NGagnon

Neil Gagnon EDC448 Dr. Coiro 2/23/08
 * __Diverse Text Set__**
 * __Context:__** This set of documents is intended to help me guide my eleventh grade U.S. History class in learning about African-American slavery, and The Civil War. I envision this unit as a part of a larger topic on the nineteenth century United States. Also after this activity I would probe deeper, and explore The Civil War itself. For right now I only want to provide some background knowledge for students who are not familiar with this time period in American History. Ideally, my eleventh grade classroom would be grouped heterogeneously. An even distribution for this assignment might look like this: four high-level readers, twelve average to below average-level readers, and another four low-level readers who are below grade level achievement seems like a diverse population. This activity will be done in groups of four students which I have predetermined based on instructional, developmental needs, and strengths. The set of texts I will use is as follows:

A. Print Resources:

Text #1: Online textbook from Digital History website. Mintz, S. (2007). The Pre-Civil War South. Digital History. Retrieved February 26, 2008 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/subtitles.cfm?titleID=94
 * Summary: This online textbook gives a solid overview of Southern society before the outbreak of The Civil War. With chapters on economy, nationalism, and radicalism this online textbook unit covers essential topics relating to the antebellum South.
 * Rational: In order to understand slavery, students must also understand the society, and context in which this “peculiar institution” took place. Also this chapter provides essential background knowledge to allow students to use the other texts (some of which are primary sources) to extract further meaning, and make connections.
 * Use of Text: I would like to have each student read this particular text. After previewing the material myself I am sure my lower level readers will have trouble with this requirement. In order to scaffold for them, and provide a text I feel is important and challenging for the other students, I would include a pre-made graphic organizer of main ideas, guiding questions, and an open invitation to attend an after school workshop on the more challenging texts in this text set to be held twice that week. All I want from the students here is to answer the questions provided and make their own outline of the chapter to share with their groups.
 * Attachment: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/subtitles.cfm?titleID=94

Text #2: Lorri Glover's article entitled, “An Education in Southern Masculinity: The Ball Family of South Carolina in the New Republic.” Glover, L. (Feb. 2003). An Education in Southern Masculinity: The Ball Family of South Carolina in the New Republic. Journal of Southern History 59, 39-70.
 * Summary: This article was actually one of my favorites throughout college. Glover examines what it meant to become a man in the antebellum South. Using correspondence between an elite South Carolina family's son who attends a northern university with his family at home in the deep South, Glover paints a vivid picture. Expectations of manhood, southern virtues, and maybe just as appropriate for this age group, the strain a family endures when children finally move away to college are explored, and detailed.
 * Rational: This text is specifically aimed at my high level readers and achievers. While the article is seemingly very long it is a manageable read for high school students because of the closeness of the topic to their lives. By being able to identify with the situation the Ball family faces, my student's interest in the topic will hopefully promote their desire to read the challenging article and come away with greater understanding and context of the antebellum South, and why slavery flourished there.
 * Use of Text: Again I recognize the challenging nature of this article in relation to high school students. Another graphic organizer of main ideas, themes, and guiding questions would accompany this text, as well as specific instruction and guidance from me would be essential in allowing those students who chose this text to effectively use it to help their groups gain understanding of the period we are studying. Mainly I want readers of this text to understand the family environment that allowed slavery to persist and pervade southern society. Also I want them to connect their lives to the lives of the Balls. Many of my students will be preparing to leave their families soon for college as well, and this text may put them somewhat at ease.
 * Attachment: This is a twenty five page article so I did not attach it. It can be found using the URI library reference database collection on either JSTOR or EBSCOHOST if you type in the key words “Glover” and “Masculinity.” A hyper-link will not bring you there because you would need a library barcode.

