English/Language Arts
Explore effective lead sentences
Take a close look at Author Whiting’s lead sentence. With the deft stroke of his pen, he has answered the who, where, when and what for the reader. Have your students take a look at some newspapers and compare the journalistic style with this Minute. Have your students discuss when this kind of lead is most effective. Have them pull a piece from their writing journals and see if they can fashion a lead sentence like this.
Explore effective writing: sentence length
Have your students do some counting and measure the length of sentences in this Minute. If they translate from the words to the number of words in each sentence, will they recognize that these sentences vary greatly in length? Good writers know that sentence length must vary to keep the reader interested. Have your students do a word count of one of their pieces and then determine if it could use a little tweak! This is an exercise worth repeating over the course of your instructional year!
Social Studies
Explore the Civil Rights Movement
This Minute reinforces the concept that sometimes seemingly small events are later interpreted as the catalyst for major historical change. Have your students investigate others who refused to give up their seats prior to Rosa Parks: Claudette Colvin, Sarah Key Evans, or Jackie Robinson. Why was it Rosa Parks who we remember for this courageous act? What other elements need to align to make one person’s actions the flame that stays lit? Have them explore other pivotal events and see if they can find a parallel.
Explore peaceful protests - boycotts
Use this Minute to have students investigate the concept of using a boycott as a peaceful protest strategy. What elements must exist to make a boycott effective? Do they always work? Why or why not?
Art
Explore sculpture
The sculpture in the visual at the end of the Minute is housed in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol as part of the National Statuary Hall collection. Have your students explore the other statues and sculptures in this unique collection. Do they recognize each subject? If they click on the images, they can find out more information.
Research Skills
Explore urban legends
Author Whiting mentions the legend that Rosa Parks did not move because she was tired - a notion which suggests that she did not understand the potential enormity of her decision. Rosa Parks herself later made it clear that this was NOT the case - she knew what she was doing, and she knew why. Have your students do some critical thinking. Why would a legend like this arise? Have them take a look at other urban legends. Can they find a pattern? How do these falsehoods become part of the accepted thinking? What must good researchers do to avoid repeating things that are only legend or rumor and not based in fact?
Explore effective lead sentences
Take a close look at Author Whiting’s lead sentence. With the deft stroke of his pen, he has answered the who, where, when and what for the reader. Have your students take a look at some newspapers and compare the journalistic style with this Minute. Have your students discuss when this kind of lead is most effective. Have them pull a piece from their writing journals and see if they can fashion a lead sentence like this.
Explore effective writing: sentence length
Have your students do some counting and measure the length of sentences in this Minute. If they translate from the words to the number of words in each sentence, will they recognize that these sentences vary greatly in length? Good writers know that sentence length must vary to keep the reader interested. Have your students do a word count of one of their pieces and then determine if it could use a little tweak! This is an exercise worth repeating over the course of your instructional year!
Social Studies
Explore the Civil Rights Movement
This Minute reinforces the concept that sometimes seemingly small events are later interpreted as the catalyst for major historical change. Have your students investigate others who refused to give up their seats prior to Rosa Parks: Claudette Colvin, Sarah Key Evans, or Jackie Robinson. Why was it Rosa Parks who we remember for this courageous act? What other elements need to align to make one person’s actions the flame that stays lit? Have them explore other pivotal events and see if they can find a parallel.
Explore peaceful protests - boycotts
Use this Minute to have students investigate the concept of using a boycott as a peaceful protest strategy. What elements must exist to make a boycott effective? Do they always work? Why or why not?
Art
Explore sculpture
The sculpture in the visual at the end of the Minute is housed in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol as part of the National Statuary Hall collection. Have your students explore the other statues and sculptures in this unique collection. Do they recognize each subject? If they click on the images, they can find out more information.
Research Skills
Explore urban legends
Author Whiting mentions the legend that Rosa Parks did not move because she was tired - a notion which suggests that she did not understand the potential enormity of her decision. Rosa Parks herself later made it clear that this was NOT the case - she knew what she was doing, and she knew why. Have your students do some critical thinking. Why would a legend like this arise? Have them take a look at other urban legends. Can they find a pattern? How do these falsehoods become part of the accepted thinking? What must good researchers do to avoid repeating things that are only legend or rumor and not based in fact?
© Karen Sterling, 2018 - May be used for educational purposes without written permission