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Unit Plan

Title: Dreaming of Freedom: Slavery in North America

Cycle: Three (year two) Unit Length: 3 weeks

Rationale:

Prior to this unit, students have been reading Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist and completing a

creative writing piece on following their dreams. Through introducing this unit from the

perspective of individual slaves dreaming of freedom, students will be able to explore the

detrimental effects slavery had when it was in effect and will prepare them to critically explore

present instances of slavery in the world (child labour, apartheid laws, etc.)

Primary Purpose:

Students will gain an understanding of the effects of the slave trade through critically exploring

the lives of individual slaves living in Canada from the 1600s until the 1700s.

Learning Objectives:

A. Skills/Competencies

Critical thinking skills; challenging ideas; group work; small and large group discussion;

Internet research; exploring and understanding multiple perspectives; and working with a

deadline.

B. Concepts/Information

Colonisation; the slave trade; timeline of when the slave trade began; ways in which

slaves were treated (capture, selling, etc.); and terminology (servants vs. slaves)

C. Related Standards

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC Competencies: Language Arts (reads and listens to various kids of

texts; writes various kinds of texts; and demonstrates media literacy); The Arts

(dependant of lesson and students’ choice of project)

Multicultural Competencies: Content Expansion and Integration; Knowledge

construction; Prejudice Reduction; and Equity Pedagogy

Evaluation

Students will evaluated on activities within certain lessons; a final project which is based

on their interest and learning style to represent their research (skit, poster, power point

presentation, lyrics and music, oral presentation, written piece, etc); and ongoing

formative assessment (anecdotal notes) taken while the teacher circulates between

groups.

Resources

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Doreen Rappaport)

The River of Ice (Doreen Rappaport)

Freedom Child of the Sea (Richardo Keens-Douglas)

To Be a Slave (Julius Lester)

North Star to Freedom (Gena K. Gorrell)

Excerpts from the book written on pieces of bristol board

Video clip and text for M.L. King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech

Laptops & Projector

Art Supplies (Charcoal pencils, White paper, oil pastels, or whatever is available in the school)

Chart paper

Information packages for each project

Observations following the completion of the unit

When I began this unit, I was unsure of what the student response would be. The students were

aware of the concepts of racism and discrimination; and felt that they had a good idea about

slavery in North America. The KWL chart led them to ask very detailed questions, such as: what

and were did slaves eat? Where did they live and go to the bathroom? Did they get time off from

working? How were they bought and sold? Who was allowed to buy them? Who was the first

slave in Canada?

The students’ question offered a range of directions that could be taken throughout the unit. I did

observe this ongoing interest in the slaves’ personal well-being and space. Students wanted to

know if children who were born from slaves automatically became slaves. Students’ knew that

the slave trade was ‘mean’ and ‘bad’ and used the terms in the KWL chart.

As we worked through the unit, I realised that the students still used the terminology of ‘mean’

and ‘bad’, but with more depth. Students wrote that they knew slavery was bad, but not this bad;

or that slavery was a lot meaner than they had realised. They were gaining an understanding of

what slavery really was: the commoditisation of people for the profit and benefit of others.

When they began their research projects, many students became frustrated with the lack of

information. We explored why that was the case, why slaves’ lives were not documented. Were

their lives valued? How much do historical records and textbooks value their perspectives?

In discussions about Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the story behind

Rosa Parks, the students were angry and thought that the laws were ‘stupid’. One of my students

said that he would have done the same thing as Rosa Parks because the law was ‘dumb’. This led

into discussions about why laws are written, by whom and who they benefit.

This unit creates a great springboard into contemporary issues of discrimination, prejudice, child

slavery, colonialism, globalization, the ways the ‘First World’/North economically exploits the

South etc. It provides them with some critical thinking skills and the tools to actively investigate

the society in which they live.

Group Presentation Format Selection

For all projects:

• Choose a message that represents your person

• Answer the following questions: who is this person, what are the major

events in his/her life, why is this person’s life still important today, and how

does it connect to your life?

• Imagine that you are preparing this for someone who knows nothing about

the person who you are studying.

Dance Create a dance that tells a part of your person’s story and choose the music that

fits the mood of the dance

Poster Design a poster that includes who the person is, where he/she lived, important

dates in his/her life, images that represent his/her life and a slogan/message.

Use whatever kind of materials that you want (markers, coloured paper, etc.)

Songs and Lyrics Write a song that includes the major events in your person’s life. Choose or write

music that fits the mood.

