1. Morrell, E. & Duncan-Andrade, J. M. R. (2002). Promoting Academic Literacy with Urban Youth through Engaging Hip-hop Culture. English Journal, 91(6), 88-92.

URL:http://www.ncte.org/pdfs/subscribers-only/ej/0916-july02/EJ0916Promoting.pdf

 

SUMMARY: This article is about educators finding ways to use Hip-hop music and culture to create a common and critical discourse. By drawing on material from the lives of students that bridges racial divides, educators can connect to students’ lives in ways that promote academic literacy and critical consciousness. The article examines Hip-hop and the views critics have of the genre, and goes on to suggest that Hip-hop can represent a "resistant voice of urban youth through its articulation of problems that this generation and all Americans face on a daily basis." Teaching Hip-hop in this way, as a form of resistance, can help develop the critical consciousness of urban youth that can lead toward liberation from oppression. The article goes on to discuss the practical use of Hip-hop in the classroom within a unit on poetry. Hip-hop would be used as a bridge to help students develop skills of analysis and interpretation that can then be applied to reading of poetry from various time periods. Meanwhile, educators will be able to use analysis of Hip-hop to help students understand the merits of their youth culture and the social critique that exists within the culture and music they experience every day.

CONNECTION TO LITERACY: The article recognizes the literacy skills that students use every day within their own youth culture, namely, critical and analytical skills that they practice as they engage in Hip-hop culture and music. Using these skills and the culture where students comfortably exercise them, the author sees the potential for students to apply and expand their critical consciousness and connect it to the curriculum they learn in school. The article emphasizes the importance of a critical consciousness that students can use to examine their community and culture and further their knowledge of urban sociology and politics. Hip-hop can act as a bridge to academic material and a way into reading and understanding poetry from the literary canon. In addition, Hip-hop is a literary form that can serve as a scaffold to literary terms traditionally taught in school. Hip-hop can serve as a model and be analyzed for it's literary aspects.

SIGNIFICANCE: The article presents Hip-hop as a youth culture that spans the racial divide. Therefore, teachers can use Hip-hop to bring students together in a critical discourse. Critical consciousness that students exercise by participating and critiquing their culture can help students learn in the classroom. Teachers can view students' culture as a strong base from which to teach. The use of Hip-hop not only can help engage students in what they learn at school, it also recognizes the skills students already possess and uses these as a bridge. Students will benefit from the recognition of their culture as a positive part of their life, and in turn can learn how to use their culture in a positive way in society. In addition, teachers can help students critique popular culture and the media that has a strong presence in their lives. The article gives concrete examples of how Hip-hop can be employed in the classroom to teach material from the canon and critical thinking skills that relate to Hip-hop, other literature, and society. The article does an excellent job of showing how to use students culture to develop critical thinking and dialogue that can relate to social and political issues. The next step perhaps is a discussion of how youth culture and Hip-hop can be put to action for positive social change.

 

 

2. Hageman, J. (2001). A Bridge from Home to School: Helping Working Class Students Acquire School Literacy. English Journal, 90(4), 74-82.

URL: http://www.ncte.org/pdfs/subscribers-only/ej/0904-march01/EJ0904Bridge.pdf

SUMMARY: This article is about using overt comparison of English Language dialects and Standard English in order to help students acquire Standard English for use in school. Stressing the need for all students to gain access to formal, written standard American English while not losing or devaluing their home language, Hageman details how the method of overt comparison can work to teach students from English vernacular or linguistic minority groups. Hageman demonstrates how this method was effective in a basic writing course taught at an urban Midwestern university with white working class students, speakers of African American Vernacular English, and a speaker of Chicano English. Hageman discusses the mental process of acquiring a new dialect and holds that studying the rules of a student's home dialect can actually help them to learn Standard English. She goes on to discuss the pedagogy of overt comparison as defined by Siegel. In the process described by Siegel, students must notice and pay attention to specific features in Standard English. Then students must compare the feature to their knowledge of English at home. Finally, students must integrate the feature into their use and knowledge of Standard English. By being aware of differences in their home language and Standard English, students will be able to separate them into "two distinct language systems in their brain." In addition, students' home language will be used as a bridge to Standard English and legitimized in the classroom potentially increasing student self-esteem. Hageman goes on to describe three specific cases in her basic writing class where overt comparison was effective in teaching students from different backgrounds to write in academic English.

CONNECTION TO LITERACY: This article deals explicitly with developing academic literacy in linguistic minorities and English vernacular speakers. Academic settings have a code of language which students must use in order to succeed. By comparing students' home language to the language of the academy, students can become aware of the differences in the languages and begin to develop their understanding and use of Standard English. Students will essentially learn to codeswitch into academic English in the right setting, while maintaining their vernacular where it is more appropriate than Standard English. In addition, the process of overt comparison described involves comparing proofreading to critical reading, writing to speaking, and Standard English to other varieties and dialects, all of which can raise a students level of metaliguistic awareness. Consciously thinking about the differences in language while learning them is similar to the process of metacognition in which students think about and understand their learning process. The level of understanding promoted by metalinguistic awareness, can in turn play a role in developing students critical thinking skills as they begin to make choices about codeswitching.

SIGNIFICANCE: The article shows how a student's home language is better seen as an asset to learning Standard English than as a deficit by modeling a process of learning that uses knowledge of a dialect already possessed by a student to help them unravel the codes of Standard English. In addition, it makes a point of showing how the issue of acquiring Standard English and academic writing skills is one that touches the lives of students from working class backgrounds, AAVE speakers, and other linguistic minorities and is by no means a small issue. The article points out the language of academic settings largely overlaps the language of the middle class, who have a leg up in school as a result. The article shows how "socially conspicuous" variations or variations that suffer a social stigma are effective and valid ways of communicating that can act as a bridge to learning formal language required by the academy. Dismissing the concept of one way of communicating being "right" while another is "wrong", the article proposes a method of acquiring a second dialect for students that will help them access academia and other areas of society.

3. Gutiérrez, K. (2001) What's New in the English Language Arts: Challenging Policies and Practices, ¿y qué? Language Arts 78(6), 564-569.

URL: http://www.ncte.org/pdfs/subscribers-only/la/0786-july01/LA0786Whats.pdf

SUMMARY: This article examines how holistic and integrated pedagogues of literacy learning developed in the 1970s and 80s that argued for social and cultural understanding of language have not been integrated into classroom practice. The author sites numerous scholars who called for the "centrality of culture and the social context in intellectual development," then goes on to show how working class and immigrant children were often not given explicit instruction in speaking and writing Standard English. These students were none-the-less expected to acquire these skills to succeed in class without opportunities to gain literacy and competence in Standard English. Gutiérrez critiques the "New Literacy" movement that moved instead toward programs that focused on teaching fluency only in English, failing to acknowledge or build upon the language skills possessed in students home language. The article explores how New Literacy tried to impose a "color-blind pedagogy" that refused to acknowledge important differences in students from many cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Gutiérrez frames this pedagogy as a "Backlash Pedagogy" designed to legitimize and maintain privilege for the middle class whites traditionally benefiting from it in a time when demographics of the student population have shifted and threaten to shift the imbalance of power. Building on an earlier article (Gutiérrez, Baquedano-López, & Turner, 1997) about the importance of putting knowledge of language at the center of language arts policies, Gutiérrez identifies the failure of the current situation and urges for the necessity of change in the approach of educators given the nations current demographics.

CONNECTION TO LITERACY: This article deals with how the educational system has effectively denied working class and immigrant students access to literacy and mastery of Standard English through ineffective teaching pedagogy and discriminatory public policy. Numerous scholars have studied literacy development and determined the value of placing cultural and social understanding at the core of programs attempting to teach literacy in Standard English to students from diverse backgrounds. The "New Literacy" approach is shown to impede acquisition of literacy for students existing outside of the dominant culture. In this sense denial of literacy becomes a strategy for maintaining power and privilege.

SIGNIFICANCE: Gutiérrez makes an important observation about how the policy of New Literacy is potentially an intentional strategy for denying working class and immigrant students the same level of education and opportunity as students from the white middle class. The concept of a "Backlash Pedagogy" opens the door to discussions about institutionalized racism within the educational and political system. With ample evidence of the effectiveness of culturally relevant approaches to learning and literacy the common "one-size-fits-all" language arts policies deserve deep criticism and reconsideration.

4. Slater, W. E. & Horstman, F. R. (2002). Teaching Reading and Writing to Struggling Middle School and High School Students: The Case for Reciprocal Teaching.

URL: http://0-web1.epnet.com.opac.sfsu.edu/externalframe.asp?_ug=dbs+0+ln+en%2Dus+sid+0DA923B0%2D1142%2D45E4%2D9C62%2D4477F3D022C8%40Sessionmgr4%2DSessionmgr3+8445&_us=bs+%7Bwriting++and++high++school%7D+db+0+dl%5B0+DT++199901%2D200211+ds+%7Bwriting++and++high++school%7D+dstb+KS+hd+0+hs+0+or+Date+ri+KAAACBVA00000335+sm+KS+so+b+ss+SO+F808&tb=1&fi=afh_7213955_&tp=CAP&bk=R&tn=137&lpdf=true&pdfs=39K&es=cs%5Fclient%2Easp%3FT%3DP%26P%3DAN%26K%3D7213955%26rn%3D10%26db%3Dafh%26is%3D1045988X%26sc%3DR%26S%3DR%26D%3Dafh&fn=1&rn=10

SUMMARY: This article presents the cognitive strategy of reciprocal teaching to teach middle and high school students struggling with reading and writing. After examining the Basic level tests scores in writing and reading and finding dismal results indicating large numbers of struggling students, the authors offer a teaching method they believe will be effective in helping students acquire literacy skills. Reciprocal teaching is described as a cognitive strategy that students will be able to apply in other areas of their learning. Through a four part strategy involving questioning, clarifying issues, summarizing, and predicting, readers and writers will receive scaffolding as they work toward higher achievement. The article describes the four part process of reciprocal teaching that will be modeled by the teacher until students are able to complete the tasks on their own or in groups with teacher assistance if necessary. Once students learn to use reciprocal teaching to help them with reading, they can move on to using the method in writing by creating written response and papers based on the four parts of reciprocal teaching. The article emphasizes sequencing and practice to develop students' skills until they internalize the strategies. The authors warn teachers against leaving students on their own too much until they begin to move away from the literal level of questioning toward a higher order of thought provoking questions.

CONNECTION TO LITERACY: The article focuses on a cognitive strategy to develop literacy skills of reading and writing. Through the process, students work to become critical readers and conscious readers. The strategy of reciprocal teaching is connected to acquiring higher level literacy through helping students process what they read and write through the cognitive activities of questioning, clarifying, summarizing, and predicting.

SIGNIFICANCE: The article provides a practical strategy for helping students develop literacy skills that can also be applied to content area curriculum. It identifies struggling readers and writers and attempts a solution focused specifically on raising their literacy levels in an activity that will be meaningful to readers at all levels. The article also demonstrates how teachers can provide scaffolding for students as they learn a process or material and then remove the scaffolding as students master the task. Teachers meanwhile continuing to develop new scaffolding for more difficult tasks in order to continue students' smooth progress forward. The role of the teacher is presented as moving students toward taking responsibility for their own learning.

5. Morrell, E. (2002). Toward a critical pedagogy of popular culture: Literacy development among urban youth. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 46(1) 72-77.

