Oral history through personal narratives

Students apply their knowledge of story elements to art and literature of the 1950s by developing a story, comprehending someone else's story, and diagramming the five elements of plot. Students will then create, revise, edit, and publish their own personal narrative.

A lesson plan for grade 9 English Language Arts and Social Studies

By Mary Magee

Learn more

• Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writer's Project This website from the Library of Congress houses a vast collection of slave narratives that can be used in the classroom.

Related pages

• An introduction to slave narratives: Harriet Jacobs' Life of a Slave Girl: This lesson is intended to enhance student knowledge about the life experiences of a slaves in America during the 1800s by using the story of a North Carolina slave woman who eventually escaped.
• Spirituals and the power of music in slave narratives: In this lesson for grade 4, students will learn about the importance of music in the lives of slaves by reading slave narratives and listening to recordings.
• Good medicine: Students will examine changes in technology, medicine, and health that took place in North Carolina between 1870 and 1930 and construct products and ideas which demonstrate understanding of how these changes impacted people living in North Carolina at that time. To achieve these goals, students will employ the eight intelligences of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory.

Related topics

• Learn more about language arts, narratives, oral histories, personal narratives, plot elements, power, slave narratives, slavery, and social studies.

Help

Please read our disclaimer for lesson plans.

Legal

Learning outcomes

Goals:

• Students will understand how the five elements of plot apply to all types of stories.
• Students will create their own personal story to write.

Objectives:

• Students will write a brief story about a painting based on what they see, feel, and already know.
• Students will comprehend information for a slave narrative as a part of nonfiction.
• Students will diagram the five elements of plot for the narrative.
• Students will write a personal narrative about an event in their life.
• Students will revise and edit their personal narrative using peer editors.
• Students will publish their narrative by telling their story to the class.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

4 days

Materials/resources

• Overhead or poster of the School’s Out painting by Allan Rohan Crite
• Copies of the slave narrative of Martha Organ
• Copies of the personal narrative worksheet
• Pen and paper

Technology resources

Teacher can use overhead or AverKey set-up for displaying the art.

Pre-activities

Students should have been exposed to the five elements of plot:

• Exposition
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Falling Action
• Resolution

Activities

Day 1

1. Present the painting “School’s Out” by Allen Crite.
2. Ask students to write a story behind the painting. This painting is surrounded with mystery because it is pictures several school age black children looking very happy with a few adults and a couple of white children. The meaning of the painting, like most art, is definitely in the eye of the beholder! It is this ambiguity that will spark debate and question in the discussion. Tell students to use the artist’s motivation, time period it was painted, what he saw, what you see, artist background, etc.
3. Ask for volunteers (2 or 3) to share their stories.
4. Explain to students the motivation of the painting as you see it or as stated by Crite, the time period that it was created, and other information that you may wish to share with students. Information can be obtained from http://www.dce.harvard.edu/pubs/alum/1998/04.html.
5. Ask students to explain what they know about the Civil Rights Movement. Fill in any information for them that they may not know or misunderstand. This could be as lengthy or short of a discussion as you deem necessary. Some students will have a great deal of knowledge while some may have none. It is interesting to allow the students learn from each other while the teacher’s role is to direct the conversation or dispel anything that is not true. Be sure to explain how the Harlem Renaissance was an answer to the discrimination of life in the South both during slavery and reconstruction leading up to the Civil Right Movement of the 1960s.
6. Distribute copies of Martha Organ’s slave narrative (or access via the internet).
7. Read aloud for the class. (The dialect makes it difficult
   for students to read if they have never seen it before.) This narrative is a combination of stories told by Martha Organ about life during slavery. It has great elements of oral history which should be defined for students and explained. It is also in response to some obvious questions by the interviewer although we are not privy to what motivates Martha to tell these stories.
8. Put students into pairs and ask them to respond to the The Personal Narrative of Martha Organ worksheet questions. These questions will focus on the basic comprehension of Martha’s stories, diagramming the five literary elements of a story, and written expression in reference to the oral history. One person may write answers while another can write the letter at the end of the worksheet.
9. Discuss the correct responses to the comprehension questions. Diagram one of the three (or all, if necessary) stories on the overhead. Allow students the opportunity to share their letters, if desired.

Day 2

1. Ask students for volunteers to list and explain the five plot elements.
2. Give each student a copy of the story map.
3. Instruct them to brainstorm events in their life on the back of the sheet. Give them some examples to get them started. Good stories are made out of injuries, lessons learned, vacations, school events, etc.
4. Have them indicate on their list what the climax of their story would be. Students should then pair up with someone to discuss their ideas and choose the one that will make the best story.
5. Once they have chosen, they need to fill in the story map. It is easiest to begin with the climax and work their way down on either side of the triangle. This will give them a good brainstorm session for writing.
6. Once this is complete, the teacher may want to spot check or review the story maps for correct climax and rising action.
7. Students may begin to write their personal narratives keeping in mind the elements of the rubric as they write.

Day 3

1. Personal narratives should be complete.
2. Review the requirements for a personal narrative. You may even ask for a volunteer to put their story map on the board and have the class evaluate the rising action and falling action. Another option is to create a story map or rough draft yourself for revision.
3. Students will pair up to edit and revise each others story. You may want to place them in these groups so students will be sure to help each other. It is very important to stress the responsibility of the peer editor.
4. Students who finish early should work on revising or rewriting their narrative.
5. As closure, inform students that they will be required to TELL their stories the following day. Discuss the oral tradition of story telling, how it worked and developed, and how it has disappeared with mass literacy and education.

Day 4

1. Go to the HBO Unchained Memories Readings website: http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/unchained_memories/unchained_freedom.html#. Click on the Audio Narratives.
2. Allow students to listen to one or more of these narratives. These are audio files of a similar attempt to preserve slave stories for future generations. Ask students to notice how the stories are sparked by conversation or questions from the interviewer.
3. Let students volunteer or sign up to TELL their stories. This be done very informally with the HBO production as an example. Students could sit in a circle and go around the circle telling their stories. You could do this with many small circles or one large circle depending on your time limit.
4. An extension of this activity could be for the student to reflect on what they said in the oral presentation of telling instead of reading their stories versus what they had written--the similarities and differences, why they think they did some of those things, and how that may relate to Martha Organ’s story. This reflection could be done in a journal entry, essay, short answer test question, etc.

Assessment

• Letter written about the slave narrative. Check plot diagram for understanding.
• Personal narrative rubric
• Oral story telling and reflection (if chosen)
• Teacher should develop specific goals for revising and editing peer narratives.

Supplemental information

Comments

Students with internet access may want to find their own slave narrative to respond to. In this case, the worksheet should be revised.