Day 18: Learning Experience (Response Group)

Preparing for the Lesson

Lesson Summary

AIM: SWBAT analyze the way in which storytelling, music and religion helped slaves endure their experiences by determining
the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text [RI.4.6]

Students watch a clip from the Academy Award-winning movie 12 Years a Slave that shows a group of slaves singing a spiritual.
Students will analyze the clip to understand the emotions slaves felt and expressed through music. Then students will read about
the choices slaves faced on plantations and the important role storytelling, music and religion had on their lives. Students
demonstrate understanding by explain how slaves’ culture helped them endure their experiences.

Teaching children about roots of slavery in America is an important aspect of our curriculum, as aims to build awareness of
multiple perspectives on history. It is essential that teachers come prepared to teach this content with facts, compassion, and
openness. For more information on how to support this instruction, refer to the D&I notes throughout the lessons & unit overview.

Social Studies Content Power Standard(s) Common Core Literacy Skill Standard(s)

RI.4.2: Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is

SS.4.5 African Americans in the Colonies
 identify and describe the beliefs, experiences,
perspectives and values that shaped events
 compare information provided by different historical
sources about the past to develop a deeper
understanding of the past
supported by key details; summarize the text.
RI.4.7: Interpret information presented visually, orally, or
quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines,
animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain
how the information contributes to an understanding of the text
in which it appears

Central Idea of text or lesson

Slaves used storytelling, music, and religion to endure their experiences and keep hope alive. Telling stories helped
families relax together and remember their past in Africa. Singing work songs and religious songs to motivate them
and help them get through a day’s work. Religion helped slaves rely on faith in God saving them.

Materials Preparation

1. Student Text: Facing Slavery 8.8 Slave Life in the Colonies: The Choices; Building a New Culture (pp.12-14)
2. Guided Inquiry Video Clip: 12 Years a Slave – Roll Jordan Roll
3. Lesson Images (see below)
4. Lesson Worksheet (see below)
5. Daily Assessment (see below)
6. Performance Tracker (see below)
7. Lesson Resource: Cumulative Review Slavery KWL Chart (see below)
8. Suggested Instructional Resources:
 Teacher-created Slavery KWL Chart – to add to each day during Cumulative Review
 Learn NC’s “From Africa to America”
 Focus of today’s lesson: 4.7 African and African American Storytelling
 PBS’s “Slavery and the Making of America: Music in Slave Life” - with several audio examples
 Spotify’s “Negro Spirituals” Playlist
 Encyclopedia Britannica’s “African American Folktale”
  Understanding Slavery’s “Plantation Life”
 Follow the Drinking Gourd What the Lyrics Mean
Lesson Connection (**To be completed once the full LP and text have been read)
1. How does this lesson connect to the SEQ?
2. How do the standards (both Social Studies and ELA) live in this lesson?
3. Given the lesson type, what are the most critical aspects of the lesson to ensure that students engage with the most
rigorous content?
Lesson Big Picture
Essential Question
How were events in colonial America perceived differently by
multiple people based on their experience and degree of
power?
Daily Assessment Item and Exemplar Response:
Explain how parts of culture (music, storytelling, religion)
helped slaves endure their experiences. Use specific examples
from the reading today.
Music, storytelling and religion helped slaves keep their hope
alive. Telling folktales helped families relax together and
remember their past in Africa. Slaves sang work songs and
religious songs called spirituals to motivate them and help
them get through a day’s work. Singing songs was
entertainment but also told of freedom in a way that slave
owners didn’t notice. Some songs even had secret messages
about how to escape. Religion helped slaves rely on faith in
God saving them. Because their lives were so hard, parts of
their culture helped them remember their past, endure their
experiences and keep hope alive.
Potential Misconceptions
Students might not understand why a slave would choose to
obey and work.
Students may not understand why the tone of slave music and
spirituals is so varied in tone.
Students may not connect why religion and storytelling of
slaves relate back to their culture back in West Africa.
Scaffold Essential Question
What was the experience of enslaved Africans coming and
working in the colonies?
How did the slaves’ agency and culture help them resist and
endure these experiences?
Criteria for Success for Response:
A successful paragraph response will include:
 A valid claim that demonstrates a full understanding of
how music, storytelling, and religion helped keep
slaves home alive
 Accurate and sufficient evidence from the text or
source describing the ways slaves relied on their
culture to endure their experiences
 An explanation that connects evidence to the claim
 Vocabulary from today’s lesson: culture, endure,
resist, folktales, spirituals, faith
 Appropriate grammar, spelling, and transition words
between ideas
Methods to Address Misconceptions
Refer students to p.9 of the text, and reread the part about
how a slave might be treated if he did not understand or obey.
In 3rd grade, students learned about the origin of the Delta
Blues style of music from the sad songs of slaves. Tell Ss that
certainly some slave songs were sad, but there were other
purposes for slave songs, such as fun, religion, and to pass
secret messages about escape. The upbeat tone of these songs
reflects the strength music gave slaves despite their
experiences. PBS’s database “Slavery and the Making of
America: Music in Slave Life” gives several strong examples.
Remind Ss about the important elements of West African
culture in the 1500s (Facing Slavery p.4). Family was the center
 of village life, religion was a large part of life, and storytelling
was a way to teach about a community’s culture and history.
Students may have difficulty understanding why slave owners Refer back to the section of text that talks about secret
would have a problem with slaves singing, dancing, and using messages in songs, and how slave owners considered slaves to
religion to stay positive. be valuable assets. They could not stand to think about slaves
trying to escape or revolt in any way.
Key Points

