Lesson 1.2

Lesson 1.2 Objective

In her poem, “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” Phillis Wheatley reflects on her newfound religion and how religion can unite people across race. She ponders how an enslaved person can find personal freedom through religion.

Students will be able to identify the connotation of words, understand what it means to compare and contrast, and use collaborative methods to form a claim and use textual evidence to support their arguments.

Lesson 1.2 Instructional Video + Guided Notes

Go to StudySync and complete the following assignments:

  • Lesson 1.2 Instructional Video Literary Periods Early American Literature

  • Lesson 1.2 Instructional Video Compare and Contrast

Take notes in your English notebook based on these lessons. Write down key words, key ideas, questions you have, and any other relevant information. Take a picture of your completed handwritten notes, and submit them to Google Classroom to the assignment titled "Lesson 1.2 Guided Notes."

Lesson 1.2 Tasks

Complete the following assignments/tasks on StudySync:

  • Lesson 1.2 Reading Response On Being Brought From Africa to America

  • Lesson 1.2 Reading Response An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley

Complete the following activity:

Performance: Power of Connotation

Many words in the English language have a literal meaning and a connotative meaning. Wheatley uses connotations in her poem to help establish tone to evoke a strong emotional response in the reader. s

Students will:

  • Work in small groups (no more than 3 in a group) to find at least five words from the poem where the connotations associated with the words create an emotional response.

  • Each group should choose one of the words to create a silent performance that highlights the connotation of the word.

  • Each group will perform their connotation for the class on FlipGrid.

  • The other groups will watch their classmates performances on FlipGrid to see if they can figure out which word is being performed. Each person should respond to a different group's video with the word they think they are performing

  • Click here to go to FlipGrid

After performance, students should answer the following reflection questions on a Google Doc and turn it into Google Classroom under the assignment titled "Lesson 1.2 Performance Reflection"

  • How do words create an emotional response?

  • How important is connotation when communicating with others?


Lesson 1.2 Mastery Check

After completing the above tasks and assignments, ask Ms. Simpson for the lesson 1.2 mastery check (in-person or via email). Once you have successfully completed it and received the check mark, you may proceed to Lesson 1.3. YOU MUST COMPLETE THE MASTERY CHECK IN ORDER TO MOVE ON TO LESSON 1.3