Celeste Tarbox

Penn Alexander School, 5th Grade, Room 219

Lesson Plan: The Great Migration
Content Area: Social Studies
Goals/Objectives
SWBAT analyze and interpret primary source materials IOT gain a deeper understanding
of the historical context of the Harlem Renaissance. SWBAT discuss the Great Migration
and why African Americans moved to Harlem in large numbers in the early 1920s.
Standards and Assessment Anchors
CC.1.7.5.A: Identify differences in formal and informal language used in speech, writing,
and literature.
CC.1.2.5.D: Make inferences about similar concepts in multiple texts and draw
conclusions, citing evidence from the text to support answers.
CC.1.1.5.D: Demonstrate comprehension/understanding before reading, during reading,
and after reading on grade level texts through strategies such as retelling, summarizing,
note taking, connecting to prior knowledge, extending ideas from text, and non-linguistic
representations.
Materials and preparation
Reproduction of Jacob Lawrences The Migration of the Negro, panel 1.
21 copies of primary documents (three maps and one chart)
21 copies of letters to Chicago Defender
21 copies of 5Ws graphic organizer
Students art notebooks
pencils
Learning environment and management
Students will be seated in their normal positions at their desks. They will remain seated
during lesson. Behavior will be managed through the ClassDojo. I will remind students of
expectations at the beginning and during instructional time. As this is my first lesson
during my takeover, I will reiterate expectations for upcoming takeover.
Plan
**Before I begin this introductory lesson, I will reiterate expectations for upcoming
takeover. I will also give a brief commercial about my unit explaining to students that
we will examine how the arts communicate historical data and perspective.
1. The Hook
a. Introduce Thinking Strategy (See-Think-Wonder) to generate interest
in a topic and raise questions.
i. Have students create three columns in their Art Notebooks and
mark them See, Think, and Wonder.
ii. Display Jacob Lawrences The Migration of the Negro, panel 1.
iii. See. Ask students to observe the painting and to record their
observations in their notebook.
1. Allow silent time for close observation (2 minutes) before
any talk or discussion.

2. Emphasize that they are noting only what they observe.

a. An observation is something you can actually put
your fingers on with the image.
b. Think-Pair-Share to share their I sees with
partner then discuss by sharing those things your
partner noticed that you didnt?
iv. Think. Ask students what they think is going on in the image.
1. Based on what we are seeing and noticing, what does it
make us think? What else is going on here?
2. Possible response to students interpretations: What do
you see that makes you say that?
v. Wonder. Ask students what they are now wondering about based
on what they have seen and have been thinking.
1. Possible response from students: they may find it difficult
to separate thinking from wondering.
a. Wondering is about asking broader questions that
push us beyond our interpretations to look at issues
and ideas raised by the image.
2. The Body of the Lesson
a. Introduce the concept of migration.
i. Activate students prior knowledge
1. Tell students that the painting that they just observed was
called The Migration of Negroes painted by Jacob
Lawrence, an artist of the Harlem Renaissance.
2. Ask students if they know what migration is. Write down
their ideas on SMARTBoard. Mind map?
a. Give definition.
i. Migration is the movement of a group of
people from one country, region or place to
another.
3. Quick write: ask students to start a new page in the Art
Notebook and respond to the following question: why do
people migrate? Why do people go to another area? Is
migration voluntary?
a. Potential student responses: in search of a better
life, no jobs, education
4. Whole class: Share out of ideas.
b. Close Look.
i. Introduce that we are going to study
ii. Handout out the map and chart (attached). Allow students time to
examine the three maps and one chart.
1. What are these maps telling us?
a. Possible student responses: the population of
African Americans increased between 1900 and
1920, the number of AA in the US living in urban
and rural communities
iii. Lets read to find out why African Americans were moving to
certain cities and from rural to urban areas.
c. Guided reading.
i. I will lead a guided reading of three letters to the Chicago
Defender (attached).

ii. Lets read some actual letters to the Chicago Defender to maybe
find out way African Americans in the painting and from the map
and chart were migrating.
iii. Stop and check for understanding throughout reading.
iv. Discuss the informal language in letters.
1. What does the language tell us about the people writing
them?
d. Graphic Organizer
i. Fill out the 5Ws (attached) about the Great Migration in pairs.
1. Who was involved in the Great Migration?
a. African Americans
2. What happened during the Great Migration?
a. African Americans moved out of the South to cities
in the North.
3. When did it happen?
a. 1900-1920s
4. Where did the Great Migration happen?
a. The United States; the South ! the North
5. Why did the Great Migration happen?
a. No jobs, no education, horrible conditions in the
South
3. Closure
a. Read Jacob Lawrences The Great Migration to learn more.
i. The same man who painted the painting we observed also wrote a
book that chronicles the journey of African Americans who left
their homes in the South after World War I and traveled in search
of better lives in northern industrial cities.
Assessment of the Goals/Objectives
Formative assessment will take place during group discussion about the primary
documents. Students will fill out a graphic organizer in pairs. I will assess their
understanding of the Great Migration by collecting this graphic organizer. Their
observations of the painting and quick write in their Art Notebooks will act as informal
assessments.
Anticipating Students Responses and Your Possible Responses
1. Management Issues
a. Before I begin this introductory lesson, I will reiterate expectations during
this lesson and the upcoming takeover. I will give constant reminders of
classroom system for positive and negative consequences (Class Dojo).
2. Response to the content of the lesson
a. I am trying something new with my students (See-Think-Wonder
Thinking Strategy) so I anticipate some push-back and perhaps confusion,
but I plan to see up this visible thinking strategy carefully.
b. Students may also be confused because they have become a Civil Rights
Unit with my Cooperating Teacher and this lesson takes them back in
time, so developmentally, I believe that they will be able to handle it. I
plan to show a timeline to help negate any initial confusion.

Accommodations
1. Accommodations for students who may find the material too challenging
a. Read-Aloud: I plan to conclude with a read-aloud, which will account for
students who may find the activities (reading of primary documents) too
challenging.
b. Working in pairs: Instead of sitting alone trying to understand something
potentially new and difficult, students can help each other.
c. Graphic organizers: great for visual thinkers to arrange their ideas and to
encourage students to think about information in a different way.
2. Accommodations for students who may need greater challenge and/or finish early
a. Write additional sentences on graphic organizer.
b. Quick Write: What hopes and dreams do you think African Americans
brought with them to Northern cities?