Our Program Lesson Plan October 9, 2013 -- Sojourner Truth
Semester Curriculum:
· Centered on Identity & Biography
Wk 1:
Goals:
· To introduce children to each other (i.e., identity)
· To introduce Sojourner Truth, a women’s rights advocate, public speaker and figure, and theorist of race/equity in antebellum US.
· To expose children to the concepts/ideas of identity and biography
· To expose children to ideas of reading beyond words, to prompt students to ‘speak’ for themselves.
· To use technology to record students speaking for themselves.
Meet outside rooms 2-2:10
o Call students who don’t arrive (if we’re expecting them) and contact our elementary's Office of that situation
o Walk upstairs, have bathroom break, then proceed to Rooms for snack
o Andrew set up activities for the day
o Volunteers set up games area—Thank you!!!
o Volunteers sign in
o Volunteers – sit with groups of kids. Engage them and help them finish their snacks, see their friends, and unwind in a way that allows others to do the same.
· Snack in 1 Room 2:10-2:20
o Kids sit in desks, or floor, use napkins, pass out Goldfish
o Make nametags if kids don’t have them, pass out nametags.
o Do some name games with kids
· Homework and games time—2:20-2:50-ish
o Volunteers help Andrew tour our 2 rooms
o Deliver kids to “game” room (K-2nd grade?)
o Sit down with a group of 3-4 students and help them with homework. Ask them to show you their assignments, and make sure they ‘try’ to do homework for 5 minutes. If they have no homework, ask them to write or read for a few minutes.
o When kids are finished with homework, they can visit the games area.
· Games Area – thank you Jeri and Ewa, who organized/wrote this section!
[Volunteers planned and organized our homework and game times and areas. This section is excised because it was authored by another group – an excellent group, but a group whose ownership of these ideas I recognize.]
· Recess – 2:50-3:15-ish
· Return to classroom for Cultural activity—3-15-4:15-ish
Information about Truth (Andrew’s Notes)
Review Equiano—Atlantic 1794
Today – Ohio US 1851—she was XX years old
Show images and quotes from Sojourner Truth
Demonstrate height using stool
I can’t read, but I can hear—faces. Make some
I have as much muscle as any man
I have as good a brain as any man—even if she coul;dn’t read
Music
Sports
Dancing
Video Games
Spoke Dutch – anyone else speak 2 languages – my name is
Slave – owner. So was equano
Police – who do you think you are?
Picked her Name – Traveller Truth (pick a name for yourself)
Keep name her owner gave her?
Who gave you your name?
Advised President Lincoln
Meeting in Ohio—women who said. We want to vote, own a business, wear what we want
These women – only for white women
Sojourner – smart, dark skin, told what to do, proud
Newspaper 1851
2 versions
I want to say a few words about this matter. I am a woman's rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if a woman have a pint, and a man a quart – why can't she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, – for we can't take more than our pint'll hold. The poor men seems to be all in confusion, and don't know what to do. Why children, if you have woman's rights, give it to her and you will feel better. You will have your own rights, and they won't be so much trouble. I can't read, but I can hear. I have heard the bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin. Well, if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again. The Lady has spoken about Jesus, how he never spurned woman from him, and she was right. When Lazarus died, Mary and Martha came to him with faith and love and besought him to raise their brother. And Jesus wept and Lazarus came forth. And how came Jesus into the world? Through God who created him and the woman who bore him. Man, where was your part? But the women are coming up blessed be God and a few of the men are coming up with them. But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him, he is surely between a hawk and a buzzard.
Sojourner Truth Spoke UP—wasn’t she rude to talk to that police officer?
Was NOT invited to speak
We can be as proud as Sojourner Truth, as smart as Sojourner Truth, as Tall as Sojourner Truth
Game 1: I can’t read, but I can hear. (15-20 minutes)
Discuss why it was important for Sojourner Truth to say “I can’t read, but I can hear.” (Although illiterate, she was still very smart and understood people incredibly well. We support that! Understanding means LOTS of different kinds of communicating – sending and receiving messages in diverse ways is one of our goals.)
