Kiara Roberts Professor Long 10/30/13 Topic of Lesson Plan: Harlem Renaissance (Poetry) Background to the Lesson: In order

to teach this lesson, it would be important for children to study about the transatlantic slave trade and the contributions of enslaved Africans to American economy, language, music, and dance prior to the Great Migration. Teachers must understand the basics of the Harlem Renaissance, starting with the Great Migration and ending with the contributions from African Americans during the Renaissance and the legacy seen well afterwards. Teachers must understand the Harlem Renaissance is depicted as an African American artistic movement that celebrated black life and culture with common themes such as the influence of experiences of slavery, emerging African-American traditions of black identity, and effects of racism. Teachers must also understand many historically black words coincide with African American struggles, experiences, unique aspects of culture and traditions. Teachers must understand all students want to feel affirmed in the classroom and different ethnicities, cultures, beliefs, and languages must be represented in the classroom. Often the children least affirmed for their culture, language, and the historical contributions of their families, communities, and histories are African American children and that schools have a responsibility, not just during Black History month but across the year to change the current domination of whiteness in curriculum so that contributions of African Americans to the worlds art, language, sciences, histories, inventions, music, etc. are a part of curriculum on a regular, normalized basis (Susi Long, 2013). Here are some important resources to further your knowledge about the Harlem Renaissance: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255397/Harlem-Renaissance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Renaissance http://www.biography.com/tv/classroom/harlem-renaissance http://www.history.com/topics/harlem-renaissance http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5657 http://historyoftheharlemrenaissance.weebly.com/index.html Concepts to be Taught: I want the children to understand that: Harlem Renaissance is depicted as an African American artistic movement in the 1920s that celebrated black life and culture. (Americas Story from Americas Library: Langston Hughes, James H. Billington) I want my students to learn this because the professional literature and research tells us that originally, African American Language (AAL) and society became regarded as inferior because people of African descent were oppressed by White Europeans by conquest, divide and conquer, manipulation, and cultural invasion. Now, the term AAL is confirmed by the Linguistic Society of America as a legitimate language and because of the contributions from African Americans to the nation/world, society is a more thriving place. (Boutte, Teaching AAL; Five Easy Pieces; Delpit and Dowdy) o The Great Migration: African Americans moved from southern states to north to start a new life because their language and culture was seen as inferior to the European-American society. (U.S. History: Harlem Renaissance)

o Harlem Renaissance lasted from 1918-1937 (Britannica) o Common Themes of Harlem Renaissance: influence of experience of slavery, emerging African-American traditions of black identity, and effects of racism. (Wikipedia) (Academic Kids Encyclopedia) I want my students to learn this because the professional literature and research tells us that many historically black words coincide with African American struggles, experiences, unique aspects of culture and traditions and social distinctions between themselves and other races and their language was a way to distinguish between members of their community and outsiders. (Spoken Soul, Rickford and Rickford) o The New Negro, created during the Harlem Renaissance, would use intellect and productions of African American literature, art, and music to challenge racism and stereotypes in American society, and promote racial and social integration in society. (Wikipedia) (Academic Kids Encyclopedia) The legacy of the Harlem Renaissance redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans. (Wikipedia) (Academic Kids Encyclopedia) I want my students to learn this because the professional literature and research tells us that many historically black words coincide with African American struggles, experiences, unique aspects of culture and traditions and social distinctions between themselves and other races and their language was a way to distinguish between members of their community and outsiders. (Spoken Soul, Rickford and Rickford) o Harlem Renaissance led to more opportunities for African Americans to be published by mainstream publishers. (Wikipedia) (Academic Kids Encyclopedia) o Society earned positive attributes from the Harlem Renaissance (poets)/African American culture. (Academic Kids Encyclopedia) Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes had a strong sense of racial pride, promoted equality, condemned racism and injustice, and celebrated African American folk culture, humor and spirituality. (Americas Story from Americas Library: Langston Hughes, James H. Billington) I want my students to learn this because the professional literature and research tells us that ninety percent of African Americans use one or more aspects of AAVE some of the time [and] research at Stanford University proves students that have been taught using the Ebonics program have improved their ability to read and write standard English (Five Easy Pieces) o The Sweet and Sour Animal Book can be used as a reference to learning to alphabet. (The Sweet and Sour Animal Book) Common Core Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K. 1a Print many upper- and lowercase letters. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2a Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2b Recognize and name end punctuation. o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2c Write a letter or letters for most consonant and shortvowel sounds (phonemes).

