Skip to Main Content

Lesson 2

We will begin another jigsaw about our three focus figures, developing our understanding of the conditions African Americans faced in the North and West and continuing to track the events and experiences of each person as they began their new lives away from the South. We will also examine the epigraphs Wilkerson uses to begin this section of the text and 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 The Warmth of Other Suns and the Great Migration?

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 – Listen

We will frame our jigsaw work with the opening epigraph by Langston Hughes on page 223, as chosen by Wilkerson for this section of The Warmth of Other Suns.

Listen and read along silently as your teacher reads aloud the epigraph by Langston Hughes on page 223 of The Warmth of Other Suns. Keep this epigraph in your mind as you engage in your jigsaw reading. We will discuss its connections to the reading at the close of the lesson.

Activity 2: Read

We will participate in our fourth jigsaw reading, working in our expert groups and using the Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool to learn about our assigned focus figure for the first half of part 4 of Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns.

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?

In your Expert Groups, discuss Question 1 or 2 on the Part 4 Question Set.

Then, choose two questions for your vocus figure to discuss in your groups.

Activity 3: Write – Discuss

We will write responses to guiding questions to synthesize information and conclude this lesson’s work with the first half of part 4 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 epigraph by Langson Hughes:

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

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

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

Activity 4: Read

For homework, read pages 348–350 and 364–370 in part 4 of The Warmth of Other Suns.

For homework, read pages 348-350 and 364-370 in Part 4ofThe Warmth of Other Suns. Annotate the text with reference to the impacts for those who left the South as well as for their families and the country as a whole.

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

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