Lesson Plan by Jonathan Tomick Template by Alene Harris, Ph. D.
UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN LESSON BUILDER AND RUBRIC
LESSON IDENTIFICATION:
Lesson Title: “American Other”
Lesson Length: The primary parts of the lesson should take no more than two days given a block
schedule, meaning the periods should be between 70 and 90 minutes in length. If all possible
learning activities (below) are used, the lesson could extend to a third day.
Grade Level & Performance Level: 9th grade and above.
Measurable Behavioral Objective: At the culmination of this lesson, students will be able to
identify the speaker in a poem and describe the speaker’s interaction with the other elements
within the world of the poem. Students will recognize the dynamic ways in which they influence
their classmates and their teachers and how they are influenced by their classmates and their
teachers.
Standard(s) addressed:
Standards below are the Secondary Standards from the National Council of Teachers of English,
taken from http://www.ncte.org/standards
1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of
the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of
society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and
contemporary works.
3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on
their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of
other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter
correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to
communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately
to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media
techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.
7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems.
They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people)
to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
8. Students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across
cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles.
“American Other” Lesson Plan – page 1
Lesson Plan by Jonathan Tomick Template by Alene Harris, Ph. D.
11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy
communities.
12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning,
enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
STEP 1: Identify the Desired Results
A. Prioritizing the Content
(1) Enduring Understanding/Key Concepts – What is/are key ideas your students
should retain as a result of the week’s lesson?
1. Students should remember that the Harlem Renaissance was an artistic movement in
which African American artists and other American artists of African descent achieved
notoriety on a national level.
2. Students should develop an understanding literature as an exploration of the dynamic
interactions among individuals and their society.
3. Students should learn that they have a choice in how they interact with the world
around them.
4. Students should be cognizant of black ethnicities.
(2) Important to Know and Do – What prerequisite knowledge and/or skills should
student already have? At the end of the lessons, what knowledge and skills should your
students have mastered and what value(s) should they hold?
a. KNOWLEDGE:
Prerequisite: Students do not need much prerequisite knowledge other than being
proficient in reading the English language and having a general knowledge of
figurative language. Knowledge of Walt Whitman and the development of American
poetry from the Antebellum through the turn of the 20th century would give students
greater familiarity with the poetic voice Hughes employs in “America.”
Gained: Students should know Langston Hughes and Claude McKay were important
poets during the Harlem Renaissance, and they should know Claude McKay was a
Jamaican immigrant.
b.
SKILLS:
Prerequisite: Students should be proficient in writing with the English language and
should be able to construct paragraphs. Students should be able to articulate their
interpretations, especially of poetry. In other words, they should be able to read a line
of poetry, tell what they think it means, and provide evidence for that meaning. They
“American Other” Lesson Plan – page 2
Lesson Plan by Jonathan Tomick Template by Alene Harris, Ph. D.
should be able to do all of this in writing, although adaptations could be made using
audio recorders.
Gained: Students will learn how to locate the speaker of a poem and describe how the
speaker interacts with other elements of the poem. Students will also gain skill in
writing poetry of their own. They will learn how to better connect with poetry on a
personal level and see the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance as relevant to their own
lives and experiences.
c.
VALUES:
Students should learn to value how they identify and treat others and appreciate the
fact that they too are being identified and treated in certain ways based on those
identifications. Students should learn to appreciate their ability to help and hinder each
other, and in turn, to value their potential to be accepting and supporting of their
classmates and friends. Students should value poetry as a means of expressing one’s
identity.
(3) Worth Being Familiar With – What “broad-brush” knowledge do you want your
students to encounter within the lessons?
Students should gain an awareness of the Other as a philosophical idea and as a literary
technique employed by authors across genres, cultures, and times.
B.
Developing a Possible Learner-centered Lesson Introduction – What interesting
question(s) related to a main idea might initially interest and engage students in the lesson
topic? (Think learner-centered and real-world linkage.)
(as the teacher speaking)
“Class, please take out a sheet of paper and a writing utensil. Individually, think about a
time when someone else did something that was hurtful to you, that made you really
upset, and that possibly made you try to get back at that person. This doesn’t have to be
recent, although your response will be stronger if you pick an incident you remember
clearly. Once you think of something, take ten minutes and write me, your teacher, a
letter that tells me how I should feel about what that person did. I have not witnessed this
event, but I have heard about it and I don’t know how to react. You need to tell me how I
should feel. We have 10 minutes, starting now!”
STEP 2: Determining Acceptable Evidence
A. Developing Formative Assessment (no grade)
(1) For the Student – What ideas do you have to let students see what they do and do not
understand and have opportunity to improve?
