[English Education] Lesson Plan for Dr. King (3) & (4) (Junior High School) Rosa Parks
Lesson Records for the 3rd and 4th Periods
In this installment, I would like to record the practices from the 3rd and 4th periods as a continuation.
3rd Period: A Time to "Re-learn" as a Story
Review Using Comic Strips
At the beginning of the class, we conducted a review using the comic strips created in the previous period. We started with an activity where students used pictures of scenes they were not responsible for in the previous period to convey the content to their partners.
By verbalizing "what kind of event it was" and "what the feelings were" while communicating, I implemented this with the hope that it would become a time to think while recalling the story within themselves once again rather than just a simple confirmation of content.
Re-grasping the Big Picture with a Japanese Video
After that, in the 3rd period, we used a Japanese video (about 20 minutes) to organize the content we had learned so far.
In the video,
the social conditions at the time Dr. King was born
the historical background where racial discrimination was a daily occurrence
the influence received from Gandhi's philosophy
experiences from his childhood and youth
and other topics were explained clearly along with visuals. What I wanted to emphasize here in particular was the point that:
If you counter violence with violence, it becomes war. Therefore, many people chose to accept discrimination and "endure" it. However, Dr. King tried to choose a different path called "non-violence and civil disobedience."
I think that by organizing the background parts, which tend to be vague when using only English text, through the video, the students were able to concretely imagine the situation at that time.
Immediately after the video's narration said "a certain event occurs," I stopped it and connected it directly to the reading comprehension of the Rosa Parks text (page 2) in the textbook. It is important in teaching to devise ways to make students think "I want to read the rest" before entering the reading phase. They were reading silently. After that, we finished with an explanation and reading aloud.
Period 4: What would you do if it were you?
Thinking of the Rosa Parks incident as a personal matter
In the introduction of the fourth period, we looked back at the Rosa Parks incident. Then, I asked the students this. This part is in Japanese.
What kind of actions do you think it means to resist through 'non-violence and civil disobedience'?
When discussing in groups, the first opinions that came up were,
Protesting on the spot by asking, 'Why do I have to give up my seat to a white person?'
Resisting by not standing up from the seat
and things like that. So, when I asked back,
Wouldn't that lead to a fight? Considering the power dynamics at the time, wouldn't that just lead to more violence?
The students thought for a while, and they seemed to be convinced, saying, 'That's true...'
The choice of 'not working'
Then, another group came up with the opinion,
Going on strike
Protesting by deciding not to work and not going to the job
While the sentiment that 'that might be good' spread, the conversation naturally turned to risks such as,
You might lose your job
You might not get paid and might not be able to make a living
and the atmosphere became,
That takes a lot of courage, so it might be difficult after all. What should we do?
So, I ask them again.
“So, what kind of method do you think Dr. King came up with?”
Using this question as a starting point, we moved on to reading comprehension of page 3 of the textbook. It was impressive to see the students reading the details of Dr. King’s bus boycott with expressions of realization.
The story continues further.
After that, we used videos again to learn about:
the spread of the movement after the Rosa Parks incident
the impact on various parts of the American South
repeated arrests
the existence of the KKK
days lived side-by-side with the danger of death
Finally, we watched non-violent protests where people marched while praying, and the story leading up to the day before the March on Washington, and concluded the lesson.
In conclusion
Reading just the English textbook tends to end up as a mere “explanation of events,” but by layering videos, dialogue, and questions, I think the students gradually began to think, “What would I do if it were me?” I felt once again that Dr. King’s way of life and philosophy are not just historical knowledge, but a presence that poses questions that connect to our own attitudes as we live today. Next time, we will finally enter the March on Washington and the “I Have a Dream” speech.
Supplementary note
This is a timeline showing that nothing changed for 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and that Dr. King was born between the Emancipation Proclamation and the enactment of the Civil Rights Act.