then write a letter using the descriptive senses.
  • Last Activity, have the students use their descriptive sentences to compose a letter to a friend telling them about what they are learning in school about Nelson Mandela.

Example: Bio of Martin Luther King used in lesson plan
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta on January, 15, 1929 and was the eldest son of Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta William King. Martin Luther King Sr. was the pastor of EbenezerBaptistChurch. His mother, Alberta King, had been a former school teacher.
Martin Luther King Jr. grew up in Atlanta. He saw that he and his friends could not drink from the same water fountain and use the same restroom. His best friend as a child was a white boy. They lived in the same neighborhood, but Martin’s friend would go to a school for “whites only” and he was sent to a school for “black” children. After the first day of school Martin Luther King Jr. and his friend were never allowed to play together again. As Martin was growing up, he grew to understand that there were different laws for those who had black skin and those who had white skin. He also heard many stories of injustice inflicted on those who were not white. During his time, the hanging of black man, lynchings, were very common.
After going high school Martin Luther King Jr. enrolled in MorehouseCollege. He studied the teaching of Mahatma Gandhi and graduated from MorehouseCollege with a degree in sociology. In1953, he married Coretta Scott. They had four children: Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice Albertine.
In February of 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. became assistant pastor at EbenezerBaptistChurch in Atlanta. From the beginning, he believed and preached that all men were created equal. When Rosa Parks decided to obey the law by refusing to move to the back of a bus to make room for a “white” woman, he felt he had to answer the call to protest against segregation laws. In the eleven-year period between 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled over six million miles and over twenty-five hundred times. In these years, he led a missive protest in Birmingham, Alabama against segregation. At one point, when he in the Birmingham jail, several clergymen published a letter stating that he should be patient for the laws of segregation to change and that his non-violent protests were unsafe for the community. He had become the undisputed leader of the civil right movement and many people looked to him for guidance. Dr. King wrote a response to the clergymen in an open letter title, “Letter from Birmingham” in which he wrote that, “"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
On August, 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a famous speech. It was called “I have a Dream.” In his speech he spoke about how he dreamed that one day little black boys and black girls would join hands with little white boys and white girls as sister and brothers. As a pastor, Martin prayed for the country and for equal rights for all people. After ten years of protest, the laws makers in Washington voted to end segregation.
On April, 4, 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. went to help garbage collectors who were on strike. He was to lead a march in sympathy with striking workers of Memphis, Tennessee. Here in this city he was assassinated. In 1986, January 15th was voted by Congress to be recognized as an official holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On this day, people throughout the United States honor the memory and the convictions of this special man, who believed that people should be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin.