Conor Geiger

10th Grade US History

Freire Charter School

The Harlem Renaissance: Analyzing Poetry

GOALS

(A) What is the goal(s) of the broader unit, lesson, or activity that you will be pushing into?
Unit Goal: SWBAT use the historical thinking skills of contextualization, corroboration, and
close reading IOT understand and analyze how the art of the Harlem Renaissance reflects
and affected the experiences and identities of Black Americans in the 1920s.

(B) What is the goal(s) of the particular lesson or activity that you are planning for this
exercise? What do you want your students to understand, know, and/or be able to do? What
are the essential question(s) of this lesson?
Lesson Goal: SWBAT use close-reading and contextualization skills to analyze the poems “If
We Must Die” (McKay, 1919) and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (Hughes, 1921) IOT
understand and analyze the experiences and identities of Black Americans during the Harlem
Renaissance.
Essential Questions: How can art communicate political messages?
How does the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance help us understand and explore Black
American experiences and identities in the 1920s?

(C) What state standards/school-based standards align with these goals?

8.3.U.A. Compare the role groups and individuals played in the social, political, cultural, and
economic development of the U.S
8.3.U.B. Compare the impact of historical documents, artifacts, and places which are critical
to the U.S.
8.3.U.D. Evaluate how conflict and cooperation among groups and organizations have
influenced the growth and development of the U.S.
● Ethnicity and Race

EVIDENCE

How will you know if your students have achieved the goal(s) that you listed in (B)?
I will know if my students have achieved the goals for this lesson by student responses to
determine if they comprehended the political message(s) of the poetry, grounded their
analysis in an understanding of the experiences of Black Americans during this period
(particularly experiences of resistance to white supremacy), and reflected on how the poetry
portrayed conceptions of Black American identity.
 LEARNING PLAN

Time Teacher Actions Student Actions Resources

9:15-9:20 Display warm-up on Respond to warm-up on Peardeck

Peardeck: Pick a piece of art Peardeck
(a song, poem, painting, etc.)
with a message you think is
important. What is the
message and why does it
resonate with you?
This warm-up is intended to
jump start student thinking
about how art is used to
communicate messages to
audiences. As this is the first
day of art analysis in this unit,
the warm-up does not
concern content of the period,
but instead allows students to
draw from their personal lives
and contemporary
experiences so that the
barrier of entry is lowered.

9:20-9:23 Facilitate students sharing out Share-out warm-up Peardeck

their warm-up responses responses
Ask students to describe how Explain how you
they determined the message determined the message
of the art piece they chose of the art piece you chose
and cite evidence from the using evidence from the
piece to support their piece
determination
This questioning is intended
to get students thinking about
how they can analyze art for
meaning, which they will be
doing repeatedly throughout
this unit. By sharing this out
with the class, students can
model using evidence to
support their analysis and
provide useful examples to
their peers of what sorts of
 strategies we can use to
analyze art.

9:23-9:25 Introduce activity: Analyzing Choose if you are working Harlem

Poetry of the Harlem individually or Renaissance
Renaissance collaboratively Poetry Analysis
Describe how students will be Open up activity materials Worksheet
using close-reading and and prepare to begin (individual)
contextualization skills to reading Peardeck
determine the messages of (group)
two poems from notable
Harlem Renaissance artists
(“If We Must Die” by Claude
McKay and “The Negro
Speaks of Rivers” by
Langston Hughes”) and
analyze what these poems
tell us about the experiences
and identities of Black
Americans in the 1910s-
1920s
Allow students the choice of
working individually or with
the whole class. Students
who are working individually
should be sent to individual
breakout rooms and given the
activity worksheet. Students
working as a class should be
directed to remain on the
Peardeck.

9:25-10:00 Group: Group: “If We Must Die”

Display “If We Must Die” Read the displayed poem “The Negro
Call on one student to read Respond on Peardeck to Speaks of
the poem out to the class the given questions Rivers”
Display first question: What Share-out responses and Harlem
stands out to you from the respond to teacher Renaissance
text? (This can be words, questioning about your Poetry Analysis
ideas, phrases, etc!) Why? thinking Worksheet
Model response Individual: (individual)
Have select students share Following the directions Peardeck
out their responses and ask included in the activity (group)
them clarifying questions that worksheet, read both
demonstrate their thinking / poems and answer the
prompt them to use evidence included questions
from the text Respond to co-teacher’s
Repeat process for remaining questions when prompted
questions: 2)What does this
text make you think about? 3)
What connections do you see
in this text to the experiences
of Black Americans in the
1910s/1920s? 4) What do
you think the message of this
text is? What is it trying to say
about America or Black
identities / experiences?
Repeat process for “The
Negro Speaks of Rivers”
Individual:
Co-teacher should monitor
student progress on Google
Classroom and jump between
breakout rooms to check on
students / ask them to explain
their thinking
The questions asked to
students in this activity are
intended to promote
comprehension and develop
close-reading and
contextualization skills by
making students examine the
text in depth, connect the text
to the historical context (prior
instruction this unit on Black
resistance, Black separatism
vs. integrationism, the
significance of African history
to Black American artists, the
Great Migration, and racism
provides the necessary
background), and finally
analyze the text to determine
what it tells us about this
historical period. Modeling by
the teacher shows students
how to go about answering
these questions and prepares
them for further individual
analysis of art later in this
unit.