Tyer Wesseldine Multicultural Lesson Activity EDU 280

1. Lesson Objectives:
- The subject is 11th grade U.S history and it will be a lesson on the history of Jackie
Robinson.
- Students will be able to identify who Jackie Robinson is.
- Students will be able to describe Jackie Robinson’s accomplishments as well as give
support for his meaning to African American culture.
- Students will develop multiple historical perspectives as well as develop respect for
human dignity and universal human rights.

2. Materials:
- Laptop computers with internet access

3. Instruction-Learning process:
- When the students first enter the classroom, I will start the lesson by asking them
questions to gage their general knowledge of the subject. How many of you have
played baseball? How many of you know the rules to baseball? How many of you
like baseball? I will then give a brief overview of baseball rules and how the general
game works. Then I will ask them who they think was the most important baseball
player of all time? That’s when I will tell them it was Jackie Robinson and that’s who
we are going to learn about today.
- To start the mini lesson, I will give them a brief history overview of Jackie Robinson.
They will follow along with me as I go over key points from a history channel web
page. Key points to be covered. When he was born. Jackie’s college, military, and
professional baseball career. What Jackie faced daily regarding racism. Jackie’s
death and retirement from baseball. We will then watch a couple of YouTube
videos featuring scenes from the movie 42. These will give a little insight to what
was expected of Jackie as a baseball player and a little of what he faced. I will set up
the videos for the students with a summary of what they are watching.
- After the lesson and videos, I will then split the room into 2 groups, and we will play
a Jackie Robinson trivia game. I will ask questions to each group and have them pick
one person to be their board writer and have them write the answer on the board.
They can discuss among the group what they think the answer is. Questions to be
asked. When was Jackie Robinson born? What championship did Jackie Robinson
win in college? What branch of the military did Jackie Robinson serve? What 2
professional teams did Jackie Robinson play for? What year did Jackie Robinson
break the color barrier? What did Branch Ricky not want Jackie to do? What day
today is observed as Jackie Robinson Day and how is it observed in Major League
Baseball? Give one example of racism and prejudice that Jackie Robinson faced?
 - Now that the game is over, and students have a good grasp of who Jackie Robinson
is I will have them go back to their desks and now will ask them to complete some
essay questions are their own. Students will choose 2 to respond to and give a 1
paragraph explanation. The questions will be as follows. Question 1- From the
YouTube video we watched. Why do you think it was so important that Jackie
Robison not fight back or give in to taunts of racism that were directed towards him?
Question 2- From the YouTube video we watched. When Peewee Reese puts his
arm around Jackie and states maybe tomorrow, we will all where 42 so they can’t
tell us apart. What do you think he meant by that? What was Reese doing? Why
was it important for Reese do to this? Question 3- From the YouTube video we
watched. When Jackie was “cleated” at first base, why do you think he chose to not
retaliate against the other team? When his teammates came to Jackie’s side after
the incident what were they doing for Jackie and why? Question 4- In looking at
where we are today in general but also in sports what do you think Jackie Robinson
means to African American culture? What does Jackie mean to other cultures?
Question 5- If Jackie was alive today how do you think he would feel about where
we are today with racism and prejudice? Would he be happy? Sad? Worried?
Explain why you feel he would think this?
- To conclude the class, I will stand at the front of the class and remind them quickly
that Jackie wasn’t just a baseball player but someone who influenced history in
general on human dignity and human rights, and that I hope everyone learned
something today that they did not know. To which I will ask each student to tell me
and the class out loud 1 quick fact about Jackie and do they think he do more for
human rights or dignity.
4. Resources:
- History.com Editors. (2009, October 29). Jackie Robinson. History.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/jackie-robinson

- James, L. J. [Lawrence James]. (2013, October 27). Movie 42 clips [Video].

YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5y1iEFbScA

- Just add Color. (2013, April 10). 42 Exclusive Clip 3--Maybe Tomorrow We’ll All

Wear 42 [Video]. You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft8f0PW4smw

5. Reflection: The subject concepts that were taught were what Jackie Robinson meant not

just as a baseball player but as a trailblazer for society. By using the history Channel web

page, it gives a reputable source of information for the students to grasp the concept of

who Jackie Robinson was, what he accomplished, and what he did for baseball as well as

society. The skills that were taught during the lesson were how to research a subject and

use that research to gain knowledge of the subject, and how to process the knowledge

received and make educated responses to essay questions and answer general knowledge

questions. The multicultural knowledge gained was to develop respect for human dignity

and human rights. By using the YouTube videos of the movie 42, students could see the

respect for human dignity when Reese puts his arm around Jackie and treats him as an

equal. They could also see the human rights aspect from the video to how his teammates

responded to Jackie being cleated because everyone should have the right to be treated

equal and his teammates wanted Jackie treated equal on the field as his right as a baseball

player. They also gained historical perspectives from the video and web page by stating

what Jackie endured and by who. From the video they got to see both perspectives of

Jackie being treated badly as well as being respected. The skill learned here on equality

and human dignity is the most important skill learned from the videos. I think the trivia

game aspect of the lesson is where most of the active learning takes place. I felt it was a

great way to get the students actively working together towards a common goal and still

repeating the knowledge learned from the lesson to help with learning. I feel working as

a group needs to be done to help mold that future necessity of having to work with people

in the workplace. I would say the strengths of the lesson are giving great examples of

what Jackie endured as an African American breaking into an all-white sport. Giving an
adequate background of Jackie Robinson and his meaning to history, as well as showing

that human dignity and human rights were fought for and unfortunately not given. Some

of the weaknesses I can see is that it probably is tough to give this lesson in 1 hour. This

lesson may even be a weeklong lesson or even a project given to the class and given them

a month or some sort of ample time to process all the info. I can see where I am maybe

trying to cram too much into an hour lesson and maybe I can just focus on one aspect of

Jackie Robinson’s life to help smooth the lesson and get better knowledge gained. I can

also see maybe making it a true multi-cultural activity and including athletes from all

different cultures and not just African American culture. Giving more of a unity to the

lesson and not just a one sided lesson.