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Drumophile
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Introduction and Explanation of the Conceptual Unit
Introduction and Explanation
In the Spring of 2010, four students of Dr. Ndimande's CI402T2 Social Studies Education cohort teamed with students from Dr. Dressman's CI402E English Education cohort to create an interdisciplinary unit on the Great Migration and Harlem Renaissance in America. This website catalogs the unit plan for the Social Studies section of the Conceptual Unit.
Contributors: Megan Barron, Ryan Brommel, Dave Janociak, and Jeremie Smith
Big Idea
Movements of peoples and artistic expressions contribute and respond to development and change of culture and politics. It is important to recognize the profound impact of a historically marginalized people in U.S. history, understand their contributions to a unique era, and how these contributions influence culture today.
Essential Questions
- What were the motivations for multitudes of individual African-Americans to go north, a historical pattern later called “The Great Migration”?
- How is the term Renaissance appropriate for the flourishing culture of this period and what are the implications of using this word?
- How did people occupying different social positions such as race, region of residency, political ideology, nationality and class view the Harlem Renaissance? How were these views expressed?
- How did this particular poetry/music/dance effect you? What did it make you think?
- What were specific people's contribution to the Harlem Renaissance? How did they transmit African American culture through their artistic contributions to the movement?
- How does the art of the Harlem Renaissance inform us about historical events and trends of the era, including The Great Migration, Urbanization, and World War I?
- What was the social impact of jazz, how was it representative of the time, from where does the tradition stem, and how has it carried over today?
- How can you personalize and become inspired by the style and themes within the Harlem Renaissance?
16.A.4a: Analyze and report historical events to determine cause-and-effect relationships.
16.A.3b: Make inferences about historical events and eras using historical maps and other historical sources.
16.D.2c (US): Describe the influence of key individuals and groups, including Susan B. Anthony/suffrage and Martin Luther King, Jr./civil rights, in the historical eras of Illinois and the United States.
16.D.4a (US): Describe the immediate and long-range social impacts of slavery.
18.A.2: Explain ways in which language, stories, folk tales, music, media and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture.
18.A.3: Explain how language, literature, the arts, architecture and traditions contribute to the development and transmission of culture.
18.B.3b: Explain how social institutions contribute to the development and transmission of culture.
18.B.5:Use methods of social science inquiry (pose questions, collect and analyze data, make and support conclusions with evidence, report findings) to study the development and functions of social systems and report conclusions to a larger audience.
Description:
This unit was intended to be the Social Studies component of a larger interdisciplinary unit and designed be mutually complementary with an English class on the Harlem Renaissance. On its own, it stands as a strong example of transformative social studies through the multicultural study and focus on a historically marginalized people within U.S. history. The decision to focus on this topic was political in itself, but the unit speaks to larger historic trends such as how movements of peoples and artistic expressions contribute and respond to development and change of culture. It was formulated to be engaging and provide a multitude of activities that encourage individual student exploration into the specific pieces and general themes of the Harlem Renaissance. Students will be held accountable for engaging in the lesson every day; most work can be completed at varying skill levels and the students are to be held to high personal standards. Many of the lessons of the unit are designed to accentuate peer interactions, collaboration in small groups, and meaningful individual time between students and teachers. These qualities of the lessons will benefit ESL, special needs students, and pupils that need additional help with literacy skills. Lessons are also designed to enhance analytical and critical thinking, inspire confidence in one's own work, and develop skills necessary for interpreting and interacting with history.
Throughout the unit, and as is standard in our class, the students often begin the period by briefly answering a question in their journal that is meant to prompt thinking on the day's objectives or offer a reflection on the previous day. Our first week is dedicated to a focus on the push and pull factors contributing to the Great Migration using a compendium of primary documents from the time. Students will be spending the week filling out their packets full of relevant document-based questions which is intended to provide them with actual voices of the time (as opposed to a text book description) and develop skills very important to the study of history. Week two has a variety of activities meant to transition and introduce the bigger names and trends of the Harlem Renaissance. It is meant to mutually inform the work and reading the students do in their English class by introducing them to artists and viewing them from a historical perspective. By the end of the week students will begin to be able to uncover the social significance of different documents/works and will begin to do their own work in interpreting them. The third week the students will be given an opportunity to select someone and begin research for a biography. This lesson spans a week giving students adequate time to formulate their own research questions, use technology to conduct the research, and prepare a presentation for the class. After spending a week on their individualized projects, it is hope that many of them will have taken pride and ownership in their work and be eager to share meaningful information with the class. Week four's lessons examine visual art and jazz, particularly in the way they portray the time and how their influence has carried over to art and music today. This week allows students more of an opportunity to relate personally to the Harlem Renaissance. The social studies unit will be concluded with a day devoted to preparing a rubric and going over expectations for a final pamphlet that they will be completing in their English class the following week.
Assessment and Evaluation Plan:
There are several formal and informal methods of assessment that will be used to gauge student understanding for the unit. Students will be assessed through journal entries that are a reoccurring throughout several lessons. Journals are a good measure of student engagement and provide an opportunity for authentic assessment of ideas encountered in class. Because students are always expected to be engaged in class, even on days with more lecture based instruction they will be given worksheets to guide their listening that will be evaluated simply for completion. There will also be several small projects that have components that will be evaluated by standards explained to the students. One example, the Art of the Harlem Renaissance lesson has group presentations that are both evaluative and educative because students are both demonstrating acquired knowledge while also sharing the material with classmates in a creative manner. Performance assessments are included at several times throughout the conceptual unit.
There are several large formal assessments. The Document Based Question Lesson has both a section of Clarifying Questions to answer and an Argumentative Essay that will be graded according to a rubric provided to students before completion. The lesson pertaining to Biographies of Literary Figures of the Harlem Renaissance actually includes the collaborative creation of an assessment rubric by the teacher and students. The final interdisciplinary project will be graded according to the guidelines decided by both departments working together. We feel strongly that the mix of a wide variety of assessment and evaluation strategies enable our unit to be an effective educational experience for all of our students. Adjustments, accomodations, and modifications can be made for every assessment to acount for specific needs of English Language Learners, Special Needs students, and children of various learning styles.
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Drumophile
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Week 1
Week 1 Plan Matrix
Document Based Question Lesson Plan
Here is a link to the entire Document Based Question Packet.
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Drumophile
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Week 2
Week 2 Matrix
Monday - Thursday
Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance Lesson Plan
Contemporary Media Portrayals of African-American Culture Lesson Plan
Contemporary Media Portrayals Student Handout
Friday - Literature Circle/Rent Party Lesson Plan
Poetry For Literature Circle/Rent Party Lesson Plan
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Drumophile
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Week 3
Week 3 Matrix
Monday - Friday
Biography Lesson Plan
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Drumophile
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Week 4
Week 4 Matrix
Monday - Jazz Lesson
Tuesday - Wednesday - Art of the Harlem Renaissance Lesson
This lesson begins with a PowerPoint Presentation that introduces Art of the Harlem Renaissance
Next, there are 6 group Presentations:
Group 1 Packet
Group 2 Packet
Group 3 Packet
Group 4 Packet
Group 5 Packet
Group 6 Packet
Finally, there is a Slide-show students will use for presentations. This is a compilation of the images from all group packets.
Thursday - Introduction to Cross-Disciplinary Project
Technology Lesson Plan
Friday - Students will begin work on the Cross-Disciplinary Project
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