URL: http://0-web1.epnet.com.opac.sfsu.edu/externalframe.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0+ln+en%2Dus+sid+0DA923B0%2D1142%2D45E4%2D9C62%2D4477F3D022C8%40Sessionmgr4%2DSessionmgr3+8445&_us=bs+critical++pedagogy+db+0+dl%5B0+DT++199801%2D200211+ds+critical++pedagogy+dstb+KS+hd+0+hs+0+or+Date+ri+KAAACBVA00000792+sm+KS+so+b+ss+SO+1578&fi=afh_7241835_&tp=CAP&bk=C&tn=79&lpdf=true&pdfs=54K&es=cs%5Fclient%2Easp%3FT%3DP%26P%3DAN%26K%3D7241835%26rn%3D3%26db%3Dafh%26is%3D10813004%26sc%3DR%26S%3DR%26D%3Dafh&fn=1&rn=3&

SUMMARY: The article is about the critical teaching of popular culture as a way to teach and develop literacy and help students deconstruct the dominant culture and the oppressive systems that exist within it. Morrell defines literacy not only as the ability to read and write, but also the ability to think critically about and assess texts to examine the systems of power and oppression that inform texts. He then proposes the analysis of the critical pedagogy of popular culture as a way to move urban youth toward social action and "struggle for freedom from tyranny and oppression". The article explains how popular culture can be used to engage students in a critical dialogue that draws from their personal experiences participating in and creating popular culture. Examining units that connect hip-hop, popular film, and television and media to academic curriculum, Morrell makes a case for the legitimacy and popular culture as academic text, while stressing the need to help students move toward social and political action through popular culture.

CONNECTION TO LITERACY: Literacy includes the ability to think critically about the world, culture, and the media messages that surrounds us. Morrell shows how using the critical literacy skills youth have developed through participation in popular culture can be used as a bridge to traditional academic texts. Furthermore, he shows how a critical literacy of the media and the systems of oppression in society are essential to youth as they struggle to dismantle and overcome these systems. Morrell's discussion of media literacy makes clear the importance of youth understanding how they are portrayed in the corporate media and moves them toward developing a critical consciousness where they are able to read between the lines of what is put forth by mainstream society. In addition, Morrell discuss how understanding film and television requires literacy skills and presents these mediums as valid academic texts.

SIGNIFICANCE: Urban youth today, and especially urban youth of color, are faced with the challenges of an oppressive society not interested in their success. This article gives concrete examples of how educators can help these students understand and deconstruct the systems that oppress them and move toward liberation. Using students' own culture to examine traditional materials is an effective way to make texts real to students. In addition, helping students develop a critical consciousness about their own culture and the power structures beneath it is essential to them as they struggle for a more just society and as they try to avoid the trappings of our current society.

1. Kelly, J. & Bradford, P., & Morgan, C. (200?). Transcending Poetry, Jazz, Rap & Hip Hop [Online]. Available from:

URL: http://www.pbs.org/jazz/classroom/transcend.htm

SUMMARY: This ten day lesson plan explores the characteristics and history of poetry, jazz, rap and hip-hop music. It compares and contrasts themes and lyrics and asks students to analyze how each genre reflects the culture of the time it derives from. The lesson begins by listening to examples of jazz, rap, and hip-hop and identifying characteristics then comparing and contrasting each. Then students listen to poetry and examine it then compare it to the music heard earlier. In the next two sessions, the class is divided into three groups to research jazz, hip-hop, or rap as assigned. This information is then compiled in a group Power Point presentation on days four and five. A detailed rubric is provided to the students for this project. In the sixth day groups share their presentations and conduct an evaluation and assessment of each presentation. In the next three days students examine poetry, including the work of Langston Hughes making connections to lifestyle of the period in which they were written. The students watch sections of Ken Burns' documentary, JAZZ, to learn about different opinions of African-Americans, including Hughes, on jazz and culture during the Harlem Renaissance. Building on this connection between music and lifestyle of a time period, students examine jazz, rap, and hip-hop songs discussing how they relate to lifestyles in each historical period. Students are asked to analyze lyrics of one song identifying the theme, the time period of the song, and what the song says about the time period. Then students are asked to create their own lyrics for a song in the style of jazz, rap or hip-hop. In the final day of the lesson students present their songs if they want to and complete an evaluation of the two week lesson.

POSITIVE ASPECTS: The lesson makes excellent connections between poetry and different genres of music. Using hip-hop will draw on students' personal experience and lives and help bridge to the other subject matter. In addition, the lesson gives ample opportunity for practicing analysis and critical thinking of poetry and music while asking students to draw connections to lifestyles in historical periods that are depicted in music or critiqued in the music. The lesson also offers the opportunity to practice research skills using subject matter that will likely be compelling to the students. Presentation skills, writing skills, and reading comprehension skills are all effectively incorporated into the lesson. Students must work together to contribute to group projects and must assess each others performance. Finally, students are given the opportunity of offer an evaluation that can help improve the lesson for future use.

DEVELOPMENT AREAS: The lesson relies heavily on access to computers and the internet in class in order to complete groups presentations. It assumes knowledge of Power Point, although it does make room for use of overheads instead. The lesson plan fails to deal explicitly with aspects of race that are central to all of the genres of music. While it does leave room for racial issues and history to come up, the lesson would perhaps benefit from explicitly examining this layer of the history. Finally, the students are only able to research one genre of music which may limit their knowledge of the other genres, but hopefully the peer assessment during the Power Point presentations will keep students tuned in to the information they are being given.

ADAPTING: Overall, I think this is an interesting and fun lesson. The use of Hughes poetry is great and then using the JAZZ documentary to listen to a quote from Hughes helps tie it together (even though I don't love this documentary). There are opportunities to find information and teach to fellow students and be creative. To make this lesson stronger and help give it even more of a social and political context I would try and incorporate an examination of the role each genre played in American culture before it became accepted by the mainstream culture and why this is so. I would use this lesson as an into activity for a novel or poetry unit on the Harlem Renaissance.

2. Laconetti, K. A. (2000, April 26). Kate Chopin and Other Woman Writers at the Turn of the Century [Online]. Available from:

URL: http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Language_Arts/Literature/LIT0039.html

SUMMARY: The lesson is an examination of women writers at the turn of the century comparing and contrasting several woman writers including Sarah Orne Jewett, Mary Wilkins Freeman, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, to Kate Chopin. After exploring the students' knowledge of the time period and the role of women at the turn of the century, the teacher will distribute a matrix containing information about women writers during this time for students to analyze. Students will write responses to their analysis and observations, then in pairs compare their observations and answer questions using a matrix focusing on Chopin. Students will examine the second matrix for its own patterns. Finally, students will form and write their own hypotheses that accounts for patterns they observed in the two matrices using data to support their theory. The teacher will guide a class discussion of student hypotheses.

POSITIVE ASPECTS: This lesson delivers information about writers in an interesting way that offers students to time to be researchers and detectives. Using information they must deduct conclusions about the women writers who flourished at the turn of the century. The students work in pairs will potentially give them space to create a dialog about the material and could help engage them. Finally, this lesson teaches about writers that are often left out of the canon, but who are extremely important to American literary history. Women writers at the turn of the century were writing more than any other group of people, and were telling the stories of women (although mainly white women) and often the working class. The lesson offers informal assessment of the questioning for the teacher to gage students' knowledge before reading works by Kate Chopin.

DEVELOPMENT AREAS: I think this is a good lesson that helps make this material easier to learn about. However, the lesson does not call for use of any of the writing of these women writers. I think their works are often overlooked, but they offer a very interesting perspective on history. Students may be more inclined to get involved with the matrices work if they are excited by the literature first.

ADAPTING: I would definitely use this lesson as an into activity to Chopin's canonical novel, The Awakening. I would perhaps adapt it by adding a few very short selections from the writers to begin the lesson and give them an idea what women writers at this time were writing about. I would also make connections between the roles of women then and now by explicitly examining the "Cult of Domesticity" that these women wrote about and began to break through. Students would compare what women writers today write about and the roles they play. Nathaniel Hawthorne called turn of the century women writers, "That damned lot of scribbling women." (He was complaining to his publisher about how his books were not selling because people were reading women writers instead.) I would use this quote to spark discussion on gender roles in society.

3. Wilson, K. (2000, January 28). More Grammar Review Using "Jabberwocky" [Online]. Available from:

URL: http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Language_Arts/Grammar/GRM0001.html

SUMMARY: This lesson is a review of parts of speech using Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem, "Jabberwocky". The teacher will read the poem online to students following on their own computers. Then students will be asked to interpret the poem's meaning. The teacher will make the point that even thought the poem has many nonsense words, you can still figure out what happens. The teacher then guides a discussion of the nonsense words in the poem. For homework to be started in class, the teacher will review the parts of speech. She will then model the assignment on an overhead by labeling the parts of speech in the first stanza of the poem for each word including nonsense words. After summarizing what was done in class the teacher splits students into groups to begin the assignment of labeling parts of speech for all the words in the poem. The teacher will circulate the room to answer questions.

POSITIVE ASPECTS: This lesson uses a great poem to enliven a grammar lesson. It also has clear teacher models for the students while allowing students to complete tasks both in groups and on their own (when they finish the homework).

DEVELOPMENT AREAS: The lesson does not make clear use of the computers it requires and it seems this exercise could be done easily with handouts instead. In addition, it does not move beyond having students identify parts of speech to writing their own sentences. Grammar is difficult to learn this way and writing may actually be a more successful way of learning grammar.

ADAPTING: If I were to use this lesson the exercise would not be done on computers. I would hand out copies of the poem for students to complete the labeling assignment. I would also ask the students to write their own nonsense poems telling a story and using different kinds of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs that they create. I would have they students create a glossary for their poem that told us the meaning (if they want there to be a meaning) of their new words and the parts of speech. In small groups we would share these poems or in a poetry gallery so students could read each others poems. By adding this writing assignment, I could assess whether the students are able to write using the parts of speech they identified in Lewis Carroll's poem.

4. Hambouz, A. & Khan, J. (2001, October 17). Spreading the Word: Analyzing the Use of Propaganda in the War Against Terrorism [Online]. Available from:

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20011017wednesday.html?searchpv=learning_lessons

SUMMARY: This lesson plan is designed to help students understand how propaganda is used to benefit a cause or damage an opposing cause. The lesson begins with a journal entry following a prompt that gives the definition of propaganda and asks students to name examples of positive and negative propaganda. Students then share responses and the class charts on the board their examples of propaganda that benefits or damages a cause. Discussion develops out of this, asking students if propaganda can be seen as a positive thing. In the second part of the lesson, the class reads together the article, "U.S. Steps Up Leaflet and Radio Broadcasts to Sway Afghans" and answers specific questions. The class then breaks into small groups where students search through print media dated post September 11, 2001 looking for textual and visual examples of propaganda. Each group then creates two collages representing propaganda benefiting a cause and propaganda damaging a cause. Students display posters in the classroom. The lesson ends with assigning an essay on the pros and cons of propaganda in wartime.

POSITIVE ASPECTS: This lesson is a great way to address the English Content Standards on media comprehension and analysis (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.14). It uses current events and can be easily adapted to more recent events by choosing another article, perhaps one focusing on Iraq or Palestine. The lesson can be easily expanded by reading the suggested article and doing follow up research on the events occurring since October of 2001. The lesson includes writing, reading, analysis, discussion, and non-print activities that help develop a broad range of skills. Students work in groups, individually, and as a whole class. Finally, the lesson provides ample extension questions and activities that can be added if the lesson works well. The lesson could be easily used as an into activity to reading George Orwell's Animal Farm.

DEVELOPMENT AREAS: The lesson begins with a journal that is too broad and asks students to come up with examples of different kinds of propaganda without first offering an example. I think this journal requires more of an introduction and some teacher provided examples of propaganda. Beyond this, I think this lesson is well thought out and exciting.

ADAPTING: To adapt this lesson for use I would attempt to find an article more recent that deals with similar subject matter. I would keep this article on hand because of its explicit example of the US distributing propaganda, and perhaps provide other historical examples where this happened. However, to keep the lesson timely and to make it directly relevant to students at that moment, I think it is important to use an article as recent as possible. In addition, I would spread this lesson out over two days and allow more time for discussion, research, and presentation of the posters students create. I would follow the described lesson with a discussion of how propaganda affects the students and their communities, and the importance of being critical both of the media and the actions of the government. Finally, I would definitely use this lesson in conjunction with a major work of literature that contained themes of propaganda and manipulation.

