DIVERSITY BOOST: Black History Month - Amplifying Voices Reading Comprehension

Here are TEN resources to help you amplify the voices of Black people in February and throughout the year!

• Start with the Who is Invisible lesson. The worksheets help students understand how some groups of people are hidden or stereotyped.

• Then teach the Active Reading Power UP slideshow lesson. The handouts help students gain a deeper understanding from any text. (Use this with your existing Black History Month resources.)

• Choose from EIGHT High-Interest Reading Comprehension Articles and Worksheets to help amplify the voices of Black people. Each article is differentiated at three or four grade levels.

The TOTAL value of resources currently in the bundle: $37.00

• Who is Invisible - FREE version

1. Who is Invisible with Handouts - PAID version $5
2. Active Reading Strategies Power Up $5 ($2)
3. Rosa Parks - Quiet Courage in Assertive Communication $4 ($3)
4. Building Bridges (PK Subban) $3 ($2.5)
5. California Surfer breaks stereotypes $3 ($2.5)
6. Green Leader (Collaboration) $4 ($3)
7. Putting Zimbabwe onto the 360 map $4 ($3)
8. Change the Game and Earn Your Leisure $3
9. Born Here. Failed 6 years (Miss USA) $3
10. Hardest Worker (Dwayne Johnson The Rock) $3

Want to see exactly what you get before you buy this product?

• Watch the PREVIEW VIDEO.
  (It is a screen recording showing you how to find all of the files quickly!)

WARNING

This bundle of resources is meant to supplement the resources you already have for Black History Month.

• This product DOES NOT contain any specific references to Black History Month.

• The articles may NOT specifically focus on the race or ethnicity of the people in the article. In fact, the article may not mention at all that the person is Black. But, if you search in class on the internet for an image of the person, your students will see what they look like.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Download the ZIP folder for the Bundle.

Look for the "BONUS" PDF. It contains the PDF you see in the preview for this resource

1. Look at the suggested unit overview to see how to integrate this into your existing resources.

2. Look at the resource overview so you can choose which articles to use.

3. Click the links in the File Table of Contents to download the resources you need.

• The resources you download will have one-click-links to the files you need to teach the lesson.

• NOTE: The resources you download are identical to the ones you get in the zip folder for the bundle. (I've included them as one-click links because some people get confused with so many folders.)

WHAT’S IN THE "BONUS" PDF for this bundle:

• Title page and File Table of Contents (links to resources)

• Unit Plan Ideas

• Resource overview

UNIT PLAN Ideas for Black History Month or any time of the year!

Here are some ideas on HOW you can integrate this bundle into your existing classroom resources

WEEK 1. 

• Start with WHO IS INVISIBLE (provided) so students understand some groups of people are “invisible” or portrayed in stereotypical ways.

• Explain Black History Month (not-provided)

WEEK 2.

• Teach the Active Reading Strategy POWER UP lesson (provided) to boost student discussions and reading comprehension. (The lesson + handouts work with ANY TEXT.) 

• Explore famous people from the past typically associated with Black History Month (not-provided)

• Explore Rosa Park’s conversation with the bus driver as an example of assertive communication (provided)

WEEK 3+

• Explore some contributions of Black people with examples from today. Choose a different article every week.

RESOURCE OVERVIEW

About the WHO IS INVISIBLE resource

• Students watch a series of goal-setting videos to determine which groups of people are visible and which groups are stereotyped or left out entirely.

• The free slideshow lesson goes through the videos and helps students by asking guiding questions. 

• All you have to do is lead the class discussion! 

• Learning Objective: Students develop a better understanding of why we need to amplify the voices of some groups of people!
  

Timing

This resource includes both the FREE version and the FULL PAID version with the handouts. 

Timing - FREE version (3.5 hours) 

• The FREE version contains the slideshow lesson (220 minutes of content.)

• The FREE version is easy-prep: 1) Open slideshow. 2) Teach.

• Or, you can do some prep! Look at the 38-page lesson plan for script and discussion ideas.

• The FREE version has an estimated 3.5 hours of content, but you can go faster or slower depending on class discussions.

Timing - PAID version (13.5 hours) 

• The PAID version (included in this Diversity Boost resource) contains everything in the FREE version plus handouts and an answer key. 

• The PAID version requires prep. The 66-page lesson plan provides more scaffolding to help students analyze / evaluate. 

• The PAID version has 13 lessons and an estimated 13.5 hours of content (810 minutes). 

• Lessons vary from 35 minutes to 105 minutes in length and are based on topic (as opposed to trying to have a standard classroom period in mind.) 