“American Other” Lesson Plan – page 3
Lesson Plan by Jonathan Tomick Template by Alene Harris, Ph. D.
Students will have their short responses to the learner-centered introduction, given above.
Students will then have another written response to the following question: “Which
Claude McKay poem, “America” or “The City’s Love,” better represents the sentiments
of African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance? Please provide an explanation for
your choice.” As the second response is based on a class discussion on how America and
the speaker are represented as Others in the two poems, having students do a comparison
of their introduction response and this second response would reveal to students any
disparities or parallels in how they view their own experience and how they view the
speaker’s experience in McKay’s poetry.
At the end of the lesson, students will write a poem that explores themselves through the
eyes of another. Students will then have three written responses, one analytical, one
evaluative, and one creative, over which to reflect on their evolution in thinking about
their place in their classroom, their city (Nashville), and America.
(2) For the Teacher – What ideas do you have to let you see how well you are getting
the ideas across and know where to make changes to improve your teaching? Include
ideas of Informal Checks for Understanding and/or Observation/Dialogue that you
might use to determine how well students have learned?
The teacher will collect students’ written responses. These responses will provide the
teacher with a baseline of students’ current thoughts and feelings. They will also provide
information regarding the level to which students are engaging with the poetry and the
ideas of the Harlem Renaissance. The teacher will also collect students’ poems at the end
of the lesson, in which a synthesis of personal values and the ideals of the Harlem
Renaissance should be viewable.
B. Developing Summative Assessment (grade)
(2) Test/quiz Questions and/or Academic Prompts – What ideas do you have regarding
tests/quizzes and/or academic prompts you might use to determine how well students
have learned?
Once students have written the their analytical, evaluative, and creative responses, the
teacher will give them a meta-cognitive writing prompt asking them to look over their
three writings and to reflect on what they learned, how their ideas evolved, and,
hopefully, how their world-view expanded. The paper would be about three pages in
length.
(3) Projects and/or Performance Tasks – What ideas do you have regarding projects
and/or performance tasks you might use to determine how well students have learned?
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Lesson Plan by Jonathan Tomick Template by Alene Harris, Ph. D.
Not applicable.
STEP 3: Planning Learning Experiences and Instruction
A. Predicting and Identifying Student Misconceptions
(1) Anticipated Misconceptions – What misconceptions do you predict students might
bring to this lesson content?
Students likely will have never thought on a deep level of identity how others identify
them and how they identify others.
(2) Actual Misconceptions – How will you identify students’ misconceptions?
The teacher will identify misconceptions through the writing prompts articulated above.
B. Connecting Students with Prior Knowledge
(1) Expected Prior Knowledge – What related prior knowledge do you expect student to
bring to the lesson?
The only prior knowledge required is the knowledge of experience. However, this lesson
is constructed for a primarily African American audience, and is especially applicable in
a situation in which the backgrounds of students and the teacher in a given classroom
vary greatly. The teacher and the student alike need to be knowledgeable, that is, aware,
of that difference before this lesson can be effective.
(2) Connections to Prior Knowledge – How will you help students make connections to
their prior knowledge?
Through the learner-centered introduction, the teacher will ask students to engage with
pervious experiences with others in such a way that they will articulate their perceptions
of others and of their perceived relationship to others.
C. Expanding Resources for Teaching (going beyond the textbook)
(1) Printed Materials – What resources might you use that are published texts or
handouts?
Maxwell, William J., ed. Complete Poems: Claude McKay. Urbana and Chicago:
University of Illinois Press, 2004.
Rampersad, Arnold & Roessel, David, eds. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes.
New York: Vintage Classics, 1995.
(2) Technology – What technology resources might you use?
The teacher would need a printer and/or a copy machine before each class.
“American Other” Lesson Plan – page 5
Lesson Plan by Jonathan Tomick Template by Alene Harris, Ph. D.
(3) Other – What other types of resources might you use?
No other resources are necessary.
D. Identifying Learning Activities – What teaching and learning experiences will you use
in the daily lessons? To make sure you are addressing all components of HPL Learning
Theory, identify with an X if an activity contains LEARNER CENTEREDNESS and/or
COMMUNITY CENTEREDNESS (It is assumed that all activities will be
KNOWLEDGE CENTERED.
POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE WEEK’S LESSONS
1
2
3
4
L C AV-T
Learner-centered Introduction (see above)
X
AV-T
Short written response to the following question: “Which Claude X
AMcKay poem, “America” or “The City’s Love,” do you think better
V-T
represents the sentiments of African Americans during the Harlem
Renaissance? Please provide an explanation for your choice.”