Power Point Presentation Create a power point presentation of at least 10 slides that includes images

Skit Write and perform a 5-10 minute skit (using props and costumes) about the life of

your person

Group Name: _______________________________________________

Project Format: ____________________________________________

Group Members:

____________________ ____________________

____________________ ____________________

____________________ ____________________

Date: __________________________

Group Project Criteria

Criteria Mark

The presentation is 5 to 7

minutes long /5

Each team member had a clear

role in the presentation /10

The presentation was dynamic

and interesting for the

audience to watch

/10 The presentation answers

these questions:

Who is the person?

What are the major events in

his/her life?

Why is this person’s life still

important today?

How does it connect to your

group’s life?

/15

Self-Evaluation /10

Comments:

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________

Total: ____/50

Name: _____________________

Self-Evaluation

Please answer the following questions. Be as honest as possible

Do you think that you were a helpful team member? Why?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Do you think that all of your team members were responsible and

helpful? Why?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

What was one thing that you liked about your presentation?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

What was one thing that you need to work on for your next

presentation?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Extra comments:

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_________________________________________

Self-evaluation: ____/10 “I Have a Dream”: Martin’s Big Words

Tara Ramiengar Language Arts

Cycle Three, year two 60 minutes

Objective:

Students will create an image using charcoal, that will represent a personally-selected

fragment from either Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech or Doreen

Rappaport’s Martin’s Big Words.

Rationale:

This activity links to the students’ previous work on following personal dreams and

serves as a launch for the unit on slavery, in which individuals dreamed of freedom.

Competencies:

Multicultural:

• Content Expansion and Integration (whose voices and experiences do we learn

about?);

• Knowledge construction (learn to see an issue from multiple perspectives);

• Equity Pedagogy (inclusive learning activities, materials and themes value and

develop different students’ prior knowledge and capacities)

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC:

• Language Arts (reads and listens to various kids of texts)

• Visual Arts (to produce individual works in the visual arts)

Resources

• Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport

• Excerpts from the book written on pieces of bristol board

• Video clip and text for M.L. King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech

• Computer and projector

• Charcoal pencils

• Paper

Teaching Learning Procedures

Introduction (5 min)

• Ask the students to share what they know about following dreams and/or having dreams

(draw from The Alchemist and the written assignment that they completed)

• Ask the students to share what they know about Martin Luther King Jr.

• Tell the students that they will be illustrating a part of M.L. King, Jr.’s life using charcoal

and that they should think about how they could illustrate one of the statements that we

will be exploring today

Development (25 min)

• Explain the students that M.L. King, Jr. had a dream too and that we will be exploring

what that dream was today and over the next two weeks.

• Read Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport and

tell the students to pay attention to the illustrations in the book

• Ask and encourage the students to ask questions about the story

• Write any main points/statements on the board and remind them again that they can

choose any of them to illustrate

• Review what King’s life involved and tell the students that we will be listening to the

King’s “I have a dream” speech

• Hand out the text of the speech and encourage the students to write questions and

underline things that are interesting or unclear

• Discuss the speech and the message that it sends as well as how the students could

illustrate it

Activity (25 min)

• Leave the statements on the board and include the excerpts from the book Martin’s Big

Words

• Allow the students time to create their image and ask them to include the statement on

their sheet

Closure (5 minutes)

• Invite students to share their work with their classmates. Have them explain why they

selected the image that they did

Assessment

• Students will be assessed according to involvement in the class discussion and on the

completion of the activity. The image created must represent the statement selected by

the student.

Alternate Lesson Plan

• Have the students read the “I have a dream” text and write an imaginary letter to Martin

Luther King, Jr. which tells him if his dream is being realised.

Follow-Up/Reflection

Images of Slavery & KWL Chart


Cycle three, year two 45 minutes and 40 minutes if needed

Lesson Agenda

o examine images of slavery (KWL)

o Discuss slavery in relation to Black

History month

o Create an image of slavery using

multimedia materials

Materials Required

o Freedom Child of the Sea

o To Be a Slave Julius Lester

o Charcoal, magazines, colored pencils

o 11x17 paper

o chart paper

Objectives

o The student will create an image representing his/her interpretation of slavery. The

student will use continue composing their personal texts on the theme of “Following

Your Dreams”

Rationale

o As an introduction to the subject of slavery and Black History month, creating a

visual image is a way to enter into dialogue and demonstrate understandings

Competencies:

o Multicultural:

o Content Expansion and Integration (who is ‘in the picture’? Who is

erased?);

o Knowledge construction (learn to discern historically powerful and

silenced perspectives bearing on different issues);

o Equity Pedagogy (inclusive learning activities, materials and themes

value and develop different students’ prior knowledge and capacities)

o SUBJECT-SPECIFIC:

o Language Arts (reads and listens to various kids of texts)

o Visual Arts (to produce individual works in the visual arts)

Time

10min

.

