E. Quinson

Room D-201

Periods 2 and 3

 

Monday, November 3, 2008

SWBAT:  examine the metaphor of warriors and how we can all be warriors for a cause.

DO NOW:  Write an entry:  Do you agree with advice Melba’s grandmother gives her at the bottom of page 44 top of 45.  When is crying a sign of weakness?  A sign of strength?  Who decides?  Is it different for men?  For children?

DEVELOPMENT:

  1. Discuss DO NOW and H.W. entries, perhaps as a pair/share?
  2. Discussion Questions:

·        Secrets: 

o       Why does Melba’s mother insist that she and Melba keep their encounter with the mob outside Central High School a secret, even if it means telling a white lie? 

o       What is a white lie? How is it different from other lies?

·        Melba’s Journal:

o       How does Melba use her journal?

o       Why?

o       Is this similar to anything you have ever experienced or seen before?

·        On page 52 Melba describes an ad created by a white man from a small town in Arkansas.  What is the message in his ad?  At whom is it directed?  How do you explain Melba’s response to it?  How do you think others in the group felt?

  • How does the crisis in Little Rock affect people in Little Rock and other places:
    • How does Melba characterize the way that individuals and groups in Little Rock, both black and white, respond to the crisis?
    • What role does the media seem to play?
    • What role does the media play in our world, US, NY, Rockland, Clarkstown, FFMS?  (Think bomb threat.)
  • Thurgood Marshall:
    • What qualities does Melba attribute to Thurgood Marshall?  Which of these qualities does she most admire?
    • To what adults does she compare Marshall?  What does that comparison suggest about the way she views those adults?
    • What does her comparison suggest about the effects of segregation?
  1. Review/summarize.

H.W.:  1.  Read pages 69-90, chapter 7 .  2.  Write one page in response: It has been said that some leaders make history; others are made by history; and still others are run over by history.  Into which category would you place President Eisenhower?  Governor Faubus?  What qualities does each show in the crisis?  3.  Independent reading.

 

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

SWBAT:  Conduct their own discussion about Warriors Don’t Cry.

DO NOW:  Read hand out, front and back, about Round Table Discussions.

DEVELOPMENT:

  1. Explain that today we are going to conduct a round-table discussion.
  2. Basic rules of engagement:
    1. Listen carefully to others;  this is not the same thing as wait your turn to talk.  Really listen to what others are saying.
    2. Everyone must speak.
    3. Be kind and polite to others.   Even if you disagree, do so respectfully.
    4. Take control of your thinking!
  3. Students conduct discussion (20 min.).
  4. For the remaining time, students will freewrite off the word freedom and we will read “Brown v. Board of Ed.” From our textbook.
  • Thurgood Marshall:
    • What qualities does Melba attribute to Thurgood Marshall?  Which of these qualities does she most admire?
    • To what adults does she compare Marshall?  What does that comparison suggest about the way she views those adults?
    • What does her comparison suggest about the effects of segregation?
  1. Review/summarize.

H.W.:  1.  Read pages 90-113, chapters 8 and 9.  2.  Write one page in response:  Describe the range of responses to integration among the white students at Central High.  Then also describe the range of responses to integration among the white adults at Central High.  Be as specific as possible.  Use text-based details to support your answer.  3.  Guess vocabulary as you read.

 

 

Thursday, November 6, 2008

SWBAT:  explore the way Melba uses comparison and contrast to show the effects of segregation.

DO NOW:  Write an entry:  What do Melba’s remarks about feeling both proud and sad while being escorted into the school by federal troops (p95) indicate about her sense of herself as an individual and as a citizen?

DEVELOPMENT:

  1. Discuss DO NOW and H.W. entries, perhaps as a pair/share?
  2. Discussion Questions:
  • Danny
    • How does he affect Melba’s experience? 
    • Danny really is an honest to God warrior!
    • How is he similar to, different from, Grandma India?
  • Media:

o       What role does the media seem to play?

o       What role does the media play in our world, US, NY, Rockland, Clarkstown, FFMS?  (Think election?)

o       How are Melba’s dealing with the press helping her find her voice?

o       What other experiences contribute to a feeling that she can make a difference? That her opinion matters?  What experiences undermine that feeling?

·        Have a student read the diary entry on p. 109.  What does it suggest about Melba’s feelings about school?  About the choices she has made?

o       Students must find at least two examples of the way those feelings are beginning to change.  Then, write an entry about this change (using text-based details) and discussion how they think they might feel.

  1. Review/summarize.

H.W.:  1.  Read pp. 114-140, chaps. 10 and 11.  2. Post-It!  Write a post it where you see the stress of enrollment affecting one of the Little Rock Nine.  Explain what you see, what it makes you think and how it makes your understanding deeper.  3.  Write one page in your w.n. in response:  How is the stress of enrollment affecting all of the Little Rock Nine?  Use as many text-based details as you can to support your answer.  4.  Guess vocabulary as you read.

 

Friday, November 7, 2008

SWBAT:  consider why change at Central High was a slow, often painful process.

DO NOW:  Write an entry:  What does Melba mean when she writes that “integration is a much bigger word than I thought.” p. 113.

