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Lesson 1

We will participate in our final jigsaw about our three focus figures, examining the long-term impacts and effects of their single decision to move 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
  • Digital Access
    • The Migration Series, Jacob Lawrence, The Phillips Collection, 2019

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read

We will introduce the section by reviewing the unit’s Central Question and framing questions.

Step 1

Listen and read along silently as your teacher or one of your peers reads aloud the Central Question and the Framing Questions.

Central Question:

How do we construct the story of a complicated history?

Framing Questions:

  1. What were the push-and-pull factors that impacted people’s decisions to migrate from the South?

  2. What is the relationship between the “end” of slavery and the Great Migration?

  3. How can a single decision change the trajectory of someone’s life?

  4. What were the long-term impacts of the single decision to leave the South?

  5. How do Wilkerson’s choices in terms of sources, organization, and structure convey her perspective and purpose?

  6. How does Lawrence’s The Migration Series represent and connect to the history Wilkerson constructs in her text?

  7. How and why do authors and artists help us to construct the truth of this history?

  8. How do Wilkerson’s structural choices impact our understanding of the Great Migration?

Step 2

In your Learning Log, locate the Notice and Wonder table you created in Section 1, Lesson 1. Individually, review the Framing Questions, paying special attention to Questions 7 and 8. Those are the focusing questions for Section 5 of the unit and the Culminating Task. Write down additional responses and revise existing responses in your Notice and Wonder table to track your observations and questions about the Central Question and Framing Questions, the Culminating Task, and your increased level of knowledge compared to the previous section.

Step 3

Discuss with a partner your revisions and additions to your Notice and Wonder table, your ideas about what you think we will be doing in this section of the unit, and how this section’s work supports your success on the Culminating Task.

Activity 2: Read

We will frame our jigsaw work with the opening epigraphs by Drake and cayton on page 433 and Jefferson edmonds on page 435, as chosen by Wilkerson for this section of The Warmth of Other Suns.

Listen and read along silently as your teacher reads aloud the epigraphs by Drake and Cayton and Jefferson Edmonds on page 433 and page 435 of The Warmth of Other Suns. Keep these epigraphs in your mind as you engage in your jigsaw reading. We will discuss their connections to the reading at the close of the lesson.

Activity 3: Read

We will participate in our sixth and final jigsaw reading, working in our expert groups and using the Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool to learn about our assigned focus figure for part 5 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, discuss your focus figure questions on your Section 5 Question Set.

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

Activity 4: Write – Discuss

We will write responses to guiding questions to synthesize information and conclude this lesson’s work with part 5 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 Drake and Cayton and by Jefferson Edmonds.

  1. What is the relationship between the epigraphs that began 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 these epigraphs?

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

Activity 5: Read

For homework, read pages 527–538 in The Warmth of Other Suns.

For homework, read pages 527-538 in The Warmth of Other Suns. Annotate the text with reference to the impacts on those who left the South as well as 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.