Text #3: Interview with former Georgia slave “Uncle Willis,” on April 8, 1937 by the FWP. Rawick, G.P. (Ed.). (1972). The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Vol. 4, Pt. 4. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Pub. Co.
 * Summary: This interview was conducted by the Federal Works Project in the nineteen thirties. The project was funded by President Roosevelt during the great depression to give writers and others, jobs. Interviewers asked ex-slaves from around the country about their experiences. This is a particularly interesting interview of an ex-slave from Georgia named Willis Williams, or “Uncle Willis.” This interview is one of the most cited and thought of interviews in the vast collection because Willis claims to be 101 yrs. old. As the narrative states that made him thirty five when freedom was declared. This gives him major credibility on slave life and culture because many of the other interviews were done with ex-slaves who were only children when freedom was declared making their testimony somewhat undesirable.
 * Rational: The slave narrative is a growing form of expression in contemporary history and literature in the broadest sense. Whether in the form of ex-slaves from North America like Olaudah Aquino's memoirs, or John McCain’s “Faith of My Fathers,” the story of his time as a prisoner of war, these types of primary sources are often hard to read quickly because many interviewers would substitute incorrect grammar to mimic the speech of the interviewee but are worthwhile reads because of their closeness to certain time periods. Now society might categorize this as racist but the intent was most likely not malicious in the nineteen thirties. The difficulty associated with reading these types of sources is outweighed by the chance to understand first hand accounts of slavery from the slave perspective. Many slaves never learned to read and write even after freedom. Thus, little autobiographical information beyond the popular Frederick Douglass material exists. The FWP interviews are vast, but paint a detailed picture of what slave life was like for African-Americans across the antebellum South.
 * Use of Text: With this text I want my students to be as critical as possible. The narrative details how Willis stayed on his plantation even after The Civil War when freedom came. I want the students to understand why he may have done this. Also I want them to think about the questions being asked to Willis, and whether they are dictating his answers in any way. Finally, I want the students to also realize why Willis does not condemn his master, or talk about horrible things the whole time that many feel would be typical of someone in his situation. The answers to all those questions can be found in the time period each question relates to. By relating the nineteen thirties to the eighteen fifties they will make chronological connections beyond their own time period. This is a skill on the higher level of historical thought and analysis.
 * Attachment: This article is eight pages but I decided to include it anyways. (See attachment #1)

Text #4: U.S. Census Bureau data from 1790-1860 on the African-American population. Citation: U.S. Census Bureau. (1790-1850). Agriculture of The United States in 1860: Compiled from the Original Returns of the Eighth Census (1864). Table 5, pg. 56 and pg. 247. Found in Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Times to the Present.
 * Summary: This census data from the first half of the nineteenth century includes graphs of slave holding families as well as African-American population, slave and free, for all states and some major cities. It is only five pages but is dense with statistics.
 * Rational: I want the students to see the slave experience from a numerical stand point using this text. I want them to see the distributions of African-Americans by state, and in the context of enslaved vs. free. By using a statistical text I can cater to students who may be proficient in math, or are good organizers and abstract thinkers. The text shows the unequal distribution of slaves to whites in many areas, as well as the concentrations of slavery in the South. To spark their interest I hope a student notices Rhode Island in the graphs as well which could lead to a very informative discussion about our state's vast history in the slave trade.
 * Use of Text: I want each student who chooses to read this text to write a single sentence about each row of graphs throughout the five page sample. This totals fifteen sentences. They can either make observations, comparisons, or inferences among, or within the sets of graphs. They will like the other assigned readings, prepare their findings to present their ideas to their groups. There is a lot of information to digest in this selection but I feel like by chunking the assignment I can alleviate the big load of numbers and make comparisons and connections easier to see across the data.
 * Attachment: See attachment #2.

