Pairing Texts: Understanding Brown v. Board of Education’s Impact on Carlotta’s Journey | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2012 G8:M3B:U2:L3

Pairing Texts: Understanding Brown v. Board of Education’s Impact on Carlotta’s Journey

In this Lesson

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Long Term Learning Targets

  • I can cite text-based evidence that provides the strongest support for an analysis of literary text. (RI.8.1)
  • I can analyze the connections and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events in a text. (RI.8.3)

Supporting Targets

  • I can use evidence from Brown v. Board of Education to support my understanding of the A Mighty Long Way and the desegregation of schools in the South.
  • I can analyze the connection between Brown v. Board of Education and Carlotta's experiences.

Ongoing Assessment

  • A Mighty Long Way structured notes, Chapter 8, pages 141-162 (from homework)
  • Paired Text note-catcher
  • Exit ticket

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1.  Opening

     A.  Engaging the Reader: Homework Focus Question (3 minutes)

     B.  Reviewing Learning Targets (2 minutes)

2.  Work Time

     A.  Modeling Text Comparison: Brown v. Board of Education and A Mighty Long Way (10 minutes)

     B.  Carlotta's Journey: Jigsaw (20 minutes)

3.  Closing and Assessment

    A.  Debrief Learning Targets (5 minutes)

    B.  Introduction to Little Rock Girl 1957 and Previewing Homework (5 minutes)

4.  Homework

     A.  Read Chapters 1-2, pages 4-27 in Little Rock Girl 1957 and complete the structured notes.
  • This lesson concludes the analysis of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case by providing work time in which students analyze details from Carlotta's journey and align them to the excerpts from the court case.
  • In the Closing of this lesson, students are also introduced to the second central text, Little Rock Girl 1957, through a brief "Book Walk."  Students are introduced to Little Rock Girl 1957 in this lesson because it reinforces the connection between Brown v. Board of Education and the experience of the Little Rock Nine.  It also reviews events that students read about earlier in A Mighty Long Way.  For the next few lessons, students will take a break from reading A Mighty Long Way and work instead from this new text, as well as a speech made by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Throughout Unit 2, students will use all three texts to analyze how the media shapes stories, which is the focus of the End of Unit 2 Assessment essay.
  • In advance:

-   Review Jigsaw protocol (see Appendix).

-   Create Jigsaw groups of three students and expert groups of three students (or as close as possible).

Materials

  • Journey to Justice note-catcher (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 3)
  • A Mighty Long Way (book; distributed in Unit 1, Lesson 1)
  • Brown v. Board of Education excerpts (from Lesson 1)
  • Document camera
  • Paired Text note-catcher: Excerpts 1-3(one per student and one for display)
  • Paired Text note-catcher: Excerpts 1-3 (for teacher reference)
  • Little Rock Girl 1957 (book; one per student)
  • Exit ticket (one per student)
  • Little Rock Girl 1957 Structured Notes, Chapters 1-2, pages 4-27 (one per student)
  • Little Rock Girl 1957 Supported Structured Notes, Chapters 1-2, pages 4-27 (optional; for students needing extra support)
  • Little Rock Girl 1957 Structured Notes Teacher's Guide, Chapters 1-2, pages 4-27 (for teacher reference)

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Engaging the Reader: Homework Focus Question (3 minutes)

  • Ask students to sit with their Kansas City discussion partner and share their response to the focus question from their homework.

*   "On page 162, Carlotta recounts Jefferson's first day of school in 1959. She refers to a decision that Elizabeth Eckford made that day when she writes, 'That decision was nothing short of brave and heroic.' What decision is Carlotta referring to? Why does she think it is 'brave and heroic'?"

  • Call on volunteers to answer the question, "What decision is Carlotta referring to?" Listen for: "Carlotta is referring to Elizabeth's decision to walk to the front doors of Central High School with Jefferson."
  • Call on volunteers to answer the question, "Why does Carlotta think it is 'brave and heroic'?" Listen for: "Carlotta says it is brave and heroic because it would have brought up all the abuse Elizabeth suffered the first day of school two years earlier when she was caught in the mob alone."
  • Opening the lesson by asking students to share their homework makes them accountable for completing it. It also gives you the opportunity to monitor which students have not been completing their homework.
  • Calling on volunteers is acceptable when all students might not know the answer.

B. Reviewing Learning Targets (2 minutes)

  • Explain to students that today they will be viewing Carlotta's experiences as a black student in the South during the years following the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case.
  • Invite students to follow along silently as you read the learning targets aloud:

*   I can use evidence from Brown v. Board of Education to support my understanding of the A Mighty Long Way and the desegregation of schools in the South.

*   "I can analyze the connection between Brown v. Board of Education and Carlotta's experiences."

  • Ask students to turn to their discussion partner and predict what they will focus on in class today based on these learning targets.  
  • Cold call on one pair and listen for them to say something like "We'll be making connections between Brown v. Board of Education and what we've read in A Mighty Long Way."