What should students say about the WHAT skills would students say they What should students be able to say to
content by the end of the lesson? engaged with in this lesson? connect this Lesson to the unit?

 Slaves had different ways to try to
keep hope alive. These included
storytelling, music, and religion.
 Telling stories helped families relax
together and remember Africa.
 Slaves sang work songs and religious
songs to motivate them and help
them get through a day’s work.
 Religion helped slaves rely on faith in
God saving them.
 We analyzed a video of a slave song
and considered how songs like these
would encourage.
 Then we read a text and pulled out
key details about how slaves used
parts of their culture to endure their
experiences.
 This lesson taught us how slaves
used their culture to keep hope
alive. The parts of culture we read
about today are still important
elements of black culture today.
 Understanding the experiences of
slaves and the actions they took
helps us see life in colonial America
from a different perspective.

Lesson Detail
Question/Prompt Key:
CC=cold call TT = turn and talk SJ = stop and jot H = hands FIST = fist to 5 / shake & show MC
THUMBS = agree (up)/disagree (down) (CR) or Underlined = Choral response  = back pocket question/prompt
* = questions that push students to name the key points, preparing them to realize the central idea of the lesson
Agenda Notes
Component
Cumulative Review Assesses Ss current conceptions:
and Framing (5min)
 Ss will have 2 minutes to complete the cumulative review/prior knowledge task (Lesson Worksheet):
Ss ground Go back to your Slavery KWL chart. Add 1-2 details that you learned about slavery in yesterday’s lesson.
themselves in the This could be an answer to one of your questions or just something new. Then write 1-2 new questions you
learning of the have about slavery after yesterday’s class. Be prepared to share your new ideas.
day and name  Allow 2 minutes for students to share what information or questions they added with the class. Teachers
the what, why, should add what students learned and asked to the class’s KWL chart.
and how of the o Key ideas from yesterday’s lesson: [Expected Student Response]
lesson.
o Questions students may ask: [Expected Student Response]

Pose/Elicit SEQ, Aim, & Framing:

 Remind Ss that yesterday they learned about the terrible experiences of slaves on plantations and how
some slaves resisted these experiences through slave rebellions In order to answer the two SEQs:
o What was the experience of enslaved Africans coming and working in the colonies?
o How did the slaves’ agency and culture help them resist and endure these experiences?
 Tell Ss that while some slaves rebelled, most slaves stayed on plantations and needed ways to endure their
experiences. Today’s lesson teaches how they used their culture to keep hope alive:
o AIM: SWBAT analyze the way in which storytelling, music and religion helped slaves endure their
experiences in colonial America by determining the main idea and key details of a text
 Name the skills: First Ss will watch a video that shows one important part of slaves’ culture and how it
affected slaves, then students will read and take notes on some of the most important parts of slaves’
culture and how those parts of life helped slaves endure the challenges they faced.
o (TT) What are we doing today and why? [Expected Student Response]
Guided Inquiry OR Facilitates learning experience:
Modeling (7min)
 Tell Ss that they are going to begin today by watching a video showing an important part of slaves’ culture.
Guided Inquiry:
 Introduce that this video clip comes from the movie 12 Years a Slave, the story of a free black man who
Ss explore
content and was taken into slavery when he was a man.
concepts through  Tell Ss That they are going to watch this video twice, and follow a process similar to a visual discovery.
investigation o Watch the video.
o Say what you hear (first) and see (second)
o Draw conclusions.
 Play the video: 12 Years a Slave – Roll Jordan Roll
o Remind Ss that they should be paying attention to what they hear the first time they listen. You
may also want students to close their eyes during the first viewing.
o During the second view, have Ss pay closer attention to what they see (specifically how the actor is
reacting to the music.)

Asks Questions:
 After watching the video the first time, ask:
o What did you hear in this clip? [Expected Student Response]
 What part of culture did this clip show?
 What did you notice about the words in the song?
o *What did you notice about the mood of this music? [Expected Student Response]
 After watching the video the second time, ask:
o What did you see in the clip? [Expected Student Response]
o *How did the man change throughout the clip? [Expected Student Response]
 What did you notice about the man at the start of the video?
 How did the music change his mood?
 Push students to consider the larger ideas this clip shows and how it connects to slaves’ experiences:
o *(H) Why might music be important to slaves like this man? [Expected Student Response]
o *(TT) How could music help slaves endure their experiences? [Expected Student Response]
Reading and Facilitates the reading:
Discussion (16min)
 Tell Ss the video showed how music could bring hope to slaves enduring difficult conditions. Tell Ss they
Ss read and are going to read more about slaves’ lives in the colonies and how music and other parts of culture helped
discuss the text slaves endure their experiences.
to solidify the Pose Thinking Job: What is the author teaching me about how slaves used culture to endure their
content explored
experiences?
in the GI/Model
making abstract Literacy Skill: As you read, jot the key Text Complexities: The first text is meant to teach Ss that most
ideas concrete. details about the ways slaves used slaves could not rebel or run away. Prioritize more time with
culture to endure their experiences. Pay the second text, which gives examples of how slaves who
attention to details about their stories, stayed endured their experiences. Ss are expected to take
their music and their religion and why notes on key details about music, storytelling, and religion as
each was important to slaves. they read, in order to summarize the text after reading.
Text: 8.8 Slave Life in the Colonies: The Choices (Facing Slavery p.13)
Method: Read Aloud – Ss track the text silently as the T reads aloud.
Note: We chose a read aloud for this section of text for pacing purposes. Students should dedicate the most
time in the more rigorous and significant text on slaves’ culture (below).
Stopping Point Question/Prompt Exemplar Response
“Some slaves believed (CC) What were the different ways slaves [Expected Student Response]
that when they died, coped with and resisted their experiences?
their spirits would return
home to West Africa.
(CC) What were the consequences of these [Expected Student Response]
actions?
End of p.13 “…but very (TT) Why might slaves choose to work hard [Expected Student Response]
few slaves accomplished and do what they were told?
this goal.”
[Expected Student Response]
 (THUMBS) Do you think this was an easy
choice for slaves?
[Expected Student Response]
(H) How could slaves have endured these
experiences?
Building a New Culture (Facing Slavery pp.14-15)
Independent Reading
Conferencing Question/Prompt Exemplar Response (+Support)
Allow Ss 10 minutes to read and take notes on slaves’ culture. Circulate
and prompt as needed:
Storytelling
What did they tell stories about? [Expected Student Response]
What did this allow families to do? [Expected Student Response]
*Look back to p.4 about African culture in the 1500s. How did [Expected Student Response]
storytelling keep slaves connected to their lives in Africa?

Music
When would slaves sing songs? [Expected Student Response]
*What is a spiritual? Why would spirituals help slaves express [Expected Student Response]
themselves?
What were most slave songs about? [Expected Student Response]
What was the significance of songs like Follow the Drinking Gourd? [Expected Student Response]

Religion
Why was a preacher’s message important to slaves? [Expected Student Response]
*Why were religious services important to slaves? [Expected Student Response]
*How did slaves incorporate their African beliefs into their religion in [Expected Student Response]
America?