About the ACTIVE READING STRATEGIES POWER UP

The slideshow lesson goes through three active reading strategies 

• Say Something, 

• Idea Volleyball, 

• Double-Entry Journal

The "Say Something" handout briefly goes over 6 reading strategies and includes sentence stems (what to say) and pro tips (what to do.)

• READING STRATEGY 1. Ask high-level thinking questions

• READING STRATEGY 2. Make deeper connections

• READING STRATEGY 3. Infer what the author is really saying.

• READING STRATEGY 4. Evaluate and form an opinion.

• READING STRATEGY 5. Find the Main Idea. (This is really about...)

• READING STRATEGY 6. Repairing Comprehension (Oh, I get it...)

GET READING COMPREHENSION MARKS:

Students demonstrate their current understanding of the text in TWO WAYS so you can observe, assess, or evaluate.

• Oral Communication by playing Idea Volleyball.

• Written Communication by using the Double-Entry Journal handout.

About the SEL STORY Articles and 6Cs Articles

• High-interest reading comprehension articles with discussion questions and answer key. 

• The articles are written at three or four grade levels (differentiation). 

• Paragraph numbers match up between versions. 

Rosa Parks - Communication (6Cs Article 005)

• Differentiated - Grades 4, 6, 8

• Answers - Asking Questions Reading Strategy

• Although we can talk about Rosa Parks’ courage and strength of character to refuse to give up her seat because she was Black, let’s focus on the moment on the bus when she communicated with the bus driver to let him know she wasn’t going to give up her seat.

Building Bridges - Citizenship (6Cs Article 006)

• Differentiated Grades 4, 6, 8, 10

• Answers - Inferring Reading Strategy

• PK Subban plays hockey for the NHL. He also helps connect police officers and disadvantaged youth. He gives them a chance to hang out with each other in positive ways.

California Surfer - Character (6Cs Article 007)

• Differentiated Grades 5, 7, 9

• Answers - Inferring Reading Strategy

• Local California surfer writes for over a decade about her surfing, surgery, and life.

• Each person in the ad campaign described themselves. Mary Mills was surfer, mom, and stereotype buster.

• Even the title of her blog shows her journey, not only of a surfer but of a stereotype buster. In the beginning, the blog was called “Surf and the fury”. Then the title was “As I Lay Surfing” and “Intruder in the surf.” Finally, the title changed to “Black people don’t surf - did I stutter?”

Green Leader - Collaboration (6Cs Article 008)

• Differentiated Grades 5, 7, 9, 11

• Answers - Inferring Reading Strategy

• On October 3, 2020, Annamie Paul made history in Canada. Members of the Green Party elected her to be their new leader. She is the first Black person and the first Jewish woman to be the leader of a federal political party.

Three Sixty - Character (6Cs Article 013)

• Differentiated Grades 5, 7, 9, 11

• Answers - Making Connections Reading Strategy

• Tawanda Kanhema was trying to show someone where his mom lived. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe was not on Google Street View. Many other African countries were also not on the website. Google had no plans to drive a Street View car around to collect the images it needed. So, Kanhema decided to do something.

Change the Game - Effort (SEL Story 002)

• Differentiated Grades 5, 7, 9, 11

• Answers - Making Connections Reading Bundle

• Who can afford to sit courtside at a game? NBA players, rappers, drug dealers, and these two guys.

• Troy Millings and Rashad Bilal show people in their community another way to succeed. There are more ways to the top than just sports, entertainment, and crime.

• If you check out their social media, you can see riches, glamour, and beautiful people. Their “Earn your Leisure” and “Assets over Liabilities” saying is everywhere. What you don’t get at first glance is a sense of all the hard work it took to get there.

Born Here - Character (SEL Story 005)

• Differentiated Grades 4, 6, 8, 10

• Answers - Inferring Reading Strategy

• When Deshauna Barber was 19 years old, a stranger asked her if she was born in this country. She was offended right away. But the conversation she had with the stranger would change her future.

• In December 2015, Barber won her state competition. She earned the title of Miss District of Columbia. A few months later, in June 2016, Barber competed and won Miss USA. She became the first soldier serving in the military to win Miss USA. She was also the ninth African American to win the title.

Hardest Worker - Effort (SEL Story 006)

• Differentiated Grades 4, 6, 8, 10

• Answers - Inferring Reading Strategy

• “We can learn a lot about what real effort looks like from [Dwayne Johnson]'s story of going from zero to hero. There was a time in his life when he only had a few dollars. Today, he's worth $800M. He plays action heroes in movies. (Well, Black Adam might be more of an anti-hero than a typical hero.)

• Johnson knows what real effort looks like. Working harder than everyone else has helped him get to the top. It also allows him to stay at the top. His story shows us that if you want to go from zero to hero, one way is to work harder than everyone else. You will find success if you can do this in everything you do.

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