5. Kohl, K. & Khan, J. (2000, October 18). Legends in Their Own Times: Folk Tales and Their Cultural Implications [Online]. Available from:

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20001018wednesday.html?searchpv=learning_lessons

SUMMARY: This lesson aims to expose students to fairy tales and folk tales from different cultures and explore how these tales reflect the cultures they come from. The lesson begins by having students write a journal on their ideas about fairy and folk tales and their importance to culture. After sharing some ideas from journals the class reads and discusses together the New York Times article, "Yielding to the Dreamy Tug of Ancient Shadows," on Indonesian Shadow Puppet storytelling. The class then breaks into groups of three to find a folk tale from an assigned culture. The group will develop a retelling of the folk tale using a different medium such as a puppet show, skit, illustrations, or other artistic venue. Students will create puppets costumes, etc. for their retelling and later present it to the class. Finally, students will write two paragraph introductions for their folk tale presentation explaining the themes and how they reflect the culture from which the tale comes.

POSITIVE ASPECTS: This lesson has opportunities to read and discuss critically, write, and participate in group non-print and creative activities. Students will gain exposure to tales from different cultures and be able to see the importance of folk tales in every culture explored. The lesson also offers lots of room and ideas for expansion to larger projects.

DEVELOPMENT AREAS: The time period given to complete the tasks is not sufficient. The lesson would work better if carried out over two or three days to give students ample time to find a story and develop a presentation. The lesson also does not specifically discuss how students will be able to write the two paragraph introduction reflecting on the culture their tale comes from. It assumes too much prior knowledge and perhaps needs some room for research on the culture the story comes from.

ADAPTING: I think this is an interesting lesson that offers much in the way of multicultural learning. To adapt I would carry the lesson on over three or four days asking students to research briefly the culture their story comes from. I would ask each group to create and present a poster that describes their culture and the role of folk tales in the culture. I would offer ample resources and guidance in helping them complete this research. Finally, I would ask students to write their own folk tale or have them ask an older relative to tell them a folk tale from their own culture to share with the class.

To expose students to how music can act as a form of protest.

Students will be able to discuss how the song Strange Fruit addresses lynching in the South.

Students will be able to analyze how songs from hip-hop culture address the social issues of today.

Students will express their own concerns with their world in poetry or song.

Students will be exposed to issues of racial violence that will be dealt with in the next text read in class (To Kill a Mocking Bird or another book dealing with racial violence)

CD Player

Billie Holiday CD with the song Strange Fruit.

CD's or Computer with MP3 capability for hip-hop songs

Overhead Projector and overheads

Handout of lyrics to songs

Article about lynching of Emmett Till

Post-its

1. Class brainstorm on the board or preferably butcher paper: A look at student's lives and society.

What are injustices in your life?

What seems wrong that happens in society and effects you?

What role does race play?

How do you deal with these things? Talk about them, express your feelings and ideas? (These last two questions can be done as a journal if students seem uncomfortable talking about them).

2. Ask the class what issues they think people of color dealt with in the early 1900s. Take a few answers. Discuss lynching and statistics on lynching in the early 1900s. Show photos on the overhead (or using computer if available) of lynch mobs and victims.
3. Pass out the lyrics to Strange Fruit. And give the students information on the first performance of the song by Billie Holiday in 1939.
4. Play Billie Holiday's song, Strange Fruit. Students can follow lyrics on the handout.
5. After the song has finished, ask students to write a brief journal about what they felt when they heard the song. What images struck them?
6. Discuss together the following questions:

What is the song about? What images tell you this? What is "strange fruit"?

Why does the word "lynching" not appear in the song? Why were blacks lynched? How was it justified? Why do you think Billie Holiday chose to perform this song? Was it a safe thing to do? What do you think the effect of the song was when it first performed in 1939? Why might music be an effective medium for dealing with difficult issues?

7. Offer students ideas on where to find more information on lynching and the song.

Websites: http://www.jimcrowhistory.org

http://www.eye.net

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/holiday_b.html

Google: Keywords "lynching" or "Strange Fruit"

8. Discuss how the song continued to be sung by Holiday at the close of each of her performances at Café Society. Discuss also how music continued to be a forum for addressing societal and political problems (if time play Bob Dylan's song The Lynching of Emmett Till).
9. Ask students if they can think of any musicians they listen to who deal with societal problems. Write all the answers on the board.
10. Play "Freedom" by Jurassic 5 (see lyrics below). Other potential songs include "Behind Enemy Lines" by Dead Prez, "Your Revolution" by Sarah Jones, "Time for Peace" by Digital Underground Paris Sway & Tech (lyrics unavailable at this time).
11. Ask students what issue the song addresses. How does it address the issue or what is the song saying? Is this an issue in their own lives? Is the music or is hip-hop controversial? What other songs or groups that they listen to speak to specific societal or political issues?
12. Assign the students to find a song by an artist they listen to that addresses an issue. They should bring the lyrics and a copy of the song if possible to the next class. Offer some suggestions if needed on artists who use music in this way. Davey D's website is an excellent place to start: http://www.daveyd.com/ as is the Hip-Hop Congress Website: http://www.hiphopcongress.com and the Artist Network: http://www.artistsnetwork.org/

 This is the end of the Hip-hop lesson, but the following days will be necessary to complete the activity.

Day Two:

1. Have students get in pairs to talk about the songs they have brought in. Students who did not bring a song can group with other students.
2. Ask the students to discuss the issue the song deals with, the tone of the song, the intended audience of the song, and what they think the artists would like to see happen or change and how.
3. Have a few students play their songs for the class. Discuss the issues present in the song as a class and how the song affects them. Does the song inspire them in any way, cause anger, make them want to act, etc.?
4. As a class look over the brainstorm of students' issues completed the day before. Ask students if they have anything to add.
5. Now ask the students to pick something they would like to write about in a song or poem that affects them. Give the students time to write a piece about their issue. Some people may work in pairs if they like and if the atmosphere allows it.
6. For homework have the students finish their song and write a reflection to proofread, edit and turn in that explains how they song or poem they wrote deals with an issue in their own life and how they could use the piece to affect change.

Day Three:

1. Have student volunteers perform their pieces.
2. When performers are through conduct a poetry/song gallery where the students post their work on the walls.
3. Pass out three post-it notes to each student and have them view each others' work. Each student must comment on what they like about 3 different pieces. Each piece may receive no more than three post-its so everyone receives feedback.
4. Collect final reflections.
5. Conduct a brief discussion of what students learned and liked about the lesson to assess how to improve it.

Students will be informally assessed on their participation in class and their completion of activities. Students will be formally assess on the poems or songs they write for the class and whether this piece comments in some way on an issue the students face in their lives. They will also be assessed on their final reflection to turn in that focuses on how the piece they wrote deals with an issue in their lives and how the piece might be used to affect change. Pieces should be proofread for grammar, spelling, and final editing marks on the piece are acceptable.

The literacy aspect of this lesson focuses on listening and interpretation of song lyrics and writing lyrics that reflect their views of society. Students will think critically about messages delivered in specific pieces of protest music and then draw connections to the music they hear in their own lives. Students will choose a piece of music they listen to and analyze to determine how it deals with a political or societal issue. This exercise aims to get the students to think critically about their own cultural and how it views the world and change. Finally, students will apply their knowledge of the world and their personal experience to writing as they create a poem or song addressing something they are concerned with. Students will reflect on how their words can be used to affect change and begin to think about how understanding and commenting on society can move to action and positive change.

The exercise attempts to connect to student through music of their youth culture. Some students may not participate in the same youth culture and this may cause some problems as the examples of protest music I have selected come from hip-hop culture. Also, not all hip-hop is focused on social change and there may be some difficulty for students seeking songs about change if they are unfamiliar with artists who attempt to address societal issues.

The lesson may be difficult for some ELL learners and they may need additional support through the lesson.

Finally, this lesson in no way deals enough with the issue of lynching and racial violence in this country. The lesson does aim to show how music is used to deal with problems like this, but the issue of lynching certainly deserves more focused attention in another lesson or when reading a book like To Kill a Mocking Bird. If students seem very upset by the images of lynching it may be necessary to take time to talk about how students feel when they see these images and how our society deals with its violence and racial violence.

From The Connection. http://archives.theconnection.org/archive/2000/05/0526b.shtml

Objective:

Students will be able to identify subjects and verb and whether or not they agree.

Students will be able to translate Ebonics forms of Subject Verb to Standard English forms. Students will be able to correct sentences for subject verb agreement.

Overhead projector and overheads of the handouts

Handouts

Marker

1. Have student volunteer pass out the handouts.

2. Ask the following question: How can we identify subject verb agreement and disagreement?

3. Present this rule on an overhead: If the subject is singular the verb must be singular too.

Ex. Lauren is a strong girl.

4. Discuss and present: This is the Standard English form of this sentence. When would you use this form? Who would you say this too? What would the sentence be if you were speaking to someone on the street or at home?

Ebonics ex. Lauren be a strong girl.

5. Present a plural example: If the subject is plural, the verb must be plural to agree.

Ex. They are strong people.

6. Have the students read the Ebonics paragraph in the hand out aloud. Question them on how it differs from the way Octavia Bulter writes in the novel, Parable of the Sower. Why do you think Octavia Butler writes in Standard English? Why might it be important to have one form of written language that is standard for all of us?

7. Ask students to identify and point out different forms. Then alone or in pairs have them rewrite the paragraph in Standard English.

8. Ask students to write on the board and explain the difference between the Ebonics and Standard English Subject Verbs Forms. Help them if necessary. Ask them when they might use the Standard Form.

9. In pairs again ask them to chart the subject and verbs in the new paragraph they have written.

10. Read the handout with a paragraph from the novel. Ask students to identify three examples of subject verb agreement.

11. Discuss as a class the examples. Answer students have questions about the past tense verb agreement. (This may need more time in another class).

12. Give instructions for students writing their own paragraph about their community and proofing for subject verb agreement.

13. Pass out the handout on subject forms for students to reference. If time remains in the class period briefly go over the sheet:

On board and on handout: What are singular and what are plural forms of subjects:

1. Compound subjects are usually plural:

Ex. Lauren and Keith fought today. (They fought).

2. Some singular pronouns: She, he, anyone, anybody, each, either, none
3. Some plural pronouns: They, we, both, few, many, several
4. Some nouns that look singular, but refer to many: Community, family, team, public, majority, band. These subjects use singular verbs or plural verbs depending on sentence format!

Ex. The community is frightened.

The members of the community are frightened.

 

Adjusting the Lesson for ELL students:

In order to help ELL students with this lesson I would be sure to pair them with a more proficient English speakers in the groups. Also, I think more direct instruction on singular and plural verbs would be necessary. The concept I would work with them on most is how presents tense verbs that are singular often look plural because they may have an "s" at the ends. As in:

She works hard. He types slowly.

Plural verbs, conversely may appear singular to these students because they lack the "s".

They work hard. They type slowly.

I would include this discussion with the discussion of singular and plural subjects. Also, there are two simpler worksheets that use less complex sentences and more obvious examples. The material is the same, but it is not as imbedded in the text and should be more helpful to students just learning English.

In later lessons I plan to work more with verb tense, but one thing at a time!

 

Assessment:

Students will be informally assessed on their behavior and participation in pair work and whole class activities. The teacher should note if they were helpful and able to work with other students. They will also be assessed on completion of worksheet tasks. The first worksheet will be done in class and the second worksheet assignment will be done at home. These assignments will receive credit for being done. The paragraph the students have to write will be graded for use of grammar rules discussed in class, specifically subject verb agreement in Standard English. Students will receive extra points for proofreading marks and edits on their paper that indicate they checked their work. The point of this is to encourage proofing and to allow students to make mistakes in the process of writing that can correct later so fluency is maintained. The teacher should note in correcting which students are still having difficulty with subject verb agreement and arrange additional materials or lessons to help them learn the rule.

