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Course, Subject

English Regents, English Language Arts (2005), Social Studies, English Language Arts (NYS P-12 Common Core)

Description

Civil Rights Warriors is a fun way to incorporate the teaching of research and biographies. Students will research a person connected to the civil rights movement and create a trading card on their researched person. Students will identify through research the qualities of a person from history and their connection to the Civil Rights Movement.

Website(s)

The Northern Nevada Writing Project: WritingFix
The Northern Nevada Writing Project: HistoryFix

Writing skills (traits) to stress while teaching this lesson

• Idea Development (writing with a clear, central idea or theme in mind; and putting researched ideas into one's own words)
• Word Choice (using precise nouns to assist the reader's understanding; incorporating interesting adjectives into the writing; and using strong verbs to keep the sentences interesting)
• Conventions (spelling skills; and capitalization skills)

Duration

Three 45-minute class sessions

Author

This writing across the curriculum lesson was created by Nevada teacher Denise Boswell.

Materials

• The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
• The Story Of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
• Biographies of civil rights leaders in American History
• Trading Card Notetakers
• Graphic organizer (biography wheel)
• Trading card organizer
• Trading card information
• 51 Wacky We-Search Reports: Face the Facts With Fun by Barry Lane
• White construction paper
• Lesson plan

Background Information

Read the story The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson to the class. Discuss with the class what the fence symbolizes.

Review the Preamble of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights with the class. Discuss the dates that the documents were written and the time period of the story.

Step-by-Step Procedure

• Read The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles to the class.
• Have students fill out the story map.
• Pass out biographies of important historical figures that are connected to the fight for Civil Rights.
• Pass out a graphic organizer (biography wheel) or note-taking sheet. Students will use the biographical research to complete the wheel.
• Pass out the Civil Rights Biography Trading Card graphic organizer. Students will use their notes to complete the trading card information.
• Pass out large white construction paper and the example worksheet. Students will use their organizer to complete their trading card.

Content Provider

The Northern Nevada Writing Project: WritingFix

Related Academic Standards

New York State

L.2.1.d Form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs (e.g., sat, hid, told).

L.2.1.f Produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple and compound sentences (e.g., The boy watched the movie; The little boy watched the movie; The action movie was watched by the little boy).

L.2.2.a Capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names.

L.2.2.b Use commas in greetings and closings of letters.

L.2.2.c Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives.

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