Sudan
Lesson Plan Pt. 1
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Lesson Plan Pt. 3
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PowerPoint
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Class Materials
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This lesson on the Sudan fell on the fourth day of our unit about Central and East African cultural history and modern voices, and was part of a larger three-lesson series on the Sudan and the Lost Boys. The first two days of the unit focused on Congolese cultural roots and contemporary literature, and we turned our attention to the Kingdom of Aksum and Ethiopian current events on the third day. This lesson however drew on student learning from several months ago, harkening back to our units on Ancient Egypt, the Byzantine Empire, and the Major World Religions.
Students began by reflecting upon a free-write prompt, encouraging them to think critically about modern American culture and society. In their notes, students responded to the prompt, “Imagine you are coming to America for the first time and have no knowledge of American society - what aspects of American culture would surprise or confuse you most? Why?” After five minutes of writing, students shared their ruminations with the class, and I explained that the reason we started with that question is because later in the class we would hear about the first hand experiences of refugees from a remote region of Africa who came to America. During this lesson I lectured for longer than usual in order to give students a necessary base understanding of Sudanese history before delving into the story of the Lost Boys and examining their trials from an informed perspective. Throughout the twenty-minute lecture about the Kingdom of Kush, Sudan’s eastern and western encounters, and the nation’s present political turmoil, I used ample questioning to keep students engaged and to connect to lessons from this unit and previous units. As with the Kingdom of Aksum, students first analyzed a map of the Kingdom of Kush showing rivers, mountains and other bodies of water – and offered explanations as to why they thought this was an advantageous region for the development of a powerful and long-lasting Kingdom. I also questioned students about the Kingdom of Kush’s relationship to ancient Egypt, and asked if anyone is familiar with the Kushites from the Bible. I then move on to a slide about the adoption of Christianity and Islam in the region. Students were very familiar with the development of these religions and the empires that spread them from our Major World Religions unit. I asked students scaffolding questions to build off of the concrete information on the slide and facilitate their access to prior learning. I briefly walked students through to Sudanese independence in 1956, the Second Sudanese Civil War, genocide, and 2011 South Sudanese independence. Before moving on to the Lost Boys of Sudan, I gave students an opportunity to offer their outside knowledge on this subject. Presenting a final slide about these orphaned Dinka tribe refugees of the Second Sudanese Civil War and their airlift to America, I then introduced the documentary Lost Boys of Sudan (2003). As a class, we watched the first ten minutes of the documentary, and students answered four questions about Dinka culture and the boys’ expectations for America. Students reviewed their answers with a partner in their “letter groups,” and then we discussed the questions as a class. Finally, I introduced students to their homework reading – an excerpt from What is the What: the Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng (2006) by Dave Eggars.
Before I taught this lesson I was worried that student engagement would wane as the class wore on because of my rather lengthy lecture. This proved not to be the case, due in part to the significant amount of questioning and class participation throughout. However, the more probable reason for students’ engagement in this teacher-centered lesson was because of their interest in the content. On the Africa interest survey I distributed prior to teaching this unit, several students expressed the desire to learn about the Lost Boys of Sudan, and at least half of my students read They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky (an autobiographical account of three Lost Boys of Sudan) in seventh grade. Due to the compelling and heart-wrenching nature of this topic, students’ prior study of the Lost Boys of Sudan increased rather than decreased their curiosity, and the opportunity to contribute their knowledge to our discussion enhanced their engagement. I sensed that students were also engaged in this lesson because much of the content was current. Students have often lamented World History class’s heavy tilt toward the ancient past at the expense of global current events. From the free-write at the beginning of the lesson to the Lost Boys of Sudan documentary analysis, students were captivated and in attention despite the direct instruction format.