 

Literacy Aspect:

The literacy aspect of this lesson is the focus on learning grammar and codeswitching. The lesson aimed at teaching a basic grammar rule of Standard English to a class of mainly Ebonics speakers attempts to use the fluency of these students to scaffold the lesson. Using examples of writing that have long and complex sentences with lots of ideas in Ebonics, the lesson teaches the students first to identify differences between subject verb form of Ebonics and Standard English. Once students can identify these forms, the lesson asks that they learn to translate from one variety of language to the next, or codeswitch. The lesson attempts to develop critical thinking in the students as they examine when and why they would choose to use one variety of language over another. Ultimately, the lesson is one step toward helping students become proficient in two languages and the skill of codeswitching.

 

Debriefing:

The lesson attempts to give students the rule of subject verb agreement in Standard English and then time to compare it to Ebonics and translate writing samples. The writing sample I have written, was translated to Ebonics using guidelines provided by a sociolinguistics class and is limited by my own shakiness in Ebonics. After working with students or completing this lesson, it may be helpful to take a student writing sample and replace my paragraph.

The rule of subject verb agreement is one that has many variations as you change tense. It is not possible to deal with the entire rule in one lesson, so this lesson attempts to deal mainly with the present tense where most students will experience difficulty. If students express a lot of confusion over other tenses, the timing of the lesson could be thrown and might call for some immediate and spontaneous adjustment.

Finally, the simpler worksheets designed for ELL students and kids with more literacy problems, use shorter and choppier sentences. This is not the kind of writing we like to promote, but in this case I used it to make the subject verb agreement less imbedded in the text and slightly more obvious.

This lesson strives to deal with grammar in a relevant and culturally conscious way. Inevitably it will require revision as I learn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORKSHEETS for Lesson #2

Welcome to:

The Wonderful world of

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

The subject and verb of a sentence must agree in two ways: Number (singular vs. plural) and Person (First, second, or third).

Ebonics: Lauren she worry about her community.

Standard English: Lauren worries about her community.

Read the following paragraph. How is it different from the way Octavia Butler writes in the book? Why do you think Octavia Butler writes in Standard English? Why might it be important to have one form of written language that is standard for all of us?

Lauren she worry about the safety of her community because of the threat from drug addicts, thieves and other predators who want what the community got. Inside the walls, there eleven houses, gardens, fruit trees, and lots of people from different races and backgrounds. Everyone manages to get along, although not everyone like each other. They all do their part because their survival depend on it, and because the community would not look favorably on someone who did not help out none. Still, some people keep more to themselves or be hoarding some their possessions from other people.

Lauren's father the minister and he be acting as the leader of the community. He hold church at his house, train adult and the older teen to shoot guns so they can help protect the community from outsiders, and he generally keep the community running smoothly. Lauren's father he be worrying about the community like Lauren, but he try not to show it none. He think worrying will just scare people for no reason, and when people figure out there ain't no immediate danger they won't be afraid no more. He say that when people ain't afraid none and become too confidant they difficult to control and then they become vulnerable to attack. Lauren she think that ignoring the threat and not preparing for the worst be living in denial of what likely to happen. The walls around the community they protect the people inside and help keep people out, but they also remind people outside that there be things they want and need inside the walls. Sooner or later Lauren think all those people outside will come in and take what they can from the community.

On another sheet of paper try and rewrite this paragraph in Standard English. Make the subjects and verbs agree.

 

Now, with your translated paragraph, chart the subjects and verbs in each sentence.

Chart the subjects and verbs

Sentence Number	Singular Subject	Singular Verb
1	Lauren	worries

 

 

 

 

Sentence Number	Plural Subject	Plural Verb

 

Here are some rules to help you with Standard American English Subject Verb Agreement:

1.If the subject is singular the verb must be singular too.

Ex. Lauren is a strong girl who is determined to survive.

 

2.If the subject is plural the verb must be plural too.

Ex. They are strong people who are determined to survive.

Well, here are some helpful hints:

3.Compound subjects are usually plural.

Ex. Lauren and Keith talked about their father.

Or, They talked about their father.

4.These are some singular pronouns: She, he, it, anyone, anybody, each, either, none.

These pronouns need singular verbs: She wants to read.

5.These are some plural pronouns: They, we, both, few, many, several.

These pronouns need plural verbs: We want to read.

6.Some nouns look singular, but refer to many: Community, family, team, public, majority, band.

These subjects use singular verbs in most cases, but can sometimes use plural verbs.

Singular Ex. The community is frightened of an outsider invasion.

Plural Ex. The members of the community are frightened of an outsider invasion.

 

 

 

Parable of the Sower

Read the paragraph below from Parable of the Sower. Find three examples of subject verb agreement as we have discussed. Circle them or underline them so you can report back to the class.

And we're in Robledo—20 miles from Los Angeles, and, according to Dad, once a rich, green, unwalled little city that he had been eager to abandon when he was a young man. Like Keith, he had wanted to escape the dullness of Robledo for big city excitement. L.A. was better then—less lethal. He lived there for 21 years. Then in 2010, his parents were murdered and he inherited their house. Whoever killed them had robbed the house and smashed up the furniture, but they didn't torch anything. There was no neighborhood wall back then.

Crazy to live without a wall to protect you. Even in Robledo, most of the street poor—squatters, winos, junkies, homeless people in general—are dangerous. They're desperate or crazy or both. That's enough to make anyone dangerous.

Worse for me, they often have things wrong with them. They cut off each other's ears, arms, legs….They carry untreated diseases and festering wounds. They have no money to spend on water to wash with so even the unwounded have sores. They don't get enough to eat so they're malnourished—or they eat bad food and poison themselves. As I rode, I tried not to look around at them, but I couldn't help seeing—collecting—some of their general misery.

I can take a lot of pain without falling apart. I've had to learn to do that. But it was hard, today, to keep peddling and keep up with others when just about everyone I saw made me feel worse and worse.

 

 

Now, write your own paragraph about life in your community on a separate sheet of paper. When you have finished, proof read for subject verb agreement and make changes as necessary. Please DO NOT ERASE MISTAKES. Correct them and move on. I want to see that you can find your own errors and correct them. You will receive points for corrections. This is due tomorrow in class.

 

 

 

 



5. The community like to garden.

___________________________________________________________

6. Older kids learns to shoot guns.

___________________________________________________________

7. Younger kids is not allowed near guns.

___________________________________________________________

8. Guns is only for protection and can be very dangerous.

___________________________________________________________

9. Lauren feel other people's pain.

___________________________________________________________

10. She have a disorder called hyperempathy.

___________________________________________________________

11. When others hurts, Lauren hurt too.

___________________________________________________________

12. Lauren wonder if she can survive outside the walls of her community.

___________________________________________________________

13. Drug addicts and thieves preys on weak people outside the walls.

___________________________________________________________

14. Lauren know that they will hurt her if she are not strong enough.

___________________________________________________________

She eats food from the garden.

1. They read books on survival.

________________________________________________________________________

2. They learn to make fires and find water.

________________________________________________________________________

3. They make emergency packs in case they have to leave quickly.

________________________________________________________________________

4. They try not to scare people, but they want the community to be prepared.

________________________________________________________________________

They teach the children to read.

1. She was brave and smart.

______________________________________________________________________

2. She lives in a very dangerous world.

______________________________________________________________________

3. He wants to grow up quickly.

______________________________________________________________________

4. She thinks about leaving home, but does not want to abandon the community.

______________________________________________________________________

LESSON PLAN #3: Literary Fishbowl for Parable of the Sower:

Students will be able to analyze the text and create discussion questions based on their reading.

Students will be able to discuss their questions in groups and/or the fishbowl.

Students will be able to comment on the discussion that occurs in the fishbowl and the ideas put forth.

Students will be able to draw conclusions about the book and the characters in the book, and use these conclusions to help them complete an Open Mind Character Collage.

Student journals

Copies of the novel for reference

Paper for students without any

1. Have students write a five minute journal of thoughts they have at the conclusion of the novel.
2. Explain that we will be conducting a literary fishbowl with approximately 6 students in the fishbowl.
3. Break students into small groups of 4 or 5.
4. Ask the students to discuss the following questions that were written on the board before class: Will Lauren's community succeed? How did they decide to form a community? How might they make decisions in the future? What role do you think Earthseed will play in this community? What do you think the author, Octavia Butler, feels about society today? What lessons did you take from the book?
5. Instruct students to write three questions as a group for the fishbowl and discuss why these questions are good for the discussion.
6. Explain to students questions can be about the text alone or about how the text relates to the real world and their own lives.
7. When each group has a question ask them to count off in their groups 1-5 or 1-4.
8. Randomly assign roles for the fishbowl by number.
9. Explain how roles of the group members and how the fishbowl will work. One number will be in the fishbowl, another will be assigned to look for assumptions that are being made by people in the fishbowl, another (or two people) will write comments and questions about the discussion, and the last will write a "love letter" to the group member in the fishbowl telling them what they did well specifically.
10. Set up six chairs in a half circle at the front of the room.
11. Have the fishbowl people take their seats in the half circle.
12. Instructor should sit at the back of the room or to the side to allow students to take control of the discussion.
13. To begin the fishbowl, have each member go around and ask their question without commenting so that all the questions are on the table.
14. Let the fishbowl members discuss the questions for as long as possible. Instructor should interfere as little as possible and allow students to work their way through the text and the issues they discover.
15. As the discussion closes down the instructor should open up the fishbowl to the comments and questions of the observers (who are likely at this point to be tired of being silent). Assumptions that were spotted should also be discussed at this point.
16. Let the discussion continue openly for another five to ten minutes as times allows.
17. Close the discussion and ask the letter writers to hand their letters to students in the fishbowl and have the fishbowlers return to their seats.
18. Have students take their journals out again and now write about the end of the novel from the perspective and in the voice of a character other than the main character and narrator, Lauren Olamina.
19. As class times come to an end assign students to complete their journals if not finished for the next class. Also, assign students to create an "Open Mind Character Collage" that will depict through photographs, newspaper clippings, and other collage material the inner thoughts, values, and ideas of a character from the novel without telling us directly who the character is. Hand out instructions for this non-print "beyond" activity.

Students will be assessed on the questions they develop in their groups and bring to the literary fishbowl. Since not all students will be in the hotseat of the fishbowl, it needs to be assessed in a way that is fair to all students. People in the fishbowl will be given written feedback about how their performance in the fishbowl. The instructor will be looking for how well they work with other students in the discussion, if they respond to questions and build on what has already been said, if students attempt to draw out comments from others, reference to the novel and other works read by the class, and ability to explain and back up interpretations. The written assessment is meant to help students develop their discussion skills and all of the students will participate in the fishbowl exercise at some point in the year. The students not in the fishbowl will be assessed on whether they are paying attention to the speakers or not. This will become apparent as these students offer comments and questions at the end of the discussion. Letter writers will be assessed on whether or not they produce a letter for their group member. These observation roles offer less opportunity for assessment and should not be weighted heavily. Some assessment will attempt to create accountability for the students. Journals will also not be graded, but will be given credit for completion and will serve as an "into" activity for the Open Mind Collages.

The collages as a non-print activity offer students with artistic skill and visual memories a chance to shine. These projects will be assessed on how well they convey the thoughts of a character from the book. The project should show a level of care in its production and it should be clear which character is portrayed. The best projects will exhibit a level of understanding and interpretation of the character through the collage medium that goes beyond a surface reading of that character. Instructor should look for the students' depiction of character values, motivation, ideas, plans, dreams etc.

The literacy aspect of this lesson focuses on public discussion and interpretation of a literary text in order to make clear meaning of the text. At the end of reading a piece of literature meaning can be made as a class through forming and discussing questions. Students can practice oral communication skills and working together to explore ideas. Students observing the fishbowl will likely have much to say as the discussion develops. By writing their comments and other observations they will gain experience thinking independently and critically about literature. Those writing letters will benefit from assessing their peers and noting what the fishbowlers do or say that is effective in a discussion. Students will see how ideas develop through discussion. The journal activity will focus on interpretation and analysis of a character as students write from the character's perspective. They will need to draw on knowledge of the character from the text and will have the opportunity to see the story in a new way. The literacy aspect of the Open Mind Collage focuses on using art and images to help present and interpret aspects of a text. Students will be attempting to create a collage that allows readers to read the mind of the character. In order to do this, students will have to read into the character through the text and interpret their reading into a visual art.