Ask kids how they communicate without using words. Have them demonstrate! Spend a few minutes talking about facial expressions and body language and point out how different parts of our bodies help us ‘say’ something.
Then, play a modified version of charades. Have kids sit on the floor, and allow 1 kid at a time to choose a CLUE and act it out. Let everyone guess, or only allow a few or 1 or 2 to guess if it gets too loud/chaotic.
Take as many photographs of the kids as they act out as you can!
Game 2: “I am” (40-60 minutes)
Discuss why Sojourner Truth kept saying who she was all the time. (She was not considered equal to white women, so she had to insist that she was as good as/equal to them. She was given a name by her owner, so she chose her own name when she was emancipated. She was also a very smart, proud, confident woman, and we support that at our program! Self-esteem is one of our goals!) Ask kids if they can relate to any of these ideas.
This activity has lots of options to let kids color, talk, write, work alone, or collaborate. If you’re more comfortable, ask all the kids to do activities together, perhaps spending a few minutes on each part. Find a space where you can group together, write, and move around a little. Use any part of the room, or even a hallway. You’ll need crayons!
---------------------------------
Part 1: (15-20 minutes)
Sojourner Truth liked to say WHO SHE WAS!
Who are you? Can you say? Can your friends help you?
Write down some words that describe you, and then pick one to finish this sentence:
I am ______________
Now ask your friends to help you say this sentence in as many ways as you can. Do you know anyone who speaks Spanish, or French, or Korean, or Mandarin, or any other language?
Write down or say or act out who you are in as many ways as possible. Can you use some of the ideas from the “I can’t read, but I can hear” game?
Challenge: how many ways can you say, “I have something to say!”
-----------------------------------
Part 2: (15-20 minutes)
Sojourner Truth was tall. Tape a picture of Sojourner Truth to the wall so that it is SIX FEET high. Have kids stand below her and measure themselves – tape their nametags at their height. Let them see how far they have to go to be as tall as Sojourner Truth.
Then discuss these other aspects of Truth and have them compare themselves to her: Sojourner Truth was smart, a great talker, went to church a lot, a great leader, spoke two languages, was from New York, was African (and African-American at the end of her life), lived in Michigan, liked Abraham Lincoln, was a little worried about fair treatment from police and people in authority, spoke up when things weren’t right. For each of these aspects of Truth, have kids raise their hands, stand up, or respond in some other way if they share that aspect.
If you can, see if kids can share aspects of themselves – and see if others in the group share those aspects, too.
-----------------------------------
Part 3: I have something to say here. (10-15 minutes)
Discuss with kids how Sojourner Truth had to overcome people’s expectations of her. (They thought she wasn’t smart; they thought she was weak; they thought she would follow unfair rules without speaking up; they thought that because she was a woman she wasn’t strong; they thought that because she was African (and African-American) that she wasn’t as good as white Americans.) This could get tricky, but do your best to let kids be honest.
Help kids talk about or write down how people might not have high expectations them, or how people might be wrong about judging them.
People think I’m not ____________, but I am_____________
People think I can’t _____________, but I can ____________
Sojourner Truth liked to say WHO SHE WAS!
Who are you? Can you say? Can your friends help you?
Write down some words that describe you, and then pick one to finish this sentence:
I am ______________
Now ask your friends to help you say this sentence in as many ways as you can. Do you know anyone who speaks Spanish, or French, or Korean, or Mandarin, or any other language?
Write down or say or act out who you are in as many ways as possible. Can you use some of the ideas from the “I can’t read, but I can hear” game?
Challenge: how many ways can you say, “Ain’t I a Woman?”
People think I’m not ____________, but I am_____________
People think I can’t _____________, but I can ____________
No comments:
Post a Comment