Tishna Mohiuddin Economic Obstacles and Victories OVERVIEW/ RATIONALE

We have yet to explicitly to talk about the economic structure of the South and how it impacts the manner in which resources are distributed to various members of society. This lesson will provide us with the opportunity to examine the system of sharecropping as one that was cyclical - providing farmers with barely enough money to get by and subsequently requiring them to continue to work for pittance. We will also study the economic conditions that emerged for a smaller portion of the African American community who were able to carve out a way of life in all black towns.
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS/ ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Essential Questions What are the effects of segregation on a person or groups identity? Of integration? Of assimilation?

GOALS/OBJECTIVES Students will via a simulation understand vividly the terms between landowners and sharecroppers and reflect on how the prevalence of this unequal system made it difficult for the African American community to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Students will examine an example of some of the economic success some African Americans were able to achieve in spite of segregation. STANDARDS CC.8.6.9-10.E CC.8.6.9-10.F
MATERIALS

15 paper bags each containing 2 IOU slip - one marked to the Furnishing Merchant and one to the Landlord two plastic cups - one labeled Furnishing Merchant and one labeled Landlord one Ziploc bag with fifty beans simulation prompt:

http://tahleadership.wikispaces.com/file/view/Sharecropping%2BSimulation.pdf map of percentage of land in various states that was farmed by sharecroppers Debates That Matter: http://debatesthatmatter.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-top-blackbusiness-leaders-of-1800s.html Black Businesses in Durham: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchistnewcentury/4819

PROCEDURES OPENER Forced Choice: Money represents a persons value to society. - Agree or disagree? Based on their answer, students will stand on either side of the room. People on either side of the room will take turns explaining their reasoning.

BODY OF THE LESSON Background on Sharecropping: Will briefly review definition of sharecropping (the who-whatwhen-where-why.) Will also pull up a map which indicates what percentage of the land in the South was farmed by sharecropping. Sharecropping Simulation: After passing out paper bags so that one paper bag is shared by two students, I will explain that we are about to do a simulation in which students will be sharecroppers, and I will act as the landlord. The beans will represent money. Everyone gets ten beans as startup money. As I read from the prompt, students are to place the beans into the appropriate cup based on where they are spending their money. One of the first comments made by the landlord is that the sharecroppers have signed a contract in which fifty-percent of the profits are to be collected by the landlord along with a supervisory fee. Throughout the simulation, students must make expenditures on property damages, food, and unexpected illnesses. At the very end of the exercise, students left debted to the landlord by one bean. The understanding is that they can work again next year to pay off the debt. Switching Gears: I will explain that there was a subsection of the African American community that was able to build businesses in African American communities. Independent Research: Students will peruse a list of black businesswomen and men, select one that most interests them, and post a brief description of their choice on Canvas. Along with this description, they will consider whether they believe this person to be a product of their environment or not. This last question is a reference to a warm-up that we completed the other day in which students debated whether they considered people to be a product of their environment or not.

CLOSURE Black Businesses in Durham: We will read aloud DuBos description of black businesses in Durham. SCIM Analysis: Students will independently respond to a set of questions that ask them

to summarize and draw inferences from the reading. They must answer the following:

What specific information, details and/or perspectives does this source provide? What is the subject and/or purpose of the source? Who was the author of the source? When and where was the source produced? If you read Du Bois' account of life in Durham, how would you characterize life under Jim Crow for African Americans? Support your response with direct evidence from the source.

PART ONE
Name: Tishna Mohiuddin Course: 9th Grade African American History Title of Lesson: Economic Obstacles and Victories

Application of Strategies and/or concepts we discussed in class: Incorporating Economics into the Teaching of S.S.: I must admit that this lesson was the first in which we focused explicitly on economic conditions. Had I been more knowledgeable on the subject, I would have probably structured my unit on slavery around the question of whether Americas culture of capitalism perpetuated the continual oppression of a people. Part of what made me feel comfortable to address sharecropping was the amount of literature that already existed on teaching students about sharecropping. Simulation: This lesson was the first time in which I opted to use a simulation. It was helpful that it was part of a pre-existing lesson plan, and I did not have to come up with the idea from scratch. After participating in the international trade activity, I was struck by how powerful hands-on learning was in learning economic concepts. Critical Literacy: I used parts of the SCIM model of approaching text in this lesson by asking students to summarize and draw inferences from DuBois essay on black businesses in Durham. Students had already followed this approach in a previous text in dissecting a primary source. Connections to Unit Plan: Although I do not think that I in anyway remembered to frame this lesson in terms of the essential questions, this lesson ideally would have presented would have presented two contrasting images - that of sharecroppers and that of entrepreneurs - and would have asked students to assess whether segregation caused the economic inequities between black and white communities during the Jim Crow era or whether the economic inequities were caused by other factors. I did not; however, spend a sufficient amount of time on dissecting the larger economic structure at the time and how African Americans fit into this structure in a post-Reconstruction era. Skills and Conceptual Objectives: Students will gain an understanding of the inequities that existed between sharecroppers and landowners by means of a simulation. Students will know that although a vast majority of African Americans were entrapped in the sharecropping system, a slice of the population was able to establish itself in small town life, particularly as more industrialized professions became commonplace. Students will practice summarizing and drawing inferences from a primary source text. Common Core: CC.8.6.9-10.E CC.8.6.9-10.F