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Modeling Text Comparison: Brown v. Board of Education and A Mighty Long Way (10 minutes)

  • Inform students that today they will be looking at how the conditions of black students in the South--like the conditions described by Carlotta--led to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. They will need their Journey to Justice note-catcher and their text, A Mighty Long Way.
  • Distribute the Paired Text note-catcher: Excerpts 1-3 and project it with a document camera.
  • Arrange students in groups of three. Explain that this is their "home" group--they will start and end with their home group. In a moment they will move to work with an expert group. They will share the work they do in the expert group with their home group before the end of class.
  • Explain to students that they will be using the Journey to Justice note-catcher and Chapters 2-8 of A Mighty Long Way as they work with their expert group.
  • Each excerpt is labeled 1, 2, or 3. Ensure that one student from each home group has chosen Excerpt 1, Excerpt 2, or Excerpt 3 to focus on in his or her expert group.
  • Arrange students into expert groups by the excerpt they have chosen. Expert groups should also be groups of about three students--more than one expert group may be working on the same excerpt.
  • Explain to students that in these expert groups they will be focusing on matching events from Carlotta's life to the excerpt they have from the Brown v. Board of Education case.
  • Using the displayed Paired Text note-catcher, model how to do this using Excerpt 2 from Brown v. Board of Education, regarding the inherent inequality in the doctrine of "separate but equal." Use the Paired Text note-catcher: Excerpts 1-3 (for teacher reference) as a guide to show students how to cite evidence with page numbers from A Mighty Long Way.

-   For example, point out to students that even after the court ruling in 1954, Carlotta was disappointed that changes really didn't happen: She had to go to school farther away from her home than Central (page 32).

  • Write the details on the note-catcher. Model finding details from the text for Excerpt 1, which emphasizes the value of education in our society.

-   State that you remember Carlotta talking about citizenship and the right to attend school in A Mighty Long Way. On page 57, Carlotta writes that the black students wanted "a fun and unforgettable high school experience, the best education possible, a jump start for our futures." She was angry that although she and her parents were citizens of the United States, white citizens were fighting to keep them out of the white high school.

-   Model writing the details on the note-catcher.
  • Working with an expert group helps all students be able to contribute when they join their jigsaw group members.

B. Carlotta's Journey: Jigsaw (20 minutes)

  • Recommend that groups divide the chapters of the book among each member to focus their attention and not feel overwhelmed.  Remind students that they have been tracking events in A Mighty Long Way using the Journey to Justice note-catcher, so they can also use that to help guide them to evidence in the text.  There are many more examples for them to find in addition to the ones you have modeled.
  • Provide time for expert groups to work. Circulate to provide support if needed.
  • After about 10 minutes of focusing on their one excerpt, ask students to rejoin their home group so that students who were focusing on the other two excerpts gain details to add to the Paired Text note-catcher: Excerpts 1-3.
  • Tell students that they are now to share with each other the details from their Paired Text note-catcher as they illustrate,  with examples from the book, the ruling from Brown v. Board of Education they found. At the end of Work Time A, each student should have details provided for all three excerpts.
  • Cold call on home groups to share how they connected the Brown v. Board of Education excerpts to Carlotta's experiences. Refer to the Paired Text note-catcher: Excerpts 1-3 (for teacher reference) for sample responses.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Debrief Learning Targets (5 minutes)

  • Direct students' attention to the learning targets:

*   "I can use evidence from Brown v. Board of Education to support my understanding of the text and the desegregation of schools in the South."

*   "I can analyze the connection between Brown v. Board of Education and Carlotta's experiences."

  • Distribute the exit ticket and allow time for students to answer the question.
  • Collect the exit tickets and read through them before the next class, taking note of students who have difficulty making connections between the court case and Carlotta's story.
  • Exit tickets allow you to get a quick check for understanding of the learning target so instruction can be adjusted or tailored to students' needs during the lesson or before the next lesson.

B. Introduction to Little Rock Girl 1957 and Previewing Homework (5 minutes)

  • Inform students that for the next few lessons, they will not be reading Carlotta's story in A Mighty Long Way. Instead, they will begin their study of Little Rock Girl 1957.
  • Explain that they are beginning their study of Little Rock Girl 1957 now because it reinforces the connection between Brown v. Board of Education and the experience of the Little Rock Nine.  It also reviews events that students read about earlier in A Mighty Long Way. 
  • Distribute the book Little Rock Girl 1957 and give students a couple of minutes to look through the book. Build up the excitement.
  • Ask students the following questions and call on volunteers to provide answers:

*   "What do you notice about this book?"

*   "Is there anything that you recognize from what we have already studied?"

*   "What do you find interesting looking through this book?"

  • Listen for students to notice that this book also tells the story of school integration and the Little Rock Nine, that it is full of photographs, that it's not a very long book, etc.
  • Inform students that this book will be used to help them dig into one of our guiding questions, "Who shapes the story?" Our focus will be on how the press--like magazines, newspapers, and television--shape what people believe about an event like the experiences of the Little Rock Nine.
  • Distribute Little Rock Girl 1957 structured notes, Chapters 1-2, pages 4-27 and let students know that these structured notes are set up the same way that their structured notes have been for A Mighty Long Way.  Point out that students should read both Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, write the gist, and respond to both focus questions.

Homework

HomeworkMeeting Students' Needs
  • Read Chapters 1-2 and complete Little Rock Girl 1957 structured notes, Chapters 1-2, pages 4-27.
  • Provide struggling learners with the supported structured notes for additional scaffolding as they read the memoir.

Created by EL Education, on behalf of Public Consulting Group, Inc.
© Public Consulting Group, Inc., with a perpetual license granted to EL Education, Inc.

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