Introduction
Integrating children’s literature into the classroom is a dynamic way to enrich students’ educational experiences. Not only does it enhance their reading skills, but it also deepens their understanding of complex topics through an engaging and relatable story. This project focuses on learning about curricula using children’s literature that focuses on the Civil Rights Movement. Such a volume aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the significance of the movement, using literature to connect historical events with contemporary readings of equity, justice and empathy.
Identification of Children’s Books
Book Selection Overview
Book titles will play a significant role in a broader and enveloping learning adventure. The criteria for this selection comprised each book’s capacity to provide a genuine, immersive account that completely embodies the philosophy of the Civil Rights Movement, allowing them to set the stage for 6th-grade students’ understanding.
Book Details
Book 1: “March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World” by Christine King Farris
A being written like this focuses on the personal and the inspirational levels of the monumental march in Washington DC, where King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech according to the story written by him (Farris, 2008). It is chosen for how it figures out worldwide historical events, presents them in a way that creates empathy for the main characters – famous historical people – and makes major events in history clear and understandable.
Book 2: “The Story of Ruby Bridges” by Robert Coles
The story of Ruby Bridges, the first African American student to choose an all-white school in the South, in the context of racial segregation and the fight for civil rights, is full of inspiration (Coles, 2010). For its bring of these qualities, strength, and stubbornness in the midst of challenges, the book was picked for educative purposes.
Book 3: “Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down” by Andrea Davis Pinkney
This book retells the story of Greensboro sit-ins, in which young black students sit down and refuse to move from segregated lunch counters (Pinkney, 2010). The movie was chosen for its sympathy to the theme of peace activism and individual/collective actions as the power factor for change; it becomes an ideal tool for discussions on non-violent protests and social change.
Cross-Curricular Learning Segment Overview
General Information
The segment, titled “The Courageous Voices of Yesterday: “Visiting the Civil Rights Movement”, forms the plan for a class of 30 sixth graders throughout 2 to 3 weeks. The main aim is to create a multifaceted show of the Civil Rights Movement, where the role of kids’ traditional literature is to serve as a bridge between the main historical events and the curricular content of English, social studies, and science.
Lesson Information
Lesson 1: English
Academic Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6 Learning Objective: The students will evaluate the narrative and the themes in “March On! The Day May Martin Induced the Change,” discussing how the speech and the March on Washington impacted the country. Strategies and Tasks: A reading aloud and a discussion that focused on the particularities of active communication. Students will next proceed to pen down subjective essays about how the speech might rather feel like the audience. Assessment: Formative class participation discussion; summative reflective essay. Example #1: One of the primary roles of media in our society is informing the public.
Lesson 2: Social Studies (Revised Subject)
Academic Standard: NCSS.D2. Civ.2.6-8 Learning Objective: Students will exploit “The Story of Ruby Bridges” to show the social and political dimensions of Ruby Bridges’s admission to a school with only white students. Additionally, it will be revealed to the pupils, the intensified problems relating to desegregation. Strategies and Tasks: One activity may consist of students examining historical photographs and documents related to school desegregation, and then a class debate where they address the effect integration has had. Assessment: Formative class speech coaching; Summative speech on how Ruby Bridges’ story is related to the context of the Civil Rights Movement.
Lesson 3: Science (Innovative Integration)
Academic Standard: NGSS Concept: “Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down”: Students will explore the concept of ecosystems through biological systems and social systems lens, paying attention to diversity, interconnections, and how changes in a component can lead to an ecosystem-wide imbalance. Strategies and Tasks: Develop graphs illustrating ecosystems vs social systems, highlighting that diversity is often the factor that makes them stronger. Assessment: Students will take part in formative activities such as diagram-creating a summative team presentation on the critical role of diversity in the ecosystem and social systems.
Reflection:
The lesson segment “The Courageous Voices of Yesterday: Organizing a “Movement Exploration Project” involved making a plan to delight and inspire our students with quality children’s books, most likely on the subject of the Civil Rights Movement. An order of these days was to let the girls in 6th grade know books that tell different stories and points of view, therefore reminding them that the stories of everything that is around are bigger and that they can also be authors.
The methods of teaching that were included in the training, such as citing sessions, reflective writing, and interactive discussions, were used judiciously to ensure adult learning as well as to suit the varied learning styles. The read-aloud sessions did the trick of familiarizing the children with the historical period while stimulating their connection to and understanding of both stories by illustrating proper inflection and expression. Students pulled out a narrow concept and practised compassion when these seminars and guided conversations offered the chance to share their own progress.
This type of writing is a bridge from academic to self-directed learning and helped students explore the Civil Rights Movement on several planes, at both intellectual and emotional levels. We wanted to engage the students in the historical personages they were learning about and impress upon them that they were making the decision to learn.
The main goal of this instructional plan was to have the students read the chapter about the Civil Rights Movement and think about what tasks they could perform to become members of the equalitarian and equitable society they aspire to be. Students became aware of a story that gave them a holistic idea of what history is, that is, a set of combined events to be narrated rather than a list of separate point after point. Moreover, they have realized their inseparability from history and that it can awaken them to be value-driven in contributing to society.
Conclusion
The task at hand involved creating a comprehensive and engaging cross-curricular learning segment titled “The Courageous Voices of Yesterday: Having the Civil Rights Movement Experience designed specifically for 6th Graders. Through choosing three appropriate literatures, the segment will try to develop the multi-dimensional aspect of the Civil Rights Movement by touching virtually all English, Social Studies, as well as Science. Each lesson is thought out to achieve not only academic standards but also the interests and pursuit of students through hands-on techniques such as read-aloud sessions, reflective writing, interactive discussions, and multimedia presentations. This method aims to make students not only to learn the facts about the history by themselves but also to make their own connection between these events and diverse themes such as equality, justice and the importance of diversity. All in all, the learning episode sets out with a goal of making a student to feel himself as part of a historical narrative, which, consequently results in increased awareness and better understand of the movement and its legacy.
References
Coles, R. (2010). The story of ruby bridges. Scholastic Inc.
Farris, C. K. (2008). March on! The day my brother Martin changed the world. Scholastic Inc.
Pinkney, A. (2010). Sit-in: How four friends stood up by sitting down. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
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