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Lesson 2

We will return to our jigsaw groups to continue reading Part 3 of The Warmth of Other Suns, focusing on the details of each focus figure’s experiences as they begin their journeys away from the South, and examining the epigraphs Wilkerson uses to begin this section of the text while exploring their relationship to the content of this section.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I recognize and interpret important relationships among ideas and events within The Warmth of Other Suns?

  • Can I formulate and use questions to establish and deepen my understanding of texts and topics?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson, Vintage Books, 2010

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read

We will frame our jigsaw work with the opening epigraphs on page 181 by Richard Wright and the cleveland advocate, as chosen by Wilkerson for this section of The Warmth of Other Suns.

Listen and read along silently as your teacher or one of your peers reads aloud the epigraphs by Richard Wright and The Cleveland Advocate on page 181 of The Warmth of Other Suns. Keep these epigraphs in your mind as you engage in your jigsaw reading, and then discuss their connections to the reading.

Activity 2: Read

We will participate in our third jigsaw reading, working in our expert groups and using the Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool to learn about our assigned focus figures in part 3 of Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns.

Step 1

Work with your expert group to read the assigned pages for your assigned focus figure and respond to the following guiding questions on the Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool:

  1. Life Prior to Migration: What do you learn about each person’s life prior to their departure from the South? What questions do you have?

  2. Push-and-Pull Factors Influencing the Decision to Leave: What do you learn about the push-and-pull factors influencing each person’s decision? What questions do you have?

  3. Immediate Impacts of Migration: What do you learn about the immediate impact of each person’s migration and about their life away from the South? What questions do you have?

  4. Long-Term Impacts of Migration: What do you learn about the long-term impact of each person’s migration? What questions do you have?

Step 2

In your expert groups, read the quotes and respond to the questions on the Part 3Question Set:

Ida Mae and the children rumbled over curled ribbons of dirt road in a brother-in-law’s truck from Miss Theenie’s house to the train depot in Okolona . . . . and the last one out. (p. 183)

George had no time for formalities or the seeking of advice or reassurance . . . . got to him first. (p. 185)

In the dark hours of the morning, Pershing Foster pulled away from his father and brother . . . . between Jim Crow and freedom. (p. 186)

  1. What do you notice about each of these paragraphs individually in terms of language and tone? What words and phrases help to convey that tone?

  2. How do these paragraphs compare and contrast with one another in terms of content, language, and point of view?

  3. How do these three paragraphs help us understand why Wilkerson chose these three individuals around which to center her text? Why three people? Why these three people?

  4. How does Jeremiah 8:7 connect to the three paragraphs?

Step 3

Choose at least one question for your focus figure and discuss it in your expert group. Support your discussion with evidence from the text.

Activity 3: Write

We will write responses to guiding questions to synthesize information and conclude our work with part 3 of The Warmth of Other Suns.

Individually, compose a quick-write in which you respond to the following questions to help you think about the connections between what you read and the epigraphs by Richard Wright and The Cleveland Advocate. Use evidence from the text to support your response.

  1. What is the relationship between the epigraphs that began this section and what you learned about your focus figure during the reading?

  2. What do you think Wilkerson is trying to convey by beginning this part with these epigraphs?

Be prepared to share your ideas during the whole-class debrief.

Activity 4: Read

For homework, read pages 216–219 in part 3 of The Warmth of Other Suns.

For homework, read pages 216-219 in Part 3ofThe Warmth of Other Suns. Annotate the text with reference to the push factors that encouraged people to leave the South and the pull factors that encouraged people to move north and west.

If necessary, finish reading your jigsaw sections and adding responses to the Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool. Be ready to share with your home group in the next lesson’s jigsaw discussion.

Write new or interesting words you encounter in your Vocabulary Journal.