15min.

20min.

Hook or Focusing Event

o Ask the students what they know about slavery and pass around some

images

o Fill out a KWL chart

Teaching Procedures

o Explain to the students that you will be reading them a story and that you

want them to pay attention to the images and the way the pictures are

illustrated

o Discuss the theme of the story and the way that the images represent it

o Tell the students that they will be creating an image to demonstrate their

understanding of the topic

o Show the students the materials that they will be using

o Students will work on their images

o While working, I will read excerpts from “To Be A Slave”

Assessment

o Images will be assessed according to effective use of materials, the

content of the image and originality.

Extension Activities

o Continue reading “To Be A Slave”


o Charcoal drawing lesson and/or free-write on slavery

Introduction to the Group Project



Objective:

Students will be introduced to the guidelines of a group project, begin research and

schedule their time.

Rationale:

This lesson establishes the guidelines for their two-week project. Organisation, topics and

resources will be discussed and the class will create a KWL chart on slavery that will act

as a focussing tool for their research.

Competencies:

Multicultural:

o Content Expansion and Integration(who is represented in the past and who is

represented in the present?);

o Knowledge construction (learn to see an issue from multiple perspectives and learn

to discern historically powerful and silenced perspectives bearing on different

issues);

o Equity Pedagogy (inclusive learning activities encourage heterogeneous grouping,

interdependence, cooperation and new friends as well as independence and

confidence)

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC:

Language Arts (writes various kinds of texts; and develops media literacy)

Resources

• Information packages for each project

• Laptops



• Tell the students that they will be working in groups on a project for the next two weeks

• Explain that it will involve research on a slave living in Canada during the slave trade


• Ask the students to get into their groups and present the 7 people that will be studied

• Explain what they will be assessed on and the roles that they are required to play in their

group (recorder, reporter, internet researcher, group leader). They will have the chance to

try all of these roles.

• Assign each group to a person and hand them the information package

• Explain that by the end of the period, they need to submit how they want to present their

project

Activity (25 min)

• Allow students time to discuss and circulate to answer questions

Closure (5 minutes)

• Ask the group members to submit their plan

• Ask the groups to share their ideas with the larger group

Assessment

• As this is the introductory lesson for the project, assessment will involve on-task

behaviour and the completion of the task (choosing a presentation form)


• Students will complete an individual KWL chart and work independently to do research

• Read Freedom Child of the Sea and complete a written response


Person Group

Mathieu Da Costa

o First recorded Black person in Canada

o Interpreter for Europeans and Natives

o Don’t have records of his entire life-

kidnapping, death

Marie-Joseph Angelique

o Slave born in Portugal and brought to

Montreal

o Accused of burning her master’s house

down because she didn’t want to be sold

o Was sentenced to death – not sure if she

really did it

Mary Postell

o Gained her freedom, but was then

enslaved

o During the American Revolution, she

escaped but was recaptured

o Afraid her children would be sold away

o Recaptured and her owner split up her

family

Richard Pierpoint

o Came to Canada as a slave in 1760

o Fought with a Black military group

alongside the Americans

o Tried to protect people in Ontario from

being kidnapped by Americans

Rose Fortune

o Started her own business at ports

o Luggage, trunks and transportation service

o Created her own police force (1st woman)

Dimbo Suckles

o One of the very few slaves in PEI –

conditions for slaves on the island were

very bad

o Brutally kidnapped from Africa – hooked

in his flesh from his hiding place

o Eventually earned his freedom in 1802

Slavery Timeline – Part One



Objective:

Students will demonstrate their interpretation of the history of slavery by illustrating an

important date/time period.

Rationale:

By illustrating their understandings, students will be able to communicate their

feelings/reactions to the subject through a medium that can represent many concepts in

one image.

