Delta State University NEH Landmarks Workshop The Most Southern Place on Earth By Tracey Kassin, Social Studies Teacher, Wilmington High School, Wilmington, MA Subject/Topic/Unit : Writing a Narrative of the Emmett Till Case, Modern U.S. History Grade Level: 9-12th grade I. Essential QuestionsA. Why was justice denied in in the case of Emmett Till? What were the political, social and economic factors that played a role in the outcome of the case? B. What did the Emmett Till case symbolize for African Americans and whites? C. Was the Emmett Till case a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement? II. Specific ObjectivesA. Students will research the circumstances surrounding the death of Emmett Till and the outcome of his murder trial. B. Students will write a narrative script of the Emmett Till case. A. Introduction/Motivation This lesson is useful in starting an unit on the Civil Rights Movement. Ask the class what event they believe the Civil Rights Movement began with. Introduce the term “catalyst” and draw the class to the events of ruling in the Brown v. Board of Education case, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Next, ask the class if they have heard of Emmett Till. Have the class research the circumstances of the death of Emmett Till and his murder case. They can do this for homework, of if time allows during class time in a computer lab or library. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/index.html or http://www.emmetttillmurder.com/ are great resources to guide to students to for a general feel of the case. B. Study/Learning 1. Hand out Photostory Storyboard. Ask students, using their research, to create a storyboard or narrative script for the Photostory images. Remedial students may want to collaborate in small groups. An enrichment objective is to have higher level students include three primary source quotes into the script. 2. Show the Emmett Till Photostory (wmv file). 3. Students should then work on the storyboard/script. C. Culmination Discuss as a class, key points going through each images, that should be included in the story. You can use the PowerPoint slides to do this and utilize the notes page for your own reference. Also ask about other images that might be included in this story. D. Follow-up If your school district has the capability, you could ask students to actually record the narrative onto the Photostory. To do this, you should provide an electronic version of this document. This could be accomplished by posting it on a website and asking students to download it and save as a new file. You will also need computers with microphones. IV. Materials/Resources
V. Evaluation related to objectives A. Informal1. Completion of Photostory Storyboard 2. Participation in class discussion B. Formal 1. Photostory Narrative/Script (written formally or recorded onto the story)
|