Printer-friendly versionEssential Questions
- How does the experience of prejudice affect a person?
- How do people challenge discrimination and injustice?
- How did African Americans strive for equality before the modern civil rights movement?
- What role did African-American women play in advancing social equality?
- What was the historical significance of schools for African Americans?
Objectives
Activities will help students
- Understand that black Americans and their allies fought for social equality decades before the emergence of the modern civil rights movement;
- Recognize the significance of Mary McLeod Bethune and the Daytona Normal and Industrial School;
- Analyze and explain how an individual’s experiences can affect her life choices; and
- Connect the experiences of a historical figure to their own experiences.
Materials Needed
- Interview with Mary McLeod Bethune
- 3x5-inch index cards
Procedure
Word Work
In this lesson, you will use a graphic organizer to help you learn and remember some new words that are in the text. Four words have been highlighted in the text (wound, slates, incentives and aspire). Write each word in a circle at the center of a 3x5-inch card. Divide the card into four areas around the word. Label the top areas “Definition” and “Characteristics.” Label the bottom areas “Example” and “Non-Example.” Working on your own or with a partner, fill in cards for each of the four words, and for any other words you find in the text that you don’t know.
Once you have completed a card for each of the words you don’t know, return to the text and read the sentences that contain the words, making sure you understand the meaning. Save the cards as part of a collection of word cards you can revisit to help you remember the new words you are learning.
Close and Critical Reading
Text to Self - Text to Text - Text to World
1. Building Knowledge
Read the interview with Mary McLeod Bethune. Write short answers to these questions to be sure you understand the content. (Note: You don’t need to turn in your answers. The questions are to help you clarify your understanding of the reading.)
- What incident from her childhood does Mary McLeod Bethune describe?
- How does she say she felt when the incident happened?
- In what conditions did Mary and other black children live?
- How did going to school affect Mary and the children she knew?
- How did it affect her family?
- How did Mary’s experience affect her choices in the future?
2. Understanding the Purpose and the Main Idea
What is the central purpose of the text? In other words, why was this text created? What is the most important thing you learned from it?
3. Text-to-Self Connections
How does the content of the text connect to your life? You might use this prompt to get you started: This text reminds me of the time that I ______________.
4. Text-to-Text Connections
How does the content of the text connect to other things you have read, heard or seen? You might use this prompt to get you started: This text reminds me of a book I read/movie I saw because _______________.
5. Text-to-World Connections
How does the content of the text connect to events in the present or past? You might use one of these prompts to get you started: This text reminds me of what I saw on the news about ____________. OR This text reminds me of something I learned in history class about _____________.
Community Inquiry
Divide the class into groups of three or four people. Each group will discuss the interview using its members’ answers to the Close and Critical Reading questions. Sit in a circle. Start with one person answering the first question. Have the second answer the second question, and so on, for numbers 1 and 2 of the Close and Critical Reading section. Text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world connections may be discussed by all students who want a chance to share what they have written. Examine with your group similarities and differences you see among the connections group members made with the text. Overall, how relevant do you and your group members find the interview’s content almost 75 years after it was written? Explain how you reached your answer.
Write to the Source
In this interview, Mary McLeod Bethune tells about a childhood experience she had, how that experience affected her at the time and how it affected some important decisions she made in her life. Mary used the injustice she experienced as an incentive to make a positive difference for black Americans. Write a paragraph summarizing this aspect of the interview. Then write a second paragraph in which you tell about an experience you have had, how that experience affected you at the time and how you think it may affect you in the future. Focus on an experience in which you, like Mary McLeod Bethune, recognized or experienced an injustice. How did it make you feel; how do you hope to make it right?
Do Something
You’ve had a chance to read and think about how one woman responded to prejudice. Not everyone understands how painful such prejudice can be, and how powerfully it can affect a person’s life. Educate others about how bigotry affects individuals. Have different students take the role of Mary McLeod Bethune and prepare a speech to give to other classes in which you (as Mary) explain discrimination and its effects. Each student who has prepared a speech can present it to a class.
Extension Activities
1. Use photographs to find out more about Mary McLeod Bethune. What do the photos reveal about the woman? What questions do the photos raise for you? Where can you find answers to those questions?
2. Mary McLeod Bethune was one of many African-American women and men who developed schools for African Americans. Research another such school and present your findings to the class.
Additional Resources
You can learn more about Mary McLeod Bethune at these websites:
National Council of Negro Women
Standards (College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards)
Reading
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
Writing
1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Speaking and Listening
1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Language
1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.
5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