o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.2d Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships. Teacher Resources http://childrensbooks.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=childrensbooks&cdn=pa renting&tm=69&f=00&su=p284.13.342.ip_p504.6.342.ip_&tt=6&bt=1&bts=14&zu=htt p%3A//www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/hughes/aa_hughes_subj.html (Americas Story from Americas Library: Langston Hughes, James H. Billington) http://www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1551 (The Childrens Poetry Archive) The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Works for Children and Young Adults: Poetry, Fiction, and Other Writing (Dianne Johnson) http://www.ushistory.org/us/46e.asp (Harlem Renaissance History) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/255397/Harlem-Renaissance/272827/Poetry (Britannica) The Sweet and Sour Animal Book by Langston Hughes http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/usa_game/harlem_renaissance/harlem_renaissance_la ngston_hughes.htm Materials Needed The Sweet and Sour Animal Book by Langston Hughes Brain Pop Video: Harlem Renaissance (basic overview) http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/usa_game/harlem_renaissance/harlem_renaissance_la ngston_hughes.htm (Powerpoint on Langston Hughes) (intro) Colored Construction Paper Markers/Crayons/Colored Pencils Rulers Letter Stencils Teacher created page in the classroom alphabet book (modeled from Hughes book) Procedures Boys and girls, please come to the carpet and direct all of your attention to me. I have a question. What does the word fairness mean? As a person, do you want to be treated fairly? Can you think of any instances where you were not treated fairly? Can being treated fairly be like being treated equally? Do you want other people to think your work is special? Well boys and girls, there was a time where some people were not treated fairly because of the color of their skin and their work was not appreciated. Fortunately, there was a group of people that worked together, African Americans, to make sure all of the United States and the world recognizes how important these people were. So now, boys and girls, we are going to learn an important new term. And guess what, this is something you usually dont learn until you are in the 9th grade! How cool is that? Has anyone ever heard of the Harlem Renaissance? Boys and girls, what does the word Renaissance mean? Renaissance means rebirth or having a change in what is normal. There are many changes that were seen in the culture and the atmosphere surrounding African-Americans. Boys and girls, lets direct our attention to the SmartBoard so we can watch a fun Brain Pop Video about the Harlem Renaissance. (Play Brain Pop Video: Harlem Renaissance)

So, what are some important facts that you can remember from the video about the Harlem Renaissance? o Teach Harlem Renaissance through interactive powerpoint/prezi and video. The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic movement that started in the 1920s that celebrated black life and culture. The Harlem Renaissance was attempting to make the world see the important things that African Americans added to the United States. The Harlem Renaissance lasted from 1918-1937. The Harlem Renaissance began with the Great Migration. Migration is when people or animals move from one place to another. Can you guys name an animal that migrates? (bird) Well, African Americans moved from southern states to north to start a new life because their language and culture was seen as lesser than that of the European-American society. Was that fair? Common Themes of Harlem Renaissance: influence of experience of slavery, emerging African-American traditions of black identity, and effects of racism. The New Negro, created during the Harlem Renaissance, would use intellect and productions of African American literature, art, and music to challenge racism and stereotypes in American society, and promote racial and social integration in society. The legacy of the Harlem Renaissance redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans. Society began to appreciate African American people more and like different types of art, literature and music. Harlem Renaissance led to more opportunities for African Americans to be published by mainstream publishers. This means African American writers were given the same opportunities to be successful and write books that the European Americans were given. They were being treated fairly now, right? (important to spread this information over the course of a few days/a week because this is a lot of information and students will not be able to retain all of this information in one day) There were many, many great people who did amazing things for our country during the Harlem Renaissance. Were going to learn about a lot of them this year but today, I want you to meet Mr. Langston Hughes o (read picture books) Langston Hughes by Milton Meltzer Coming Home: from the Life of Langston Hughes by Floyd Cooper Love to Langston by Tony Medina o Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes had a strong sense of racial pride. He wanted to make sure all people were treated equally and given the same chances and opportunities. He did not like when people were not treated fairly, especially when that was because of the color of their skin. Does anybody know what it means when people are treated differently because of the color of their skin?

Good, its called racism. In his poetry, Langston Hughes celebrates African American folk culture, humor and spirituality. o The Sweet and Sour Animal Book can be used as a reference to learning to alphabet. Now, we are going to read The Sweet and Sour Animal Book by Langston Hughes. Boys and girls, what stood out to you about this book? How did it make you feel? Now, we are going to read Childrens Rhymes by Langston Hughes together. (pull it up on SmartBoard). What type of words did he use in this poem? How did these words make you feel? What do you think Mr. Hughes wanted you to get from this poem? What message was he trying to send? Do you think you can use these words and rhymes in your own poems? We are going to make a classroom Sweet and Sour Animal Book and everybody will have their own page. It is important for each student to use similar words and rhymes that Mr. Hughes used because we are trying to make a book similar to him. We will use some of his words and ideas, and use some of our own words and ideas. How much fun will that be? It can either be a rhyming poem or a free verse poem. Assign students one letter of the alphabet and have them create a page in the classroom alphabet book, including (on the page) the letter, a picture, and a sentence describing the picture (may be written by teacher depending on age). Collect pages and bind book together. Share with the class and possibly use for other activities in the classroom. Boys and girls, here are some other books about important people in the Harlem Renaissance you can read throughout the year: o Zora! The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by /Judith Bloom Fradin o Poetry for Young Children: Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes o Celestes Harlem Renaissance by Eleanora E. Tate o Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Like My Sister Kate: Looking at the Harlem Renaissance Through Poems by Nikki Giovanni o Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance by Laban Carrick Hill