Candace+McKoy

=Placement:= Wakefield Middle School Ms. Gina DeBose 6th Grade Social Studies =Unit Plan=

**Thematic Unit:** Growing Pains

 * Context:** The Middle Ages is an important period in time where many changes and discoveries took place that helped shape all of western civilization.


 * Supplementary Texts:**


 * Lesson Activities:**

=First Days of School= I was a bit taken aback by the ‘Getting Started’ reading. I liked how the chapter started by setting the stage of what a first day might look like. On the first day, I imagine myself standing outside of the front door to greet my students individually. This will help students feel more of a connection with me and start a relationship. When I meet someone, I introduce myself by making eye contact and maybe shaking their hand depending on the situation. I would open class with a presentation to introduce students to the class, rules, expectations, and who I am as their teacher. This will help students feel more at ease knowing what to expect and getting to know me not as their dictator but as a human being and a teacher. I would include a couple of person touches for students to feel I am a person but nothing extremely person like by birthday (including the year).

I would have the students compose a set of class rules, rewards, and consequences. I would then open class with an icebreaker activity. This would probably be interviewing a classmate. I would like to incorporate content in with getting to know you activities. I could also do the silhouette activity mentioned in the chapter. This would probably work well with students who do not feel as comfortable writing. The activity used would depend on the class. I would also assign a book to each student and have him or her read the summary or a page and share his or her opinions on the book with their group and later the class. The students will have to decide if they would recommend this book to their friends, if they would read it, and describe what readers this book would be best for. This will help the students get an idea of what books they would like to read for independent reading. This will help me assess what students are interested in. An alternative would be to place a diverse set of books throughout the classroom on desks and have students find a book they would like to read. The students would then explain why they chose that book. For both activities the students would write their preferences/ recommendations on a notecard for me to refer to when assigning books.

The next day will jump more into content. I would like for groups to come up with names relating to literature or the arts. I would begin free-write or anticipatory activity with a brief class discussion on the activity. I also would discuss what the student did before. If the students did a silhouette, the students would be able to start a unit on poetry and create poems from the silhouettes from the previous day. If the students wrote an interview, the students would start a unit on non-fiction. The anticipatory activity would depend on which activity the students did the previous day.

=Classroom Diagram= http://www.floorplanner.com/projects/26139430

=My School Timeline= http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/160583/My-School-Life/#vars!date=2006-10-08_14:45:54!

=Teaching Philosophy=



=Web Identity Reflection=



=Name Inquiry Project=



Cinquain Poem:

Candace queen, shining shining, striving, giving A kindness exists within Candace

[|Visual representation]

Paul Harvey Rough Draft
Juan Francisco Manzano was born an uneducated slave in Cuba during the late eighteenth century. For much of his life in slavery, Juan Francisco Manzano worked directly under two separate mistress. His first mistress was compassionate and exposed Juan Francisco Manzano to sewing and other crafts. His life drastically changed once his first mistress passed away. His second mistress was not as kind a woman as his first mistress. Juan Francisco Manzano suffered severe punishments from his second mistress and the overseer at his new farm. He also worked under the mistress of the household as her personal attendant.

It was illegal in Cuba and several other countries in the Americas for slaves to learn how to read and write. Juan Francisco Manzano’s grandfather warned him about the dangers of trying to read and write. While Juan Francisco Manzano respected his grandfather, he was passionate about learning to read and write. At a young age, Juan felt learning to read and write would be the most beneficial thing he could do for himself. Juan would take scrap paper used by his master and practice writing. Juan also used the little money he received from his craft work to buy writing utensils.

His secret lessons were eventually brought to the attention of his master. His master did not punish him for trying to read and write. He simply encouraged Juan to abandon learning to read and write since it would not help him considering Juan’s status as a slave. However, Juan did not heed his master’s warning. Late at night, Juan would continue teaching himself to write and decided to become a poet. Juan was able to interact with a lot of writers and artists considering his master and mistress were affluent and often had writers and artists visit their home. Juan Francisco Manzano soon become literate thanks to self-study. He also wrote poems. He wrote many of his poems while he was enslaved. His poems focused on the hardships he experienced as a slave in Cuba. His first work was titled Poesías líricas. Juan Manzano’s work eventually made its way into Cuba’s prominent literature circles and to one of the most powerful literary experts, Domingo del Monte. Monte was so moved by Manzano’s poem My Thirty Years, a poem that summed up Manzano’s feelings about his enslavement and hope for a better future, that he gathered together other affluent literature experts and raised enough money to buy Juan Manzano his freedom.

Juan Manzano gained his freedom at the age of forty thanks to his poetry. Juan Manzano did not just accept his freedom. He continued to advocate for the abolition of slavery. He went on to write an autobiography. His autobiography is the only autobiography written by a slave in Latin America. He also published a collection of his poems titled The Poet Slave of Cuba. Juan Manzano became a celebrated poet and his work played a role in the abolition of slavery in Cuba in 1886.

It is possible that Juan Francisco Manzano could see into the future. Only he could have known that literature would be the key to his liberation.