Facilitates Synthesis Discussion:

 After 5 minutes, bring the class to attention. Discuss the text, using the discussion prompt below and the
prompts above from the independent reading:
o *(discuss) What were some important parts of slaves’ culture? [Expected Student Response]
 How did storytelling help slaves endure their experiences?
 How did music help slaves endure their experiences?
 How did religion help slaves endure their experiences?
 How did we see the impact of culture/music in the video from the guided inquiry?
 Use the details from their notes to answer the thinking job in the summary portion of their notes:
*(SJ) What did we learn about how slaves used culture to endure their experiences? [Expected Student
Response]
Application Facilitates Daily Assessment:
(10min)
 Review the daily assessment prompt with scholars and review the CFS:
Ss construct o Claim: The first sentence attempts to correctly and fully answer the question being asked
conclusions that o Evidence: The claim is supported by 2 or more pieces of evidence from the text our source
build their o Explanation: The evidence is connected back to the claim through a thoughtful explanation
knowledge o Vocabulary from today’s lesson: culture, endure, resist, folktales, spirituals
towards
o Appropriate grammar, spelling, and transition words between ideas
answering the
 Gather formative assessment data in the chart below.
SEQ/EQ
Student Performance Planned Instructional Response

Met all the CFS

Claim is inaccurate / does

not indicate deep
understanding
 Evidence is insufficient /
does not support the claim

Explanation is missing / does

not connect evidence to the
claim

Data-driven trends:

Closing (4min) Consolidate and Anchor Learning:

 Have Ss make personal connections to today’s content by asking:
Ss revise their
work and
o We learned about three ways that slaves endured their experiences. Which piece of culture is the
synthesize/ most meaningful to you?
consolidate their
learning. Preview Content:
 Tell students that tomorrow they’ll read about the modern black community, and how agency and culture
still help people resist and endure challenges and discrimination today.
 Show Ss the image of the ESPYS (Lesson Images).
o (TT) Who is this? When did this happen? How is this an example of culture or agency? [Expected
Student Response]
 D&I: Emphasize for students that there is NOT a direct connection between slavery and the
discrimination / current events we are learning tomorrow. The purpose of tomorrow’s
lesson is for students to see there are some parallels in the WAYS in which communities
come together and address challenges.
Lesson Images

Slave Culture: Music

Slave Culture: Storytelling

 Slave Culture: Religion

Closing:
Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and Lebron James at the ESPYs
Lesson Worksheet

Name Date

Do Now Go back to your Slavery KWL chart. Add 1-2 details that you learned about
slavery in yesterday’s lesson. This could be an answer to one of your questions or just
something new. Then write 1-2 new questions you have about slavery after yesterday’s
lesson. Be prepared to share your new ideas with the class.

Unit 2 Day 18 AIM: SWBAT analyze the way in which storytelling, music and
religion helped slaves endure their experiences in colonial America by
determining the main idea and key details of a text

TOPIC: Slaves’ Culture

Texts: 8.8 Slave Life in the Colonies: The Choices; Building a New Culture (Facing Slavery pp.13-15)
Storytelling

Music

Religion


Daily Assessment

Name Date

Social Studies Exit Ticket Grade 4 – Unit 2 Day 18

Explain how parts of culture (music, storytelling, religion) helped slaves endure their
experiences. Use specific examples from the reading today.

Criteria for success:

 Claim: The first sentence attempts to correctly and fully answer the question being asked
 Evidence: The claim is supported by 2 or more pieces of evidence from the text our source
 Explanation: The evidence is connected back to the claim through a thoughtful explanation
 Vocabulary from today’s lesson: culture, endure, resist, folktales, spirituals
 Appropriate grammar, spelling, and transition words between ideas
Performance Tracker
Student Performance Student Names Planned Instructional Response
Met all the CFS

Claim is inaccurate / does

not indicate deep
understanding

Evidence is insufficient /
does not support the claim /
does not include multiple
sources

Explanation is missing / does

not connect evidence to the
claim

Data-driven trends:
Lesson Resource

SLAVERY Name:

What I already know What I want to learn What I’ve learned

about slavery… about slavery… about slavery….