Assessment:
[Informal] Students answered a series of questions after we read through DuBois Black Businesses in Durham. The assignment will be worth eleven points and will be submitted through Canvas. The questions are as follows: Summarize:

1.What specific information, details and/or perspectives does this source

provide? (3 points) 2. What is the subject and/or purpose of the source? (2 points) 3. Who was the author of the source? (1 point) 4. When and where was the source produced? (2 points) Infer:
5. If you read Du Bois' account of life in Durham, how would you characterize life under Jim Crow for African Americans? Support your response with direct evidence from the source. (3 points)

PART TWO Student engagement was the highest during the warm-up. Students had had some prior experience with this Forced Choice model of discussion. The majority of the class agreed with the notion that money represents ones value to society; only five students disagreed with the statement. The most gregarious in the class were of course eager to participate; however, a few less vocal students also participated. One boy in particular, who I know to be a more pensive type of person, had chosen to disagree with the statement and took the lead in debating against it. Most importantly, students listened to one another, which was indicated to me by the way they referenced each others specific examples and arguments. As for the simulation, I found that students were immediately intrigued by the presence of the paper bags. I think they provided a novelty that at least for the moment captured the attention of the entire class. However, once we began the simulation, some students became more engaged than others. I noticed that a few of the girls in the front did not even bother to follow along with the simulation. These particular girls had expressed to me in the past that unless an activity was graded, they would not participate. There was also one boy in the back, who, I have yet to really be able to get excited about anything thats happening in the classroom, who did not follow along either. The rest of the class; however, seemed to at least be following along with the simulation. Most excitingly, a girl who is normally quite unhappy about being in school, let alone being in the classroom, was asking questions as we went along to make sure that she had heard each step of the simulation correctly. One girl, who usually is pretty invested in the activities we do in the class, was expressing a sense of moral indignation at amount of debt that was being accrued. A group of boys who generally sit in the front and space out when we do any sort of reading also seemed to be engaged. A few of them made jokes about not having a family so that they would have less mouths to feed, which at least indicated to me that they were following along. After the simulation, I lost the attention of the majority of the class. I suspect that having to be so attentive for the simulation had taken the energy out of most, and they were not ready to proceed to a task that required higher-order thinking.

PART THREE

My only assessment were the set of questions students had to answer independently after we read through DuBois Black Businesses in Durham. However, I was checking for an understanding of how to summarize key details from the reading as well as make an inference about what impression they would have about African Americans economic opportunities if they only read DuBois essay. The questions can be found in the lesson plan. Unfortunately, only six of my students submitted their work to these questions, so it is difficult to say whether they had understood this approach to reading a primary source text or not. I think perhaps this has more to do with the length of the reading than with being confused by the assignment, but I do not have any evidence to support my claim. PART FOUR The Forced Choice reconfirmed that one of my two classes really enjoys taking oppositional stances and is able to do so respectfully. I suspect part of what helps engage students in this style of conversation is that students have to stand on either sides of the room; and therefore, can much more easily make eye contact with one another. Most of the time students are sitting in a fashion that makes it difficult to make eye contact with their peers. (The design of the room makes it difficult to arrange students in a circular fashion.) Subsequently, there is generally a great deal of side conversation during class discussions. The Forced Choice activities in general have been pretty enlightening in revealing to me how my students are conceptualizing a diverse array of issues such as money, the relationship between effort and success, and whether people are a product of their environment. In this particular debate, one student candidly told me that they were more likely to listen to Meek Mills (a radio rapper) than me on the subject of, say, drug use, because he was someone who had more publicity and presumably money than I did. That was a pretty eye-opening comment. I wasnt necessarily offended. I actually was amused with how candid she, and my other students were, about how important they believed money to be. One student on the Disagree side mentioned Occupy Wall Street as being a demonstration of power by a group of people that did not necessarily all have equal amounts of wealth. A student on the Agree side countered that OWS came to an abrupt halt, silenced by those with more money. Had I sufficient knowledge of resources that would be engaging and accessible to my students, it would have been an interesting moment to talk about capitalism and its effect in and on American society, beginning with an in-depth exploration of what drove the OWS movement. As for the simulation, I felt, although I do not have any tangible evidence of it, that my students were for the most part willing to participate in a different sort of activity. We have had not done much hands-on, active learning in the classroom, and I felt that it was a welcome change. As I

mentioned in the previous section, there were a few students who opted to text on their phones in lieu of participating; however, most students were at least attempting to follow along with the prompt despite the fact that it was not a graded activity.

PART FIVE I would not use this lesson again. I think the content was important; however, I think that the way that, with the exception of the warm-up, the activities were not conducive to teaching a ninth grade class. The transition between each activity was too abrupt. I do not know if I took enough time, for instance, after the sharecropping simulation to get a better understanding of what my students got out of this activity. Perhaps a written reflection might have helped in which they related their background knowledge of sharecropping to what they learned (or what questions they had) after completing the simulation. Furthermore, in reading through DuBois essay with the class, I realized that it was far too complex and lengthy for students to dissect at this point in their education. Had we spent a few days comparing and contrasting country life with small town life, the reading might have been more meaningful to the students. Once again, I do not think that I spent a sufficient amount of time framing the reading in a way that students were prepared to analyze it in a manner that would contribute to their understanding.