This is the last lesson I will be teaching in my placement school this semester. My 4th grade placement classroom is currently starting a unit on the Underground Railroad and I was asked to do a lesson to further introduce students to the topic. After discussing the lesson with two professors (Thanks Syd and Diane!) I decided to have the children do an editorial writing on a excerpt from the book
"January's Sparrow" written by Patricia Polacco. This book presents the injustices that slaves were forced to live with and reasons why they decided to travel on the dangerous Underground Railroad. Furthermore, having the students write an editorial on this topic is a great way to engage their interest. The definition of an editorial is "a piece of writing in which someone gives an opinion." I want the children to have an opinion on the topic, and explain themselves fully. So to make them feel connected, I chose an emotionally gripping scene where a runaway is drug back to the plantation and whipped for his "wrongdoings." He is an example and all the other slaves are forced to watch.
As I stated earlier, this is an integrated unit. It has both social studies and writing. But the writing is not simply a one-and-done. For this assignment, the students will be working through the steps of the writing process. In this lesson, students will do their prewriting (taking notes on the event/excerpt) and their drafting. Lessons to follow would cover editing, revising, and publishing.
Here are the document I created & used to teach this lesson (feel free to use!):
Overall the lesson went very well. I had students begging me to read the rest of the book to them. They were so interested in the topic and had so much to write. Though I am no longer in my placement, my supervising teacher has decided to continue the steps of the writing process. The students will be revising their work, editing, and then finally publishing it as typed document via the classroom computers. I would recommend during the whole writing process for this assignment. Letting the students publish their opinions shows them that they have a voice.
Thanks and Enjoy!
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