Because the lesson only puts a fraction of the students in the hotseat for the fishbowl, other students are at risk of becoming disengaged. The observation assignments attempt to deal with this, but in some cases may not work. Students observing may also become frustrated by not being able to comment as things are said that they may have a good idea about or they disagree with. This will also be difficult for the instructor, especially if the students in the fishbowl focus on a reading of the story that seems of less importance than one the instructor may prefer. If the discussion gets too off track or students in the fishbowl are missing major themes that are important to the text, the instructor may attempt to refocus the fishbowl. However, interruption from the instructor can severely stilt or altogether end a student centered discussion as students may then focus on the teacher to give them the "correct" reading. The instructor can more subtly perhaps push the students to refocus on a question that might lead them in another direction toward another reading of the novel. For some students being in the fishbowl may be a source of great stress. The large focus on discussion in the class will attempt to create an environment where students expect discussion and become more comfortable with it. The non-print activity may be difficult for students who are not artistic, but overall is intended to get students to think about the reading in another way.

Students will be able to describe and discuss different types of communities including company towns, planned communities, and the community Olivar in the novel Parable of the Sower.

Students will be able to discuss and brainstorm qualities of an ideal community.

Students will be able to work in groups to decide how to represent an assigned community in an advertisement.

Students will be able to assess how language can be used to sell something like a community.

Tape, markers, long strips of brown packing paper for advertisements.

Advertisements/propaganda from planned communities or company towns ordered from Irvine, CA. (see website: http://www.irvineranch.com ) Or if possible computer hook up to overhead to view website.

Lecture material on company towns slash information from the article "Housing: Private Housing Association Laying Down the Law."

Copies of articles on privatization of water. (See these articles for discussion at end of lesson).

1. Begin with lecture on company towns and wage slavery and how it relates to what is going on in the book.
2. Answer student questions on this subject.
3. Pass out propaganda from company towns or open website on overhead.
4. Show students the website taking comments as they arise.
5. Question the students on what they see:

Students will be assessed on their participation and cooperation in the billboard advertisement activity and whether they were able to work with their group. Also, their advertisements will be assessed on how well they reflect the student's understanding of the community values of the different communities described in the book and discussed in class. The advertisements may also be assessed on how they attempt to sell the community and what problems of the community are mentioned in the disclaimer. This should help the instructor determine the students' comprehension of the societal problems that exist within different communities and the students' ability to think critically about advertising. Students should express some knowledge of the way advertisements work and be able to connect this to what they have pulled from the text. The assignment is mainly an informal, fun, in class activity that will allow students to complete a non-print activity that can help them through the text. It will not be weighted heavily, but can be an opportunity for students with difficulties on written assignments to shine. Journals will not be graded, but completion of journal assignments is a requirement that factors into final grades. The discussion at the end of class is for the benefit of the students and will not be assessed except for participation.

The literacy aspect of this lesson focuses on thinking critically about advertising and manipulations of images and language. Language in our society is often used to sell, convince, and convey specific ideas. Advertising especially sends messages while not telling the entire story. In the novel Parable of the Sower this is true of the community Olivar that people must apply to get into. Advertisements sell Olivar, just as Irvine, California and other planned communities are "sold" to people through advertising. Lauren Olamina is able to see through the ads of the planned company town to a darker side of reality. Looking at real advertisements for similar towns in our own world students will have the opportunity to think critically and analyze the ads. By creating their own advertisements the goal is to increase their understanding of how to send specific messages and use language and images to convince others of something. The exercise will also encourage students to think about community and what goes into a successful community. Students will be encouraged to draw on what they already know about communities from their lives and their reading to help envision and ideal community. Finally, the students may find another way to connect to the text through ideas of community.

Because this lesson focuses on ideal communities, it will be easy for students to overlook the inevitable societal problems that arise in communities. In creating an ideal community students may rush to create a comfortable and fun community while not giving as much attention on necessities of life that require work (we mustn't forget municipal waste disposal). They may find similarities between their ideal community and Lauren's ideal community, but students may also have a hard time seeing Lauren's community as ideal given the disparity of her situation. The concept of company towns is also a large one that while dealt with on other days in the unit may still be hard to absorb. The lecture information will be brief, but remaining open to a discussion or questions around this issue will be necessary. Flexibility around time is also a factor as is the potential for fooling around during the advertisement activity. Announcing that students will be required to present their ad to the class may help with this, but it is possible that some students will not participate equally. Pair and shares while wonderful ways to discuss reading, also offer the potential for students to get off topic. After an exciting and different activity creating advertisements it may be difficult to refocus students into a discussion or journal.

LESSON 4 Handouts

Housing: Private Housing Association Laying Down the Law

 

Home"Head north out of Phoenix, Arizona, up the 1-17. Drive past the signs for Happy Valley Road, Carefree Highway and, less auspiciously, one advising you not to pick up hitchhikers because you are passing a federal prison. Eventually you come to one for "Anthem by Del Webb".

Anthem feels more like a luxury holiday resort than a town. It includes a water park, with Disneyesque water slides, a children's railway, hiking trails, tennis courts, a rock-climbing wall, two golf courses, several spotless parks, a supermarket mall, two churches, a school and, for those who want a little more security, the Anthem Country Club, a gated (and guarded) community.

Anthem, which is planned to have 12,500 homes, opened in 1999. Its houses and roads look spotless. One reason for this is that everybody who buys a house in Anthem has to follow certain covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs), governing everything from the colour of your house to whether you can put your car on blocks outside it (you can't). Everybody in Anthem, except the construction workers, seems to be white.

Anthem sounds like an exclusive enclave for the rich. Far from it: homes start at a distinctly modest $155,000. Even the residents of the Anthem Country Club hardly seem posh. They tend to laugh at the rules, regarding them, like the long commute to Phoenix, as part of the price. Why did one young mother come here? "Because it's safe, because there are activities, because it's, well, like us."

Indeed, Anthem is not bucking a trend, but joining it. In many of the fastest-growing parts of America, development is being driven by "master-planned communities" of one sort or another. In big cities half the new home sales are in association-managed communities, according to the Community Associations Institute. Altogether, some 47m people--one in six Americans--live in 18m homes in 230,000 communities and pay around $35 billion in fees every year. Around 1.25m people serve on community-association boards.

Nowadays, whoever you are, there is probably a community planned with you in mind. In Nevada, a 55-acre community called Front Sight, featuring streets with names like Second Amendment Drive and Sense of Duty Way, is being built for gun enthusiasts (people who buy an acre plot get lifetime use of the 22 planned ranges, an Uzi machinegun and a safari in Africa). In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, one gated community seems to have been taken over by black rap stars. In poor areas of Chicago, residents have set up gated communities to ward off crime. Though most of these places are in the west and the south, they crop up all over the country.

Legally speaking, there are three different kinds of association. The commonest, about 60% of the total, are home-owner associations: a house buyer also becomes a member of an association that owns the common areas, levies dues and sets rules. Another 30% or so are condominiums--typically flats in a single building--where the whole building is owned by a condominium association. The remaining 8% are co-operatives, which are like condos, except that the owners have shares in the co-op; most of these are in New York. Of all these, some 20,000 units, housing 8m people, are gated communities.

The CC&Rs vary. In some cases, they just govern how you sell your house. But the list of rules seems to be getting longer. Some residents have to cough up for maintaining the roads, pavements and street lights, looking after the parks and providing security. A maximum size for dogs--usually 30 lbs--is increasingly common. Leisure World, California, has its own television station. The proliferation Of CC&Rs is driven by the trend towards masterplanned communities (like Anthem), where the developer tries to create not just a cluster of homes but a way of life.

Street scene in Irvine, California--Wah Yim (UVa) photo

The two models for master-planned communities both date back to the 1960s: Irvine, in southern California, and Sun City, outside Phoenix. The whole of Irvine was built by one firm, the Irvine Company, which says confidently that its present population of 200,000 should double in the next 20 years. The company presides over Irvine in an avuncular manner. Apart from laying down the CC&Rs, it lures in businesses (the Irvine Spectrum business park is one of the fastest-growing in the country), and in 1961 it gave 1,000 acres to set up the local branch of the University of California. Irvine's 75,000 homes are divided into 25 villages (some gated, most not) which collect the dues and watch over the rules.

The result, argues the Irvine Company, is "smart growth". Whereas many Californians spend hours commuting in their cars, 60% of Irvine Spectrum's workers live within 15 minutes of their jobs. Unplanned towns tend to eat into parks, but 40% of Irvine's space will remain unbuilt-on forever. And then there are all those nice little things. Graffiti are quickly removed; there are no billboards on the freeways; construction workers have to spray water to keep down the dust.

Sun City, the other great model, is a town of 46,000 people built by Del Webb on the other side of Phoenix from Anthem. This is a retirement community, still probably the main section of the market. Retiring to one of these communities (Sun City alone has bred a dozen places with the same name) has become almost a routine part of middle-class life.

Many of these towns require at least one person in each house to be 55 or older, and exclude children. Leisure World, another pioneer from the 1960s, has 20,000 people with an average age of 77. The west is littered with elderly Chicagoans who left the Windy City because of the cold and now can't stop moaning about their air conditioning bills. Even Rabbit Angstrom, John Updike's American Everyman, ended up in a Florida condo.

But the retirement market is changing. Witness the newest Sun City outside Phoenix--a computerised, Starbucked, multigym affair aimed at "active adults". By 2010, there will be 75m Americans aged 55 or more. People now live about 15 years longer than when the first Sun City was built, but most of the surge in numbers by 2010 will come from the 76m members of the baby-boom generation, now moving towards retirement.

The older sort of retirement community is not exactly a senile nursing home (there were two dozen complaints about couples having sex outdoors at Sun City West last year, the average age of the offenders being 73). But the baby-boomers represent a new challenge. Zoomers--Del Webb's name for the first group of retiring boomers--prefer to retire early (Del Webb's research shows one in three planning to retire before 60), but without giving up work completely. Retirement for them will be a third age, still full of assorted activities.

Why they keep growing

Demographics partly explains the growth of planned communities. But there are two deeper forces at work: American Utopianism, and distrust of government.

Evan McKenzie, a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago and author of "Privatopia" (Yale University Press, 1994), argues that, whereas European Utopians tended to concentrate on changing the society around them, American ones preferred to go off and create a new world somewhere else. Some cities-on-a-hill have been built by religious fervour. More often, immigrants simply want to use America's empty space to create a better life. Contemplating the "uncontaminated" wilderness of the west, Thomas Paine once mused, "We have it in our power to begin the world all over again."

A similar optimism, if not quite so elegantly phrased, litters the literature of planned communities. The other side of the coin is pessimism about--and often disdain for--the services that public cities provide. The commonest worry is security (hence all those gates, though there is not much evidence that gated communities are safer than non-gated ones). But there are also concerns about education, health care, transport: everything the public sector is supposed to provide.

Compare Valencia, a fast-growing "private" city an hour north of Los Angeles, with the San Fernando Valley, which is the northern part of that city, and has provided around a quarter of Valencia's 42,000 people. Children in the San Fernando Valley are condemned to schools run by LA's notorious Unified School District; Valencia's schools are excellent. People walk in the Valley only if they run out of petrol; Valencia has 25 miles of paseos for people to jog and bike along. Crime is high in the Valley; Valencia is part of Santa Clairita, one of the safest cities in the country. Thanks to smart growth, two-thirds of the homes in Valencia are within a quarter of a mile of school, shops and library. If only, moan Angelenos.