Text #5: New York Times article from December 26, 1850 titled, North American Slavery: Practical Difficulties in the way of Emancipation. Edited by Charles Dickens. Dickens, C. (Ed.). (1850, December 26). North American Slavery: Practical Difficulties in the way of Emancipation. No page number included or cited.
 * Summary: This article was not edited by the Charles Dickens although I hope it grabs a few students’ attention. However, this article does detail one of the major arguments for slavery. That emancipation was too hard to maintain or organize. This essentially lazy idea was adopted by many politicians who propelled many of the ridiculous assertions made in this article about the difficulties of freeing slaves over the decades to keep the peculiar institution alive. The article is hard to see never mind read but I would of course find a better copy for my students, or provide a magnify glass which might actually be fun for some students!
 * Rational: I'm supplying this text because I want my students to again realize the other side of slavery, the white perspective. I want them to see the rhetoric and logic that allowed the institution of slavery to persist in the antebellum South. Also I want them to realize the media played a part in this, especially newspapers. Also it is interesting to see the ideas many whites had for ways to actually make emancipation work. These included such ideas as the re-colonization of Africa to Native American like reservations.
 * Use of Text: Not every student who chooses this text will be able to find each argument made for and/or against emancipation. However, I would ask each student to find the two most irrational reasons to keep slavery, as well as two more ways to make emancipation “plausible,” for whites to allow. There are about four possible answers for each so there is plenty of material to present to the group. Higher level readers will probably find all the arguments while lower level readers will still be able to meet the standard and provide meaningful commentary to the group during their presentations.
 * Attachment: See attachment #3.

B. Media Resources Text #6: Seven photos detailing slave life and culture in antebellum Georgia. Prints and Photographs Division or the Manuscript Division of The Library of Congress. Born in Slavery: Photographs Collection. Retrieved February 24, 2008, from http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/mesnbibSubjects01.html.
 * Summary: I have included seven photographs of former slaves, slave homes, slave churches, and two pictures of a device used to keep track of slaves who frequently ran away. They are in black and white but are perfectly clear. The people pictured are former slaves in their eighties and nineties going back to where they were enslaved. These photos are part of a much larger collection online through the Library of Congress website.
 * Rational: This text allows visual, abstract, and creative learners to make inferences and think “outside the box,” about what the pictures are, as well as what they represent. The buildings are former houses and churches on a plantation in Georgia. They give a real-time picture of what it was like to live as a slave in the antebellum South. The faces of the people tell stories as well. One man is a former slave preacher, and the other is a former slave going back to his plantation. This is more of a supplementary text compared to others I have assigned. Being that there are nine texts for the students and only four students a group I feel like this is good opportunity to allow a student to double-up with another text and read both to present to the group.
 * Use of Text: I want the students to make one inference, one connection, one guess, and a single sentence summary of what they see in each picture. By examining each of the seven pictures and bringing four points about each to the group, other members of the team will quickly be able to make connections and inferences for themselves during presentations. One main thing I want the students to understand is the means by which masters kept their slaves on the plantation. Whether it was old prison-like cabins or bell attachments to runaways, masters had many strategies for controlling slaves. Also I want them to put a face, and visual setting on the knowledge they have already gained on slave life and culture.
 * Attachment: See attachment #4

Text #7: Four slave work songs, and an audio version of a fifth song online. All the Songs: Official Site of Negro Spirituals, Antique Gospel. Retrieved on February 24, 2008, from http://www.negrospirituals.com/news-song/index.htm.
 * The audio song is found on http://www.negrospirituals.com/song.htm three-quarters down the web-page.
 * Summary: I have chosen four of the more readable, and detailed slave songs from a list compiled by the aforementioned website. These are all work songs that were found to be sung by former slaves through interviews, biographies, or word of mouth. Each is about ten-fifteen lines and the print songs only cover about a page. The audio song is a choice for each student using this text. There are seven songs to choose from on this web-page.
 * Rational: Each song speaks to specific feelings harbored by the enslaved. This gives insight into the day-to-day work habits, and rituals of slaves in the antebellum South. While the reading is not very challenging, making inferences and connections among the songs, and to the material can be challenging without any background knowledge of slave life and culture. Again, I would like this to be one of my double-up texts that would accompany another for a particular student in each group. I feel like allowing the students to read, and hear the songs many slaves created and sang while working will give them valuable insight into slave life and culture.
 * Use of Text: I want the students to read the four songs I supplied as well as listen to three of the seven on the web-page using laptops and headphones. The four print songs are lacking titles on purpose. I want the students to create their own for each song as well as provide insight into what each is talking about, or related to on the plantation. For one of the three audio songs each student will listen to I want students to try and make a connection to contemporary music, as well as provide a brief synopsis of the song itself and what it might mean. This should all add up to about a page of content on the songs and will be more than enough to engage the other students in the group to maybe listen to others themselves, and make connections of their own to their respective texts.
 * Attachment: See attachment #5