Competencies:

Multicultural:

o Content Expansion and Integration(whose voices and experiences do we learn

about?);

o Prejudice reduction (students will develop emotional learning);

o Equity Pedagogy (inclusive learning strategies value and develop multiple

intelligences and different students’ learning styles)

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC:

Language Arts (reads and listens to various kids of texts; and develops media literacy)

Resources

o North Star to Freedom by Gena K. Gorrell

o Photocopy of timeline at the back of the book – cut into individual strips

o String, construction paper and white paper



o Explain to the students that they will be building a timeline on the history of slavery


o Explain that you will read an introduction to how slavery began in North America and that

the students will be recreating parts of that history

o The students won’t know if their piece of information is at the beginning or the end of the

timeline (they will find that out when the timeline is built)

o Read the introduction and the first two chapters of the book

o Address any questions that arise

o Explain that the students will be designing an image for their part of the timeline

o Hand out the information strips and white paper

Activity (20 min)

o Students will work individually on their part of the timeline

Closure (15 minutes)

o This lesson will be continued into the next L.A block

Assessment

o Students will be evaluated in the following lesson according to the image that they design


o Students will write a journal entry from a slave’s perspective


TIMELINE

Date Event

1400s Portuguese sailors begin shipping Africans to

Europe to be slaves

Early 1500s First slave ships from Africa arrive in the New

World (in the mainly Spanish and Portuguese

colonies of South and Central America)

1600s Slave trade is expanded to North America, to

supply the British and French colonies of New

England and New France

1619 First African slaves reach Virginia

1628 First record of a slave arriving directly from

Africa to New France

1689 Louis XIV, the French king, gives French

colonists permission to keep slaves, a practice

forbidden in France itself

1760 British conquer New France. As part of the

war settlement, the British agree that the status

of slaves will not be changed

1772 Slaves in England are given their freedom,

although it is still legal for the British to take

part in the international slave trade

1775 American revolution begins when the thirteen

American colonies rise up against Britain.

1787 American Constitution declares that slaves

who escape to a free state must be returned to

their masters

1793 First Fugitive Slave Act is passed by the U.S

Congress, making it a crime for anyone in the

United States to help runaway slaves or

prevent their arrest.

The Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada,

John Graves Simcoe, passes an act saying that

any slave who reaches Upper Canada will

become free

Early 1800s Underground Railroad is first organised

1807 British parliament bans all trading and

shipping of African slaves. The United States

makes it illegal to bring more slaves in from

outside the country, although slaves can still be

traded within the slave-owning states.

1812 The War of 1812 breaks out when the United

States declares war on Britain and attacks

Canada. Again, the British offer land and

freedom to American blacks who fight on their

side.

1819 Canadian’s deny the American government’s

request for cooperation in returning slaves who

escaped to Canada, and for permission to

pursue escaped slaves into Canadian territory

1820 Under the Missouri Compromise, Missouri

enters the Union as a slave-holding state and

Main enters as a free state, keeping the number

of free and slaveholding states even

1826 Canada formally refuses to return runaway

slaves to the United States

1833 British Parliament passes the Abolition Act,

abolishing slavery throughout the British

Empire

1850 The Compromise of 1850 attempts to resolve a

furious debate over whether slavery should be

allowed in Texas, California, Utah, and New

Mexico.

The passage of the second Fugitive Slave act is

part of the compromise

1852 Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

is published

1859 A group of black and white abolitionists, led

by John Brown, raid a government arsenal at

Harper’s Ferry, Virginia for guns and

ammunition to raid surrounding plantations

and free slaves. John Brown is hanged for

treason, conspiracy and murder

1860 Abraham Lincoln, leader of the Republican

Party, is elected president of the United States.

Seven of the southern states break away from

the Union to form their own country.

1861 Confederate forces attack Fort Sumter in South

Carolina and the American Civil War begins

1862 President Lincoln issues the Emancipation

Proclamation, abolishing slavery in the rebel

southern states as of January 1, 1863.

1865 The South surrenders to the North and the

slaves are freed. Lincoln is fatally shot by John

Wilkes Booth. An amendment is added to the

American Constitution outlawing slavery.

Slavery Timeline – Part Two



Objective:

Students will continue to work on their timeline pieces and present them to the class. The

presentations will elicit dialogue with their peers and work towards answering questions

on the KWL chart.

Rationale:

By presenting their understandings, students will be able to communicate their

feelings/reactions about slavery and enter a dialogue with their peers.

Competencies:

Multicultural:

o Content Expansion and Integration(whose voices and experiences do we learn

about?);

o Prejudice reduction (students will develop emotional learning);

o Equity Pedagogy (inclusive learning strategies value and develop multiple

intelligences and different students’ learning styles)

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC:

Language Arts (reads and listens to various kids of texts; and develops media literacy)

Resources

o North Star to Freedom by Gena K. Gorrell

o Photocopy of timeline at the back of the book – cut into individual strips

o String, construction paper and white paper



o Tell the students that they will continue to work on their timeline pieces while your read the

following chapter in the book North Star to Freedom


o Students will continue to work on their timeline piece while the teacher reads chapter three

Activity (30 min)

o Read out the year/date indicated on the timeline and invite the student to place the piece on

the timeline

o Invite the students to ask questions and/or comment on the piece

Closure (9 minutes)

o Revisit the KWL chart to explore some of the “What we want to know” statements and

begin filling in “What we learned”

Assessment

o Students will be evaluated according to the image presented, its relevance to the date, and its

creativity


o Students will write a journal entry from a slave’s perspective


Images of Slavery: Tableau



Objective:

Students will work in groups and design a tableau based on Doreen Rappaport’s The

River of Ice.