Joel Kotkin, author of "The New Geography" (Random House, 2000), calls the rise of places like Valencia "an escape to sanity" from the corruption and inefficiency of big-city government. Community associations took off in California in the 1970s, the same decade as the passing of Proposition 13, which cut taxes for local government. And their growth has also coincided with that of private schools and private security guards; the latter now outnumber the "public" police by four to one.

So are planned communities a good thing? For the Americans inside them, the answer is usually yes. "Do I like being told that I have to warn the security guards that I am going to have a party, or that I cannot put up a basketball hoop in my driveway?" asks one Irvineite. "Of course I don't. But it's not something that keeps me awake at night." There is a widespread feeling that housing-association boards attract the worst busybodies in town. Yet still the queue of applicants goes on growing.

The public-private schism

What about America as a whole? These are, still, mainly white places. In five days The Economist met only one black resident and no Latinos in a string of planned communities across the west and the southwest. This may change, as America's middle class grows steadily more multi-coloured; but for now the juxtaposition of white Sun Cities and Latino local schools in Arizona is strange, even troubling.

A more general worry is that a growing part of the middle class is abandoning the state: living on private roads, sending its children to private schools, paying for its own private police force, playing golf at private clubs. Why bother supporting public services when you get all yours delivered privately? And what about all those poorer people, stuck with public housing, public schools and public transport? From the right, Charles Murray has talked of America's coming "caste society", with old-style cities becoming like Indian reservations. From the left, Robert Reich fears a secession of the successful.

This is an exaggeration. There are occasional examples of selfish behaviour: some elderly gated communities have voted not to let public schools within their walls. But there is no evidence that whites in planned communities are any more hostile to government spending than those outside. The mayor of Irvine, Larry Agran (a left-wing Democrat who once ran for president), says the people of Irvine are far more involved in both their state and local governments than people in Los Angeles, where he used to live.

To be sure, the growth of planned communities can eat into the authority of the state. Robert Nelson, of the University of Maryland, points to two examples. The CC&Rs trump a good deal of municipal law (for instance in terms of property-sales contracts). Second, a community can set rules about who is allowed to live in it.

For Mr Agran, all this is worthwhile. The real evils of life in southern California, he says, are things like "the separation of the workplace from the home". In communities with smart growth this is a fading problem. Mr Kotkin agrees: "It would be perverse to limit the growth of successful places that people want to live in." (unsigned, The Economist, Sept. 1, 2001)
 
 
 
 

Lesson 4

Handout Two

Backlash spreads over privatization of water

John Tagliabue The New York Times

Tuesday, August 27, 2002  SAN ISIDRO DE LULES, Argentina When Jorge Abdala's water bill jumped to 59 pesos a month from 24 a few years ago, he went looking for someone to blame. He soon found his villain: a French multinational company at the forefront of a global effort to privatize government-run water systems.

Abdala, a soft-spoken 54-year-old, scarcely seems the revolutionary. Scrambling for a living like most of his neighbors in this sprawling town tucked up under the Andes, he runs a meager catering business out of his kitchen. But protests he organized here forced the company, now called Vivendi Environnement, to abandon its long-term contract to overhaul and manage the waterworks of Tucuman Province, where Abdala and about 1 million other Argentines live.

"Our main demand was, simply, 'Go home!'" he said, shifting to the edge of his seat in the living room of his simple one-story home. "We kept presenting facts showing that they were not making any investments, just raising the price of water. And any investments they made were with government money."

Vast numbers of people have also demonstrated in Bolivia, in Ecuador, in Panama, in South Africa and elsewhere in a vivid illustration of how highly charged the economics of water have become.

At issue is this question: Should water, a substance close to life itself, be a profit-making business? The backlash in Tucuman continues today as the province struggles to find a new company to operate its aging water system. The reaction is still being felt by the big European concerns that dominate the world water business and the Western aid institutions that support privatization. Already, corporations own or operate water systems across the globe that bring in about $200 billion a year. However, they serve only about 7 percent of the world's population, leaving a potentially vast market untapped. Protesters are determined to limit that market. The protests have heartened the companies' critics, mainly environmentalists who oppose globalization, but also consumer groups and labor unions. They all object to private enterprise making a profit on water.

"Water is a resource essential to life," said Hannah Griffiths of Friends of the Earth, a British-based environmentalist group. "Decisions about allocation and distribution should be democratic and based on everyone's fundamental right to a clean, healthy supply." Not all agree. Some contend that unless water is treated as an increasingly precious commodity and priced to reflect its value - particularly for heavy users like farmers and factories - much of it will be wasted. It also often takes more money than some governments are willing or able to spend to improve the systems that deliver fresh water to cities and towns around the world, especially to the poor. But will allowing private enterprise to manage or own many of the world's water systems help overcome those problems? And will it expose the poor to impossibly high water bills?

The widespread inability of public utilities in the developing world to provide clean water is one of the strongest arguments in favor of privatization.

"As a general rule, they're heavily overstaffed, provide poor quality, are unwilling or unable to invest, with not enough money to serve everybody," said John Briscoe, senior water adviser at the World Bank in Washington, referring to public utilities.

But private enterprise appears to be no panacea. Here in Tucuman, Vivendi's critics say that the company recklessly pursued the contract to break into the market and that most of the problems it encountered were of its own making. When water filled the cellar under Basilio Sajnik's pizzeria in Lomas de Zamora, a sprawling suburb of Buenos Aires, he, too, looked for a culprit. Like Abdala, he found a leading French multinational. That company, Suez, along with Vivendi, has led the push to privatize water management.

In 1992, Suez signed a 30-year contract to manage the water around Buenos Aires. Lomas, a city of 600,000 on the capital's southern edge, is home to many of the 2 million people that Suez provided with water for the first time. But Suez was slower to install sewers. Now the cellar under the three-family building that houses Sajnik's pizzeria is permanently flooded. A pump runs seven days a week.

"It's the third pump I've purchased, yet nobody pays me for the electricity," Sajnik, 58, said recently as he waded in dirty water almost to the top of his knee-high boots.

The water Suez brought to the neighborhood produced so much runoff that the water table rose, causing streams of sewage to trickle along curbs and flood cellars, even in the driest of seasons. In summer, the stench is overwhelming. So far there have been no outbreaks of sickness, but the threat to public health is constant.

"I could go to court, but it is too slow, and the powerful always win," Sajnik said. Suez executives blame Argentina's financial crisis. Jacques Petry, chief executive of Ondeo, the water division of Suez, said in Paris that Suez's original investment plan foresaw the installation of sewers. But the collapse of the Argentine peso has frozen the work. Suez, he said, supports a program to provide 1,500 pumps to the area.

For the time being, said Jean Bernard Lemire, the new chief executive of Suez's Argentine affiliate, spending has been reduced to the essentials: paying wages, buying chemicals and energy, and basic maintenance.

Overall, Suez says it is proud of its accomplishments in Buenos Aires. It modernized treatment plants that were on the verge of collapse, and efficiently runs a fleet of more than 1,000 repair trucks. Billings are now computerized. And except for the first eight months, when Suez lost $23 million, it has been highly profitable.

Daniel Azpiazu, director of research at the Latin American School of Social Sciences in Buenos Aires, accuses Argentina's political leadership of cynically permitting the public utilities to deteriorate so that voters would embrace privatization. In a 1992 survey, he said, 82 percent of Argentines questioned favored privatization. In the haste to privatize, however, regulatory bodies and oversight authorities were rarely installed.

"In the early phase, a regulatory agency was not in place," said Abel Fatala, the engineer in charge of public services in the municipal government of Buenos Aires. "When it did start up, it was made in the image of the water company. The concrete result was that there was no control at all."

By 2025, as the world's population grows to 8 billion, the United Nations expects the number of people suffering from an inadequate supply of clean water to grow to 5 billion from the current 2 billion. The vast potential to make money by filling that gap has prompted several large multinationals like Vivendi and Suez to target what they see as a lucrative market for the future.

The case for privatization germinated decades ago, after the World Bank unsuccessfully tried to fix the public water supply system in Manila. Despite five repair attempts over the years, water loss was as high as 64 percent.

"Fundamentally we realized that without a change in incentives - some very logical, sensible things - this was not working," said Briscoe of the World Bank. Critics still say it is unrealistic to expect private companies, whose main responsibility is to their shareholders, to assume the financial risk of supplying water to portions of the world's population that may not be able to afford it in the first place. But investors are betting that the business of water will boom in coming decades. "This is a $200 billion market, growing at a 6 percent rate annually, in terms of population," said Hans Peter Portner, a fund manager at Banque Pictet in Geneva who handles the bank's Global Water Fund. He predicts that privatized water systems will expand to serve about 17 percent of the world's population by 2015, up from 7 percent now. Compared with the Europeans, the U.S. company with the biggest international business in the field, Bechtel, is a novice. Another U.S. company, Azurix, a unit of Enron, collapsed before its parent did. That leaves the field mostly to the French giants. Last year, almost half of Vivendi Environnement's $26 billion of revenue came from water; approximately one-quarter of Suez's $38 billion in revenue was generated by the water division, Ondeo.

French dominance is challenged by a third global player, Thames Water of Britain. Thames rose, after Margaret Thatcher privatized water services in Britain in 1989, by acquiring smaller British competitors. In 1999, it agreed to a $9.8 billion takeover bid from the German utility RWE

Copyright © 2002 The International Herald Tribune
 
 
 

Lesson 4

Handout 3
 

Top 10 Reasons to Oppose Water Privatization (short version)

The World Bank has predicted that by 2025, two-thirds of the world s population will run short of fresh drinking water. Given such a grim outlook, it comes as little surprise that Fortune magazine recently defined water as "the oil of the 21st century." Poised to capitalize on this crisis are private companies, many of which are multinationals whose tentacles are probing the planet for opportunities to turn the misery of water-starved regions into profits for their executives and stockholders.

instead of protecting existing supplies, enhancing conservation efforts, helping vulnerable populations, curbing pollution and raising public awareness, more and more government officials throughout the world are turning to privatization transferring the control of this precious resource from the public sector to the private sector.

It is no underestimation to say that the very survival of untold millions of people could rest on decisions being made today largely behind closed doors in corporate boardrooms and government offices throughout the world. With each drop of water that falls into the hands of private interests, any sustainable solution to the global water crisis moves further and further from the public s grasp.

Privatization Leads to Rate Increases

Corporations have utilized rate hikes to maximize profits, which, by definition, is their bottom line. This bottom line often comes at the expense of water quality and customer service, but not at the expense of maintaining inflated executive salaries. Among the more unseemly aspects of handling water as a marketable commodity, rather than a basic human need and a natural resource, is that the poor are often denied access. Because living without water is not an option, people are often forced to consume unsafe water, lest be faced with going without food, medicine or education.

Privatization Undermines Water Quality

Because corporate agendas are driven by profits rather than the public good, privatization usually results in the compromising of environmental standards. The National Association of Water Companies (NAWC), which represents the U.S. private water industry, intensively and perennially lobbies Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency to refrain from adopting higher water quality standards. The NAWC also persistently requests that all federal regulations be based on sound cost-benefit analysis, which means that public health is compromised for the sake of higher profits.

Companies Are Accountable to Shareholders, Not Consumers

In many cases, deals that government agencies make with water companies include exclusive distribution rights for 25 to 30 years, effectively sanctioning a monopoly. Companies are under little pressure to respond to customer concerns, especially when the product in question is not a luxury item that families can do without if they are dissatisfied with the performance of the only provider.

Privatization Fosters Corruption

The very structures of privatization encourage corruption. Checks and balances that could prevent corruption, such as accountability and transparency, are missing at every step of the process, from bidding on a contract to delivering water. Contracts are usually worked out behind closed doors with the details often still kept secret after the contract is signed, even though it is the public that will be directly affected by the conditions of the contract. This situation opens itself up to bribery, which, if recent scandals throughout the world are any indication, is not an uncommon occurrence.

Privatization Reduces Local Control and Public Rights

When water services are privatized, very little can be done to ensure that the company be it domestic, foreign or transnational will work in the best interest of the community. Furthermore, if a community is dissatisfied with the performance of the company, buying back the water rights is a very difficult and costly proposition. Again, the prime directive of the water companies is to maximize profits, not protect consumers.