Written poem from the following prompt: “Pick one line from X X V-T
Langston Hughes’s poem ‘America,’ the line that relates most to your
experience in your city or in America, and make that the first line of
your poem. In Hughes’s style, write a poem that lists other people in
your classroom, your city, or your country and how you interact with
them. What is your past, what is your present, what is your future
together? How do you work with these people every day? How have
they shaped your America?
*Optional poetry reading: If appropriate, after students finish writing X X Atheir poems, the teacher could relegate a portion of class time to
V-T
students who want to share their poems aloud with the class.
Now go back and identify the modalities involved in the learning activities with the
following:
A = Auditory,
Last but
V = Visual, and/or
NOT least...
T = tactile/kinesthetic.
(It is not asked for in this assignment, but note that you could also create columns to
check off the multiple intelligences you have involved.)
“American Other” Lesson Plan – page 6
Lesson Plan by Jonathan Tomick Template by Alene Harris, Ph. D.
E. Providing All Needed Components to Teach the Lessons – Provide attachments for all
materials developed, including handout sheets, transparency masters, tests, and
PowerPoint files (six slides per page). Include answer keys and rubrics as appropriate.
“America” by Claude McKay
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate.
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the daze ahead,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
“The City’s Love” by Claude McKay
For one brief golden moment rare like wine,
The gracious city swept across the line;
Oblivious of the color of my skin,
Forgetting that I was an alien guest,
She bent to me, my hostile heart to win,
Caught me in passion to her pillowy breast;
The great, proud city, seized with a strange love,
Bowed down for one flame hour my pride to prove.
“America” by Langston Hughes
Little dark baby,
Little Jew baby,
Little outcast,
America is seeking the stars,
America is seeking tomorrow.
You are America.
I am America
America - the dream
America - the vision
America - the star-seeking I.
Out of yesterday,
The ghettos of Europe;
“American Other” Lesson Plan – page 7
Lesson Plan by Jonathan Tomick Template by Alene Harris, Ph. D.
Out of yesterday,
The poverty and pain of the old, old world,
The building and struggle of this new one,
We come
You and I,
Seeking the stars.
You and I,
You of the blue eyes
And the blond hair,
I of the dark eyes
And the crinkly hair,
You and I
Offering hands
Being brothers,
Being one,
Being America,
You and I.
And I?
Who am I?
You know me:
I am Crispus Attucks at the Boston Tea Party;
Jimmy Jones in the ranks of the last black troops
marching for democracy
I am Sojourner Truth preaching and praying
for the goodness of this wide, wide land;
Today’s black mother bearing tomorrow’s America.
Who am I?
You know me,
Dream of my dreams,
I am America.
I am seeking seeking the stars.
America Hoping, praying
Fighting, dreaming.
Knowing
There are stains
On the beauty of my democracy,
I want to be clean.
I want to grovel
No longer in the mire.
I want to reach always
After stars.
Who am I?
I am the ghetto child,
I am the dark baby,
I am you
“American Other” Lesson Plan – page 8
Lesson Plan by Jonathan Tomick Template by Alene Harris, Ph. D.
And the blond tomorrow
And yet
I am my one whole self,
America seeking the stars.
“My Native Land, My Home.”
Dere is no land dat can compare
Wid you where’er I roam;
In all de wul’ none like you fair,
My native land, my home.
Jamaica is de nigger’s place,
No mind whe’ some declare;
Although dem call we “no-land race,”
I know we home is here.
You give me life an’ nourishment,
No udder land I know;
My lub I neber can repent,
For all to you I owe.
E’en ef you mek me beggar die,
I’ll trust you all de same,
An’ none de less on you rely,
Nor saddle you wid blame.
Though you may cas’ me from your breas’
An’ trample me to deat’,
My heart will trus’ you none de less,
My land I won’t feget.
An’ I hope none o’ your sons would
Refuse deir strengt’ to lend,
An’ drain de last drop o’ deir blood
Their country to defend.
You draw de t’ousan’ from deir shore,
An’ all ’long keep dem please’;
De invalid come here fe cure,
You heal all deir disease.
Your fertile soil grow all o’ t’ings
To full de naygur’s wants,
’Tis seamed wid neber-failings springs
To give dew to de plants.
“American Other” Lesson Plan – page 9
Lesson Plan by Jonathan Tomick Template by Alene Harris, Ph. D.
You hab all t’ings fe mek life bles’,
But buccra ’poil de whole
Wid gove’mint as’ all de res’,
Fe worry naygur soul.
Still all dem little chupidness
Caan’ tek away me lub;
De time when I’ll tu’n ’gains’ you is,
When you can’t give me grub.
“American Other” Lesson Plan – page 10