Rationale:

By designing a tableau of an image from the story, students will be able to visually

respond to a text in order to demonstrate their interpretation of a slave’s escape.

Competencies:

Multicultural:

o Content Expansion and Integration (whose perspective is taken?);

o Knowledge construction (learn to see an issue from multiple perspectives); Prejudice

Reduction (emotional learning);

o Equity Pedagogy (inclusive learning activities, materials and themes value and

develop different students’ prior knowledge and abilites)

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC:

o Language Arts (reads and listens to various kids of texts)

o Drama (to invent short scenes; to interpret short scenes)

Resources

o Doreen Rappaport’s short story The River of Ice

o camera



o Explain to the students that they will be recreating a scene from a story about a slave’s

escape


o Explain and demonstrate how a tableau works. Specify that this tableau will require a title

and a short explanation

o Select some students to come up to the front of the class and provide examples (a scene from

the Alchemist, the Olympics, etc)

o Provide enough time for the students to have a clear idea of what a tableau is

o Read the short story The River of Ice

o Discuss any questions that arise

o Assign groups (specify team leader) and re-explain guidelines

Activity (20 min)

o Provide time for students to work in teams

Closure (15 minutes)

o Invite each group to present their tableau and take a picture

Assessment

o Students will be evaluated as a group

o Creativity, title and explanation will be considered


o Students will retell the story in groups and create a series of 5-6 images to accompany their

retelling


GROUP PRESENTAIONS

SELF & GROUP EVALUATIONS

o Assign about 10minutes per group (5-7 minute presentation, set-up, clean-up and comments)

o Documentation can be found a the beginning of this unit

KWL Wrap-Up & the Student as Historian



Objective:

After completing the ‘what we have learned’ portion of the KWL chart, students will

explore how their knowledge has been constructed on the topic of slavery as well as their

role as historians (transmitters of information). They will write a final piece which will

include: three new pieces of information that they have learned; how learning about this

information/topic made them feel, and how they will continue the transmission of this

topic.

Rationale:

Students have completed projects and research within the history and presence of slavery.

This final piece will incorporate what they have learned and at the same time encourage

them to look forward with this new perspective and new information.

Competencies:

Multicultural:

o Content Expansion and Integration (whose voices and experiences do we learn

about?);

o Knowledge construction (learn to use knowledge for action and social change in

students’ lives and the world);

o Prejudice Reduction (each student will develop an understanding of his/her social

identities in relation to the many different social identities in common/contrast in

his/her world)

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC:

Language Arts (reads and listens to various kids of texts; writes various kinds of texts )

Resources

o KWL chart

o Various projects/posters etc. hanging in the classroom



o Invite the students to look around the classroom and recall the work that they completed

during the unit on slavery.

o Remind them of the work that is not visible: tableau, presentations; as well as their questions

in the ‘what we want to learn’ category of the KWL chart


o Tell the students that their work has been historical research- they have been working as

historians

o Ask: what are some of the difficulties in being a historian? Whose voices are represented?

Who does not have a voice? Why?

o Tell the students that we will be completing the final portion of the KWL chart together

o Remind them how much they have learned and uncovered during this time

o Read through some of the questions in the ‘what we want to learn’ section of the chart and

encourage students to come up and answer the questions.

o Answers will be written in the final column of the chart

o Ask the students how they feel knowing all of this new information and as their role as

historian

o Will it be something that they will share with others? Why is it important?

o Tell the students that they will be writing a final piece on the topic.

o As a historian, they will be required to include three new things that they learned; how

learning this topic made them feel; and how they will transmit this knowledge in the future

Activity (30 min)

o Students will work individually on their pieces

o The teacher will circulate to answer questions and encourage further reflection

Assessment

o Students will evaluated according to the criteria given (three new things that they learned;

how learning the information made them feel; and how they will pass this information in the

future


o Students will write a journal entry from a past slave’s perspective telling people living today

about slavery


unit plan unit length - ubishops.ca · skit write and perform a 5-10 minute skit (using props and...

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