Private Financing Costs More than Government Financing

There is a false perception that when water services are privatized, the financial burden will shift from the public to the private sector, which will save taxpayer money by assuming the costs of repairing, upgrading and maintaining infrastructure. In reality, taxpayers simply wind up paying for these projects through their monthly bills. Tax-free public financing translates into lower-cost projects, while taxable private financing results in higher interest rates. As a result, consumers are also forced to make these higher payments on company loans.

Privatization Leads to Job Losses

Massive layoffs often follow in the wake of privatization, as companies try to minimize costs and increase profits. At times, service and water quality are put at risk due to understaffing. As a result, layoffs can be devastating not only to the workers and their families, but to consumers as well.

Privatization is Difficult to Reverse

Once a government agency hands over its water system to a private company, withdrawing from the agreement borders on the impossible. Proving breach of contract is a difficult and costly ordeal. And multinational trade agreements provide corporations with powerful legal recourse. A private company, for example, can use the North American Free Trade Agreement s secretive tribunals to contest challenges to privatization. And in World Bank loan deals, which often makes water privatization a condition, companies are usually guaranteed cash payments if a government agency returns its water system to public control.

Privatization Can Leave the Poor with No Access to Clean Water

Contrary to public assertions, World Bank and International Monetary Fund privatization schemes in the developing world usually result in reduced access to water for the poor. "Structural adjustment" programs foisted upon governments seeking loans often include water privatization as a condition. Impoverished, politically enfeebled countries are hardly in a position to refuse these conditions, as doing so would cause them to default on their debts. As a result, the World Bank and IMF are able to provide lucrative and virtually risk-free contracts for multinationals, due to guaranteed rates of return and investment protection clauses.

Privatization Would Open the Door for Bulk Water Exports

Fully aware of bleak water supply prognostications, corporations are in a mad dash to obtain access to fresh water that they can sell at huge profits, as high as 35 percent. It goes without saying that those who control water supplies will exercise economic and political power at almost unimaginable degrees. Bulk water exports transporting water from water-rich countries to water-poor countries could have disastrous consequences. Massive extraction of water from its natural sources can result in ecological imbalance and destruction. Disrupting aquifers by over-extraction often damages the environment and socioeconomic standards. Groundwater is being over-extracted as it is, and once aquifers are emptied or polluted, they are almost impossible to restore.
 
 

Students will be exposed to information about the Harlem Renaissance.

Students will be able to reflect on and discuss a poem.

Students will be exposed to a poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

Students will be able to write their own found poem using words from a poem read in class.

Copies of Langston Hughes quote on the Harlem Renaissance or an overhead of the quote and overhead projector.

Copies of Langston Hughes' poem "Theme for English B"

Copies of the article on the Harlem Renaissance.

Lecture material/additional information on the Harlem Renaissance.

CD player and Jazz CD

1.Hand out copies of the Langston Hughes quote on the Harlem Renaissance. (see below)

2. Play Jazz in background softly.

3. Tell the class you are going to read them a quote about the Harlem Renaissance that last from about 1920-35.

4. Read the quote aloud to the class, or have a student who is a good reader read the quote with feeling.

5.Ask the students to write down what the quote tells them about the Harlem Renaissance. (5-7 minutes)What kind of society does it suggest? What do you imagine life is like in Harlem at this time?

6.Pass out the article about the Harlem Renaissance.

7.Ask if a few student volunteers would like to share what they wrote.

8. When students are done sharing, read the article on the Harlem Renaissance popcorn style or moving around the class each student reading a paragraph.

9.Ask students for questions regarding what was just read. Then ask them what their impression of the Harlem Renaissance is now.

10. Talk briefly about the Jazz Age, clubs and the Harlem scene. Use quotes from Hughes and Jazz musicians.
11. Pass out the Langston Hughes poems "I, Too" and "Theme for English B".
12. Explain that the first poem was written during the Harlem Renaissance and the second was written about Harlem much later in a collection of poems about Harlem called Montage of a Dream Deferred.
13. Give a quick bio of Langston Hughes. (see info below)
14. Read the first poem, "I, Too" aloud to the class.
15. Ask the students to write a quick response in their journals. What was the poem about? How did it make you feel or what did you think? What comment does Hughes make about race?
16. Discuss out loud: How does this poem fit into what was happening in the Harlem Renaissance? Does it reflect the culture and ideas of the times as you understand them so far? How does the poem reflect what Hughes talks about in the quote?
17. Now read "Theme from English B" written in the 1950s.
18. Ask the students to again respond to the poem in their journals. What does this poem tell them about Hughes's experience in Harlem in the 1920s?
19. Ask the class to volunteer their responses. Ask questions to flush out ideas.
20. Now ask students to go through the two poems and circle words they like that help shape their idea of the Harlem Renaissance. Using these words the students should reform the words into a new poem, or a found poem, that describes their impression of the Harlem Renaissance. Give students ample time to do this. Students can add words they like from the quote as well if they are having difficulty.
21. Now ask the students to use words to write a found poem that expresses their ideas about their own culture and time.
22. Homework is to finish the found poems and write a brief reflection on what about the Harlem Renaissance is similar to their own time and what is different.

 Assessment:

This lesson is an into lesson for a larger unit on the Harlem Renaissance. The students will be exposed for the first time in this class to the Harlem Renaissance so it is not appropriate to assess their understanding at this point. Students will be given credit for participation and completing in class assignments and will display their found poem for the class to read. They will receive credit for completing the found poem assignment and the paragraph. The paragraph they write is to help the teacher gage the students' understanding of the aspects of the Harlem Renaissance that were discussed. This will help assess what students have learned at the end of the unit. In future lessons of the unit students will gain more exposure to other writers from the period. Students will be assessed on a "poet grab bag project" where each student chooses a poet or writer from a bag and researches the author's life and role in the Harlem Renaissance, compiles a collection of at least seven poems or three short stories by the writer, and writes a reflection on the author's work.

This lesson's literacy aspect focuses on building student understanding and knowledge of a particular time period through reading a variety of materials. Students have ample opportunities to both read and write to learn in this lesson. Students will build their knowledge base of the Harlem Renaissance by reading quotes, articles, and poetry. They will reflect on these in writing and discussion. They will share ideas that will help expand their own understanding, and questioning will lead them into deeper thought about the connection between a writer's writing and the time period they wrote in. Finally, students will assemble their own thoughts on the Harlem Renaissance and their own culture using words found in Hughes poems. This activity helps students find ways to express themselves and assemble ideas under language constraints and will require students to think carefully about what they want to communicate.

The Harlem Renaissance is a lot to take in over the course of one class. With slower classes this may need to be done in two days. It may also be helpful to introduce the time period through use of a video documentary that can help make the material come alive. The lesson has a lot of writing. This is mainly to give ELL students a chance to get their ideas down on paper before discussing ideas as a class, but some students may resist. The chosen poems are also only two of many wonderful poems that could be used. If these seem not to work well for students it would be good to find others to use. Also, the author used to introduce the Harlem Renaissance can be changed for the sake of variety. Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. DuBois, Alain Locke, and others can be substituted.

Some students may find the found poem structure limiting and dull although it attempts to make the lesson and poetry writing accessible to all students with varying language abilities. Also, students may have trouble with the paragraph assignment if they do not yet feel comfortable with the new material. This could be put off for a few more lessons, or the teacher could still assign it and emphasize that it won't be graded, but will receive credit.

It was a period when, at almost every Harlem uppercrust dance or party, one would be introduced to various distinguished white celebrities there as guests. It was a period when almost any Harlem Negro of any social importance at all would be likely to say casually: "As I was remarking the other day to Heywood-," meaning Heywood Broun. Or: "As I said to George-," referring to George Gershwin. It was a period when local and visiting royalty were not at all uncommon in Harlem. And when the parties of A'Lelia Walker, the Negro heiress, were filled with guests whose names would turn any Nordic social climber green with envy. It was a period when Harold Jackman, a handsome young Harlem school teacher of modest means, calmly announced one day that he was sailing for the Riviera for a fortnight, to attend Princess Murat's yachting party. It was a period when Charleston preachers opened up shouting churches as sideshows for white tourists. It was a period when at least one charming colored chorus girl, amber enough to pass for a Latin American, was living in a pent house, with all her bills paid by a gentleman whose name was banker's magic on Wall Street. 1t was a period when every season there was at least one hit play on Broadway acted by a Negro cast. And when books by Negro authors were being published with much greater frequency and much more publicity than ever before or since in history. It was a period when white writers wrote about Negroes more successfully (commercially speaking) than Negroes did about themselves. It was the period (God help us!) when Ethel Barrymore appeared in blackface in Scarlet Sister Maryl It was the period when the Negro was in vogue.

I was there. I had a swell time while it lasted. But I thought it wouldn't last long. (I remember the vogue for things Russian, the season the Chauve-Souris first came to town.) For how could a large and enthusiastic number of people be crazy about Negroes forever? But some Harlemites thought the millennium had come. They thought the race problem had at last been solved through Art plus Gladys Bentley. They were sure the New Negro would lead a new life from then on in green pastures of tolerance created by Countee Cullen, Ethel Waters, Claude McKay, Duke Ellington, Bojangles, and Alain Locke.

I don't know what made any Negroes think that—except that they were mostly intellectuals doing the thinking. The ordinary Negroes hadn't heard of the Negro Renaissance. And if they had, it hadn't raised their wages any. As for all those white folks in the speakeasies and night clubs of Harlem—well, maybe a colored man could find some place to have a drink that the tourists hadn't yet discovered.

From The Big Sea by Langston Hughes, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1940)

HARLEM.. The 1920s and 30s.  Man.  What a place, what a time--WHAT AN IDEA.  It seemed to embody (to coin a phrase from Dickens) "the best of times":  when blues was hot and jazz was a growing stay in America's culture; when speakeasies were filled with both blacks and whites dancing to the 'rhythms of life' set out by the saxophone, trumpet, and drums; when the "New Negro" was setting his mark in politics, art, literature, music, science, the social sciences and every aspect of American life into which he could win his way; when the industrial North seemed to call forth African Americans out of the agrarian South and when the African Americans responded to the call in droves, fleeing the violence and racism of the KKK and lynch law and the abject poverty of share-cropping; when it seemed as if  the urban North, in cities like New York, Chicago, and Detroit, was a place  where the American Negro could finally find respite from racial prejudice, could finally hold a decent job with decent pay, could finally become an unharassed property owner, and could finally go out dancing Saturday night without fear of having men in white sheets shatter his fun.

Langston Hughes on whites in Harlem

White people began to come to Harlem in droves. For several years they packed the expensive Cotton Club on Lenox Avenue. But I was never there, because the Cotton Club was a Jim Crow club for gangsters and moneyed whites. They were not cordial to Negro patronage, unless you were a celebrity like Bojangles. So Harlem Negroes did not like the Cotton Club and never appreciated its Jim Crow policy in the very heart of their dark community. Nor did ordinary Negroes like the growing influx of whites toward Harlem after sundown, flooding the little cabarets and bars where formerly only colored people laughed and sang, and where now the strangers were given the best ringside tables to sit and stare at the Negro customers-like amusing animals in a zoo.

The Negroes said: "We can't .go downtown and sit and stare at you in your clubs. You won't even let us in your clubs." But they didn't say it out loud-for Negroes are practically never rude to white people. So thousands of whites came to Harlem night after night, thinking the Negroes loved to have them there, and firmly believing that all Harlemites left their houses at sundown to sing and dance in cabarets, because most of the whites saw nothing but the cabarets, not the houses.