DEVELOPMENT:

  1. Review do now.
  2. Discuss how we often show how we change, how our opinions change in our writer’s notebooks or journals.  That is what Melba uses her diary for. 
  3. Students will review the entries from Melba’s diary.  You can tell them in the book pretty easily, because they are set off from the rest of the text and they are italicized.
  4. When they have finished re-reading the diary entries they will write an entry:  What does the progression of these entries suggest about the way attitudes begin to change?  How important are small gestures—a smile, a friendly gesture—in that process.  Use specific details to support your answer.
  5. Sometimes small gestures are not, enough, of course, and confrontation can be necessary.
    1. Two confrontations are described in this section of the book.

                                                               i.      Meeting with Superintendent of Schools Blossom

                                                             ii.      Roundtable discussion for black and white students.

                                                            iii.      Compare and contrast the two events. 

                                                           iv.      How are they similar?  Different?  What differences are most striking? 

                                                             v.      Which is more likely to shatter stereotypes and widen perspectives?  Why? 

                                                           vi.      What can that teach us for our own community/school?

  1. Review/summarize.

H.W.:  1.  Read pp. 141-156, chaps 12 and 13.  2. Post-It!  Write a post it where you see Melba’s friends treating her differently.  Explain what it says, what it makes you think and how it makes your understanding deeper.  3.  Write one page in your w.n. in response:  How does Melba’s enrollment at Central High affect her relationship with her old friends?  Why do you think they are no longer willing to socialize with her?  4.  Guess vocabulary as you read.

 

Monday, November 10, 2008

SWBAT:   discuss issues that are important to them in a student-led round table discussion.

DO NOW:  Write an entry:  How do NAACP officials want Melba and the others to respond to harassment?  Why?  How successful are Melba and her friends at following this advice?

DEVELOPMENT:

  1. Round-Table discussion!
  2. Students lead discussion.
  3. If time allows, students may begin their homework reading.

H.W.:  1.  Read pages 157-183, chaps 14 and 15.  2.  Write one page in response:  Why do you think Link secretly helps Melba elude her attackers?  What risks is Link taking in offering Melba his friendship?  What risks is Melba taking in becoming friends with Link? 3.  Guess vocabulary as you read.

 

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

SWBAT:  analyze developments in the novel and how racism shapes relationships in different parts of Little Rock society. 

DO NOW:   Write an entry:  Why does Link feel responsible for Mrs. Healy?  Why do you think his parents do not feel as responsible for her welfare? 

DEVELOPMENT:

  1. Discuss DO NOW and H.W. entries, perhaps as a pair/share?
  2. Discussion Questions:
  3. Mrs. Healy
    1. How does Link’s relationship with Mrs. Healey affect his attitude toward all African Americans? 
    2. How does racism affect Link’s relationship with Melba? 
    3. To what extent does Link take a stand against racism?
  4. Media:
    1. How has the media’s role changed?
    2. What role does the media play in our world, US, NY, Rockland, Clarkstown, FFMS?  (Think election.)
    3. How does Melba’s dealing with the press helping her find her voice?
    4. What other experiences contribute to a feeling that she can make a difference? That her opinion matters?  What experiences undermine that feeling?
  5. Review/summarize.

H.W.:  1.  Finish the novel!  Read pp. 204-226, chapter 18 and epiloge.  2. Write one page in your w.n. in response:  What does Ernest Green’s graduation from Central High School mean to African Americans in Little Rock?  Why is it a matter of such concern for segregationists? 

 

Thursday, November 13, 2008

SWBAT:  consider why change at Central High was a slow, often painful process.

DO NOW:  Write an entry:  What does Melba mean when she writes that “the newspapers said Ernie’s diploma cost the taxpayers half a million dollars. Of course, we knew it cost all of us much more.”

DEVELOPMENT:

  1. Review do now.
  2. Class discussion;

Ř      Discuss how we often show how we change, how our opinions change in our writer’s notebooks or journals.  That is what Melba uses her diary for. 

Ř      Discuss how the media has affected events in Little Rock for good and for ill. 

Ř      Students will look at media calls outs in the book. 

Ř      Discussion Questions:

Ř      Warriors Don’t Cry focuses on a single year in Melba’s life.  Identify some internal and external conflicts she faced that year.

Ř      Describe how Melba’s year at Central High affected the way she sees herself and others.

Ř      How does Melba change in the course of the book?  To what experiences does she attribute those changes?  To what experiences do you attribute those changes?

Ř      What does Melba’s story mean to you?

Ř      Why do you think she wrote this book?

Ř      What is the meaning of the title, Warriors Don’t Cry?

  1. Review/summarize.
  2. Tomorrow’s test will be part multiple choice, vocabulary, plot, etc.  Then there will also be an essay portion, which will be begun in class and finished at home.

H.W.:  1.  Review vocabulary, characters, and plot.  2.  Be sure you have an independent reading book lined up. J 

 

Friday, November 14, 2008

SWBAT:   demonstrate mastery of vocabulary, characters and plot of Warriors Don’t Cry.  DO NOW:  Take out pencils! 

DEVELOPMENT:

  1. Administer test.
  2. Students may use extra time to plan essay.  Essay is open book. 

H.W.:  1.  Work on essay.  2.  Independent reading.   3.  Writer’s Notebooks will be collected Monday.  If you have missed any entries, you had better check my website to be sure you have all the work!

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