C. Online Interactive Resources Text # 8: Mrs. Richard's Slavery Webquest Richards. (No date given). Slavery Webquest. Retrieved February 24, 2008, from http://www.ia.ednet.ns.ca/lrichard/SlaveryWebQuest-Introduction.htm.
 * Summary: This webquest asks students to read two separate websites from a set. These include PBS Online, a link about the African Diaspora, and others. Next, the students answer their choice of five questions relating to different areas of slavery and slave life and culture. It is a simple layout for a webquest but serves the purpose well because it is easy to follow and gain understanding through.
 * Rational: I am including this webquest because it allows students to explore the role the internet now plays in learning. Through guided navigation of the web, students can access important and relevant information on the topic, or topics we are covering in class. This particular webquest is especially good because it is simple and easily navigable. The topics covered and the websites given are relevant and developmentally appropriate for my students as well.
 * Use of Text: I essentially want the students to follow the webquest as it is presented by Mrs. Richards. They should prepare the answers to their chosen questions to present to their groups that will elicit responses and drive discussions. I want the students to basically browse the web-pages and look back on them to answer the questions. This webquest focuses on the actual enslavement of Africans in North America which is a major topic in slavery I have yet to cover in this text set.
 * Attachment: http://www.ia.ednet.ns.ca/lrichard/SlaveryWebQuest-Introduction.htm

Text #9: The Mariners' Maritime Museum Transatlantic Slave Trade online museum The Mariners' Maritime Museum Transatlantic Slave Trade online museum. (No date given). Retrieved on February 24, 2008, from http://www.mariner.org/captivepassage/introduction/index.html.
 * Summary: This version of the Maritime museum is an online journey through the Atlantic Slave Trade. Sections on departure, arrival, abolition of the slave trade, and its legacy are detailed using brief descriptions, pictures of exhibits, and artifacts related to the slave trade. Minute details about food on the voyage from Africa to the Americas, as well as the long journey through the middle passage are detailed. Pictures from actual arrival sites, as well as departure sites are found within the mini-sections of each unit relating to the slave trade.
 * Rational: The advantages of an online museum are vast. Using different types of media, the museum takes students on a journey from Africa to the Americas much like that of former slaves. This gives insight to the students on how slaves were brought to the Americas and what the voyage was like. Each section details an important aspect of the journey as well as smaller intricacies of that aspect. This text allows students to read and explore at their own pace using computers to view extra content that allows students to make visual connections to the text.
 * Use of Text: I want each student who chooses to use this text to write a small single page response to what they viewed. This would include the most interesting text aspect as well as the most interesting media aspect. In addition to this I would also like to have the students summarize the journey of slaves from Africa to the New World in a paragraph. They can be as creative as they want with this portion of the assignment. Some students might detail the journey while others will write about arrivals and departures. These one page responses will be read to their small groups during presentation time.
 * Attachment: http://www.mariner.org/captivepassage/introduction/index.html

D. Instructional Resources Text # 10: Library of Congress's Born in Slavery Collection Born in Slavery Collection: Slave Narratives from the Federal Works Projects Interviews, 1936-1938. (March 23, 2001). Retrieved on February 24, 2008, from http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html
 * Summary: This website collection is the home of the vast amount of slave interviews taken by the Federal Works Project in 1936-1938. The collection also includes slave songs, and photographs of former slaves and their former plantations. The interviews and media are categorized by state, and are completely searchable by keywords and dates.
 * Rational: This collection gives educators the primary sources necessary to essentially explore any aspect of slave life and culture with great detail and preciseness. The ease of use and the keyword searches make this collection very accessible and user-friendly. Also there are links to scholarly articles about the collection, and the FWP itself on the site as well.Use of Text: Whether teachers need primary source documents/media to supply to their students or want to use them for their own background knowledge building in order to teach more effectively, the collection is an excellent resource. Using the keyword search it is easy to tailor lessons to specific interviews, and media that are particularly relevant. Time period discussions can be raised using certain documents that are outside the antebellum era such as the great depression and civil rights movement.
 * Attachment: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html