From The Big Sea by Langston Hughes, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1940)

*******

LOUIS METCALF

In those days, they almost came to blows in Harlem—musicians, I mean, about the two different styles of playing. Why, when I joined Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club, about 1925, I guess, the men in the band were always fighting about which was the better style, Eastern or Western. ‘Course, when I say Western, I mean everything that came out of New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and places like that. The Western style was more open . . . open horns and running chords and running changes. With Ellington, it was the new men like myself and Johnny Hodges and Bigard against guys like Bubber Miley and Tricky Sam Nanton. They were playing wah-wah music with plungers and things. Actually, our coming into the Ellington band made them change somewhat.

The Cotton Club was a class house and, considering that Duke was still organizing his band, the fact that we were makin’ about seventy-five a week with him showed how much he was thought of. But, believe me, Duke had to fight every inch of the way to get what he wanted. Some of the guys used to tell him he was a fool to give in so much to management, but Duke knew what he wanted, and I guess to get what you want, you have to compromise.

From Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya (New York, Rinehart and Company, 1955)

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Other Resources on Harlem Renaissance:

http://www.nku.edu/~diesmanj/harlem_intro.html

http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/harlem/contents.html

http://edtech.tennessee.edu/itc/grants/twt2000/modules/ebledso1/documents.htm

http://www.poets.org/exh/Exhibit.cfm?prmID=7

http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/ethnicstudies/harlem.html

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed -

I, too, am America.

The instructor said,

I wonder if it's that simple?

I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.

I went to school there, then Durham, then here

to this college on the hill above Harlem.

I am the only colored student in my class.

The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,

through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,

Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,

the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator

up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me

at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what

I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:

hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page.

(I hear New York, too.) Me--who?

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.

I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.

I like a pipe for a Christmas present,

or records--Bessie, bop, or Bach.

I guess being colored doesn't make me not like

the same things other folks like who are other races.

So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.

But it will be

a part of you, instructor.

You are white--

yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.

That's American.

Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.

Nor do I often want to be a part of you.

But we are, that's true!

As I learn from you,

I guess you learn from me--

although you're older--and white--

and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

Langston Hughes Biographical Information from www.poets.org

1. Kirby, D. & Liner, T. with Vinz, R. (1988). Inside Out: Developmental Strategies for Teaching Writing. Second Edition. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

This excellent book examines the writing process and how we can improve teaching writing to students. The book starts by exploring some of the mistakes we've made in our attempts to teach writing, and then offers some new ideas on the process of writing. From the classroom environment and the atmosphere we create for our student writers to specific activities that address the different aspects of writing our students must learn, this book is creative, friendly to the reader, and full of ideas. In one chapter, the book offers strategies for just getting kids to write and increase fluency. Another chapter focuses on journal writing and different journal activities students can do. The book also provides information on writing poetry, writing about literature, using voice, writing for an audience, student editing and proofing, expository writing, and publishing student writing. For the growth of the teacher, the book offers ideas on what constitutes good writing, how to respond to student writing, and grading and evaluating writing.

This book breaks down teaching writing into manageable chunks while providing a variety of activities for teaching each piece. The language of the book is simple and easily read, and the authors maintain their sense of humor about their ideas and their own writing. Teachers can either read the entire book, or skim through it to find an exercise idea that might work for them. The authors leave ample room for adjusting lessons to each teachers' needs and styles and never insist that there is one way to approach their subject. The book also offers teachers the opportunity to grow as they think about assessment of writing and how it relates to the writing process.

This book is an excellent resource. The only problem with it is most of the exercises work individually, but do not necessarily add up easily to a holistic approach to teaching writing. It is sometimes difficult to understand what aspect f writing to tackle first with young writers. Much more effort must be put in to develop a unit or a day by day approach to teaching writing using the ideas from the book. However, if one has time, many of the ideas raised in this book would help shape an excellent unit on writing as well as continually serve as a resource for ongoing writing activities.

This book will continually serve me as I develop lessons and units for my English classroom. I will use it to help construct lessons and writing activities to go with reading literature. I will also incorporate many of the journal ideas. In conjunction with other texts on writing, the ideas from this book will help me understand the process young writers go through and develop approaches to writing that will attempt to teach the variety of aspects related to writing that are examined in the book.

2. Christenbury, L. & Kelly, P. P. (1983). Questioning: A Path to Critical Thinking. Urbana: ERIC/NCTE.

Christenbury and Kelly offer in this pamphlet a theoretical approach to questioning that does away with questioning hierarchies in exchange for a questioning circle. The authors examine questioning hierarchies in comparison to their questioning circle to reveal how not valuing one question over another can be used to find multiple ways into a complex issue. They offer strategies for the teacher of how to use questioning to best elicit student response and ideas and to help students discover for themselves answers to complex or dense questions in a students centered discussion. The authors in the second half of this pamphlet describe in detail their questioning circle and how it can be adapted for different texts and subjects including writing. They describe different kinds of questions that interlock and overlap with each other in some parts of the questioning circle. The pamphlet goes on to advise teachers on how they can assist student discussion, deal with short or wrong answers, encourage more discussion, and eventually get students to ask the questions on their own.

The pamphlet provides an excellent balance of theory and practical application of the theory. It thoroughly describes how to develop questions in a nonhierarchical way and use different types of questions to create lively student discussion. The pamphlet is relatively short and clear, and avoids over complicating the issue. The pamphlet acknowledges the need for flexibility with any questioning model and urges teachers not to rely on the model structure too much without being able to follow student lead at times.

The pamphlet is well thought out and clear, however, it could offer more information on what to do when discussion fails completely. In addition, the pamphlet could offer more information on when it is appropriate or necessary for a teacher to refocus a discussion.

I will definitely be using this approach to questioning in my classroom. The book offers excellent suggestions for developing questions that will lead to deeper analysis of texts. These are easy to follow and I have already developed many questions based on the "white, shaded, and dense" model. Also, I plan to follow the authors' suggestions for engaging students and following student lead when they appear uncomfortable with a teacher question or drawn to another topic or theme. When students are competent and comfortable with discussion, I will use the model of questions to help students begin to write their own discussion questions.

3.The New York Times Learning Center

This education section of the New York Times website offers a daily lesson plan, and a lesson archives as well as other links and resources for educators. Lessons span grade levels and content areas, and often focus on current events. Most lessons use articles from the New York Times to help examine different ideas and themes. Generally, lessons are well thought out, interesting and timely. National standards for each lesson are provided. There is a good keyword search window for locating lessons on various topics that fit your curriculum. The teacher links also provide quick news "Snapshots" for handing out to students, a well organized page of links to different in-depth news reports, puzzles, education news, and more. In addition the site offers, new links for students, quizzes and other fun stuff, and also provides links geared toward parents.

The website offers interesting lessons that are very relevant to what is going on in the world today. The lessons tend to be student centered with a variety of activities, interactive, and well explained. The site is easily navigable and tends not to crash. Also, great for quick and easy news related activities. NYT crossword puzzle easily accessed (yippie).

As the site is sponsored by the New York Times, and most lessons incorporate articles from the newspaper, teachers must be careful to evaluate lessons for any agenda. The lessons are generally very good, but definitely promote the paper so encouraging critical thinking around the material from the paper is necessary. Also, some lessons appear to avoid obvious issues that might be more controversial. They are an excellent starting place for more in depth and difficult discussions and lessons.

In my own classroom I will likely use this website to help develop relevant and current lessons. Most lessons will require some alteration or adaptation to fit my curriculum, but on the whole they deal with a broad range of interesting topics. The news site is also excellent and a good site to compare to alternative news site like www.alternet.org and www.indymedia.org.

4. Nieto, S. (2000). Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education. Third Edition. New York et al.: Longman.

This is an excellent book that takes a good hard look at creating multicultural education that strives for academic success of all students and a high quality education while offering students the opportunity to become critical and productive members of society. The book uses case studies to help support the authors' ideas as she looks at the sociopolicitcal context of multicultural education. She explores racism and other biases, school organization and educational policy and practices, and cultural and linguistic differences. Each chapter focuses on an issue and then provides multiple case studies of diverse students to help the reader understand how these students have been affected by their education and whether they have succeeded in school or not and why. The book then talks about school reform and practical application of multicultural education, and how teachers can learn from their students.

The book builds an excellent case for multicultural education and promotes a culturally relevant pedagogy. The theory and analysis in the book are well written and accessible and then further explained by case studies of very interesting and engaging students. These case studies demonstrate how important students' cultures, language, families, different histories, and experience with the greater world are to their pursuit of an education. It becomes clear that most student benefit from having both recognition of and support for these things within academia. Nieto promotes antiracist teaching in her book and begins to deal quite well with some of the issues faced by teachers, students, and the institution as they come together in multicultural education. Each chapter and case study provides helpful questions for reflection that help the reader move deeper into the issues and strategize how the ideas will play out in their own classroom.

This is really an excellent text for any teacher, and offers a lot of important ideas about how we can best educate our students. The one thing the book is short on is actual methodology although there are some suggestions and questions that help inspire ideas. Nieto never claims the book will be all things to all people. She focuses specifically on issues of race, racism, and culture in the book and does not look as closely at a range of other isms including sexism, classism, anti-gay sentiment, etc. This could be seen as a defect, but I believe she is right in trying to focus the book rather than try and lump everything together and tackle it all at once.

There are many ways to take ideas from this book and apply them to my own classroom. I intended to take the suggestion of creating an environment in my room that reflects different cultures, races, and ideas both through the way I decorate and what I teach. In terms of my own behavior as a teacher, I think this book helped me begin thinking about how to be an antiracist teacher. I will try to know my students and be open to and learn about their background and cultures. I will attempt to incorporate books and other reading material that represents authors from similar backgrounds or experiences. I will be sensitive to the issues each student faces and the needs of the students. One thing that Nieto dealt with was the importance of parents and family support for students. I hope to find ways to engage parents in their child's learning experience or to make myself known and available to parents who would like to talk about their child's education of issues.

5.Task Stream URL: http://www.taskstream.com

This website helps you design instructional materials, publish on the web, save and manage your resources from the web, and collaborate and discuss with other educators. Task Stream is available to educators for a small fee (about$20 for 20MB of storage space for one year), and offers users great tools for creating lessons. The Instructional Design section of the site has a Unit Builder, Lesson Builder, Rubric Wizard, and Standards Manager. Each of these offers standardized formats that can be easily customized and altered. The rubrics section offers samples rubrics for a variety of activities that can be added to and changed or borrowed from. The Standards section gives teachers easy access to their standards as they create lessons. All lessons, rubrics, and units, can be saved on Task Stream as they are developed and after. Teachers can also post their work for others to use on Task Stream. The web publication section of the site offers easy instruction to help create portfolios and resource collections on the web and an easy to use web page builder. The Resource Management section of the site contains a "Cybrary" resource collection maintained by Task Stream including lessons by other subscribers, links, software, tutorials, and information on using Task Stream. In the "Mybrary" section you can create your own collection of work and resources. The Collaboration/Communication of the site offers chat rooms, a discussion board, closed email systems to email other subscribers, and instant messenger, calendar, and announcements. Overall, the website offers a great variety of practical tools to simplify curriculum design and organize web research for curriculum design.

The website is easy to navigate and has very clear formats for each section. The lesson builder is very thorough and has more than one format. Lessons can link easily to any rubric you design or choose to use. The site has ample useful material that makes it worth the small fee. Lessons, rubrics, and units have printer friendly options. It is easy to access lots of lesson plans by other Task Stream users that may not be available elsewhere on the web, as well as online educational resources. Lessons can be easily emailed to other teachers for team teaching ideas or sharing material.

There is no apparent rating system for the lessons available so you need to be careful as you search and select. The lesson formats may not work for everything you want to do and it is not a good idea to get too reliant on an automated formatting. There is the danger of a pre-formatted rubric tempting some to not design one specific to their own needs.

However, this website is a very useful tool.

I have and will use Task Stream to write out detailed lessons that I may want to exchange with other teachers. Also, this is a great place to store my own resources. I do a lot of online research for material so Task Stream offer a place where I can store my research and links and access them from everywhere. www.backflip.com is also good for this and free! Also I will use this site to help me develop rubrics and learn more about web publishing. It could be useful in helping students create their own websites.