Learning Plan for Grade 11 Students by Deborah Durhone

Title of lesson The Legacy of Audre Lorde Grade level 11

Subject English as a second Language Topic Social activism

The fight against oppression; that is racism, homophobia, sexism and classism among
many others, has not just begun. Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr, Audre
Lorde, Mahatma Gandhi were all social activists who continue to inspire the present
Relevance:
generation to fight oppressions. Through her writings, Audre fought against social
injustice, and by learning about the powerful character she was, students can be
inspired to continue her fight, our fight against oppression.

Audre Lorde was a Black lesbian woman who lived in the 20th century. She was also a
social activist, a mother, a writer, a poet, a source of inspiration. However, these three
main characteristics, Black, lesbian and woman were all three victims of oppression in
Overall Learning the 20th century and even in the current society. Not only was Lorde oppressed for
Goal being a Black lesbian woman, but also for raising her voice against oppression. Being
a social activist is not easy, it requires a lot of courage. Overall, by analysing one of
Lorde’s poem, the students will understand the powerful messages she left in her
writings to fight oppression. The students will understand how they can use
words/writings/poems for social justice.

 Printed copy of “There Is No Hierarchy of Oppression” by Audre Lorde (here

is a link to the short essay: There Is No Hierarchy of Oppression). The short
essay addresses sexism, racism and homophobia.
Resources
Required  PlayPosit video
 A classroom with computers
 Word cloud generator

QEP Subject Area

Competencies
In the context of an English second language class, the students will learn to analyze a
short essay. That is, to read a short essay and understand the meaning of the chosen
words, the message(s) hared, the writer’s intention. The students will be put into
groups to discuss the topic. By the end, the whole class will have a discussion to wrap-
up. Overall, the students will develop their reading, communication and oral
competencies.
  Analyze short essays
 Understand the message within Lorde’s short essay
Learning  Understand who was Audre Lorde
Objectives:  Understand the impact of Audre Lorde
 Understand the power of words
 Understand how to use words to raise awareness and to fight oppression

Essential How did Audre Lorde use words to fight social injustice? How can we use words to be
Question(s): social activists?

The content about the topic will be presented through a presentation made by the
teacher that will be taught with a visual aid, a PowerPoint. The information will also
be presented through the use of PlayPosit to integrate technology and make the lesson
Universal Design
more interesting and engaging for the students. Part of the content will be presented by
for Learning
the students themselves so that they can be engaged in the learning process. They will
be given liberty as to choose how they want to express their understanding of
oppression.

Introduction (hook): After this lesson, students will know:

 Audre Lorde: a social activist

 Social activism: To fight for change
Social activism is to fight for social justice, to
 Oppression: unjust treatment towards specific
bring positive change in the world. Social
groups
activists express themselves through social
 Sexism
media, songs, writings, direct speech, art,
 Racism
there are many ways to fight inequalities. The
Lesson students themselves can be social activists on  Homophobia
Timing their social media or by expressing
themselves through other means. Students
have the power to bring positive change in the
(1h30 world and that should be a motive for them to
be interested to the lesson. Assuming that
lesson)

grade 11 students have learned about the

different forms of oppression, learning about
Audre Lorde can give them a sense of how
oppression has affected her life. She decided
to express her oppression in her writings that

Development (Learning activities – step by After this lesson, students will understand:
step sequential procedure):

 Oppression presents itself in different forms

The class will be held in a classroom where
the students have access to computers.
1- Who is Audre Lorde?
Part 1-
15
1.1- The teacher will introduce Audre
minutes Lorde through a PowerPoint
presentation. It is important to have a
visual component (PowerPoint) for the
students who need visual aid.
and each of them are equally important
 The issues Audre Lorde addresses are still
present and still need to be talked about to
bring change
 Student have the power to bring change just
as Audre Lorde did by expressing themselves
through writings or many different forms of
self-expression
After this lesson, students will be able to do:

1.2- The presentation emphasizes on how

 Communication skills between peers and
Audre Lorde was a Black lesbian
with the class
woman who raised her voice for social
 Communication skills: express one’s
justice, mainly, she wrote poems and
thoughts on social issues
short essays.
 Group skills: take part of a short activity with
a peer
 Creativity skills: find ways to express one’s
1.3- The students will be asked to write a understanding of the world
list of words that they believe to be
key components about Audre Lorde as
they listen to the presentation.

2- There Is No Hierarchy of Oppression

 2.1- Short introduction to essay: Written by
Audre Lorde, this short essay
addresses sexism, racism and
homophobia. The main message that
Audre presents in a straightforward
way is that there is no oppression
“bigger” than the other. Sexism,
racism and homophobia and all other
Part 2- forms of oppression are equally
10 important.
minutes

2.2- The students will be given a printed

copy of the short essay for the students
who like to highlight/annotate directly
on the paper. They will be asked to
read the short essay on their own and
annotate if they desire.

2.3- The students will listen to a 3 minutes

PlayPosit. The video used for the
PlayPosit is a reading of the short
essay (here is a link to the video: 3
minutes reading) It will give them an
auditory experience of the short essay.

2.4- They will have to pay attention to the

PlayPosit because they will be asked
questions throughout the video that
they will answer from their computer.

2.5- As they watch the video, they will also

be asked to add words/key
components from the text to the list
they had previously started.

3- Word Cloud

3.1- From their computer, the students will

be asked to add the key words from
the list they made in a word cloud
 3.2- That will allow the students to have
access to a word cloud containing the
important information about Audre
Lorde and her short essay. Also, to see
what the students commonly believe
to be important.

4- Group Activity

4.1- The students will be put into groups of

2

4.2- They will be asked to choose any

word touching on oppression from the
word cloud (e.g. sexism, racism,
racism, Black, homosexual, woman,
dominance, discrimination, etc.)

4.3- They will be instructed to draw, write,

for go on the internet and find a post,
an image or a writing that relates to
this word. They can choose between
Part 3-
these options. However, the drawing,
5 the personal writing, the post, the
minutes image or the writing has to fight for
social justice.

4.4- They will discuss how they believe it

is related to the chosen word and to
social activism

5- Group Discussion

5.1- The group will present their drawing,

personal writing, post, image or
chosen writing

5.2- One member will explain how it

Part 4-

40 relates to their chosen word from the

minutes word cloud

Closure (transition):

FORMATIVE - Assessment FOR learning:

The group discussion will overall show the

understanding of the class about oppression
and how they can bring social justice by By doing the group activity, students will know
expressing themselves through different ways. how they prefer to express themselves. Which
means they would rather choose to fight for
social justice. It does not have to be through
writings like Audre Lorde.

FORMATIVE - Assessment AS learning:

The PlayPosit is there to ensure that the students

are listening through, and so that they reflect on
the writing of Audre Lorde.

SUMMATIVE - Assessment OF learning:

The group discussion is important to know that

students have understood the impact of Audre
Lorde and the importance of fighting social
justice.

Part 5-

20
minutes