Using the Texts Together: Students will be assigned to designated groups of four that will cater to the diverse reading levels of the text set. Theoretically this would all be part of a week long slavery unit. I envision giving the students the text set on a Monday and supplementing the information in them, with lectures during the week as well as other interactive activities. Each student will read two selections and report back to their groups on Thursday. I would then ask the groups to vote on a group leader to present their groups findings to the class on Friday. Really all I want from the students is to make connections across the different documents. The assignments designated for each text would count as homework assignments and the overall participation, and congruence of the group work over the course of the week would lead to a weekly grade for the group at large. Throughout the unit I will be sitting in on group discussions to assess who is doing what, how well they are doing it, and whether information is being transferred properly between group members. While there is no formal test involved I feel like the freedom involved in this assignment will push students to take this seriously and get a lot out of each document leading to a deep understanding of slave life and culture in the antebellum South.

Learning Objectives: Hey Neil, I think you made a great diverse text set. You incorporated many different types of sources that will definitely keep your students actively engaged. I think Glover's article on southern masculinity is great way to show students what the South was really like during the time period and how their society was rooted around slavery. Slavery had been embedded into the southern culture for so long that the South couldn't imagine life without it. I also like that you had the interview with "Uncle Willis" because it will alllow students to read what slavery was like from someone who actually went through it. The photos are also key because it is important that students get a visual sense of what slavery was like and the online museum about the Transatlantic Slave Trade also seems like a great source that students will enjoy exploring. Overall, I think each text compliments the other and they all seem to be very relevant to the context. Good Job.
 * Content Standard- NCSS Standard #1 Culture: Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity.
 * Human beings create, learn, and adapt culture. Culture helps us to understand ourselves as both individuals and members of various groups. Human cultures exhibit both similarities and differences. We all, for example, have systems of beliefs, knowledge, values, and traditions. Each system also is unique. In a democratic and multicultural society, students need to understand multiple perspectives that derive from different cultural vantage points. This understanding will allow them to relate to people in our nation and throughout the world.
 * Students will learn about a foreign culture brought to the Americas that over time changed, and evolved into something else. By exploring slave life and culture through slave’s values, beliefs, and faith students will make connections to other cultures as well as their own. ([|http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/strands/)]
 * Reading Standard- Literary Texts: Analysis and Interpretation of Literary Text, Citing Evidence (R-5.1 to R-5.3). Analyze and interpret literary elements within and across texts, citing evidence where appropriate by... (R12 5.3) Making inferences about cause/ effect, internal/external conflicts, or the relationship among elements within texts.
 * Students will need to use abstract thought processes to make inferences about challenging texts and other texts with less subject matter where creativity and connections to background knowledge is necessary. ([|http://www.ride.ri.gov/Instruction/gle.aspx)]

Joe Gonsalves

Neil!!!!!!!!!! After reviewing your text set, I cannot help but applaud your ability to find sources that are so closely tied together and tied to the time period. I also like your approach of using all perspectives to show slavery in its entirety. Like Joe, mentioned earlier, slavery was so ingrained in the southern culture that life without it was unthinkable. Sometimes its difficult for people to understand why slavery lasted as long as it did event hough many people even in the south recognized it immorality. Lastly, having the ability to find sources and direct your students to information is also a very valuable asset for a teacher to have.

'R. Norris = =

Neil, Really incredible text set! You did a fantastic job at finding very different yet relevant texts all dealing with your topic. The topic may at first seem difficult for your students to understand, but your variety of different texts should help them grasp the topic with ease. I also liked how you tied in music to the lesson by providing lyrics to slave songs. I especially like that you included the Maritime Museum website. It has so much information that the students can pick and choose from. I found in especially interesting that they included departure and arrival times. I like that you are incorporating these texts into a group assignment, because it is a lot of information that they would need to sift through. Each text does a great job at enhancing the last. Great Job! -Kristen DeJager