The first three YouTube videos below capture the majority of this fifty-minute lesson. There are a few gaps between the videos and most of the segment in which we watched the Lost Boys of Sudan documentary is cut out. The fourth YouTube video presented below is of the documentary in its entirety (we watched the first ten-to-eleven minutes in this class). The first thing I noticed in this video is that I was doing most of the talking. However, upon closer examination I found many indications that students were still engaged. Almost all students can be observed responding to the free-write prompt at the beginning of class, and many hands were raised when it was time to share. Clara brought in outside information about an article she about the peculiarities of Americans’ use of language to a foreigner, thereby connecting social studies class with her life outside of school (minute 3:55 of the first video). Additionally, students continued to respond to the prompt in their notes throughout the discussion, adding to their answers as their peers shared their ideas. Moving onto the lecture, Robert brought in information about the Kushites that he learned in seventh grade, while Patrick and Ben incorporated their learning about the Kushites from our Ancient Egypt unit earlier in the year (minute 10:30 of the first video). Later, when I introduce Empress Theodora’s role in converting the Sudanese to Christianity, students collectively “ooohhh” and “aaahhh” in recognition of our prior learning about this strong female figure. Both Joanna and Matt provide answers painting a full picture of this woman’s historical significance (minute 13:15 of the first video). Moving to modern day, Patrick demonstrated his interest in politics and world affairs by asking a series of questions about the current Sudanese and South Sudanese governments: Is South Sudan capitalist of communist? Do they have a president of South Sudan? Is the South Sudan president really pro-USA? Though I could not answer all of Patrick’s questions, I affirmed that we should both look into them and find out (minute 0:55 of the second video). After watching the video clip from the Lost Boys of Sudan documentary, a number of groups can be heard and seen enthusiastically discussing the guiding questions, which led to many raised hands when we came back together as a class to review students’ answers (minute 1:45 of the third video). Andy and Sydney both revealed their close attention to detail by recalling specific language used in the film. Andy noted, “they all call each other ‘brother.’ I know it was subtle but I noticed it” (minute 5:40 of the third video). Similarly, Sydney noted that at the beginning of the film the narrator says, “All my parents died” (minute 6:55 of the third video). These keen observations surrounding familial language recall our prior lessons about the familial language of the Congolese and Efè people. Finally, at the very end of the third video, Nathan expresses his interest and engagement in the lesson by remarking, “OK, best class of the day!” just after the bell rang.
Students began by reflecting upon a free-write prompt, encouraging them to think critically about modern American culture and society. In their notes, students responded to the prompt, “Imagine you are coming to America for the first time and have no knowledge of American society - what aspects of American culture would surprise or confuse you most? Why?” After five minutes of writing, students shared their ruminations with the class, and I explained that the reason we started with that question is because later in the class we would hear about the first hand experiences of refugees from a remote region of Africa who came to America. During this lesson I lectured for longer than usual in order to give students a necessary base understanding of Sudanese history before delving into the story of the Lost Boys and examining their trials from an informed perspective. Throughout the twenty-minute lecture about the Kingdom of Kush, Sudan’s eastern and western encounters, and the nation’s present political turmoil, I used ample questioning to keep students engaged and to connect to lessons from this unit and previous units. As with the Kingdom of Aksum, students first analyzed a map of the Kingdom of Kush showing rivers, mountains and other bodies of water – and offered explanations as to why they thought this was an advantageous region for the development of a powerful and long-lasting Kingdom. I also questioned students about the Kingdom of Kush’s relationship to ancient Egypt, and asked if anyone is familiar with the Kushites from the Bible. I then move on to a slide about the adoption of Christianity and Islam in the region. Students were very familiar with the development of these religions and the empires that spread them from our Major World Religions unit. I asked students scaffolding questions to build off of the concrete information on the slide and facilitate their access to prior learning. I briefly walked students through to Sudanese independence in 1956, the Second Sudanese Civil War, genocide, and 2011 South Sudanese independence. Before moving on to the Lost Boys of Sudan, I gave students an opportunity to offer their outside knowledge on this subject. Presenting a final slide about these orphaned Dinka tribe refugees of the Second Sudanese Civil War and their airlift to America, I then introduced the documentary Lost Boys of Sudan (2003). As a class, we watched the first ten minutes of the documentary, and students answered four questions about Dinka culture and the boys’ expectations for America. Students reviewed their answers with a partner in their “letter groups,” and then we discussed the questions as a class. Finally, I introduced students to their homework reading – an excerpt from What is the What: the Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng (2006) by Dave Eggars.
Before I taught this lesson I was worried that student engagement would wane as the class wore on because of my rather lengthy lecture. This proved not to be the case, due in part to the significant amount of questioning and class participation throughout. However, the more probable reason for students’ engagement in this teacher-centered lesson was because of their interest in the content. On the Africa interest survey I distributed prior to teaching this unit, several students expressed the desire to learn about the Lost Boys of Sudan, and at least half of my students read They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky (an autobiographical account of three Lost Boys of Sudan) in seventh grade. Due to the compelling and heart-wrenching nature of this topic, students’ prior study of the Lost Boys of Sudan increased rather than decreased their curiosity, and the opportunity to contribute their knowledge to our discussion enhanced their engagement. I sensed that students were also engaged in this lesson because much of the content was current. Students have often lamented World History class’s heavy tilt toward the ancient past at the expense of global current events. From the free-write at the beginning of the lesson to the Lost Boys of Sudan documentary analysis, students were captivated and in attention despite the direct instruction format.
The first three YouTube videos below capture the majority of this fifty-minute lesson. There are a few gaps between the videos and most of the segment in which we watched the Lost Boys of Sudan documentary is cut out. The fourth YouTube video presented below is of the documentary in its entirety (we watched the first ten-to-eleven minutes in this class). The first thing I noticed in this video is that I was doing most of the talking. However, upon closer examination I found many indications that students were still engaged. Almost all students can be observed responding to the free-write prompt at the beginning of class, and many hands were raised when it was time to share. Clara brought in outside information about an article she about the peculiarities of Americans’ use of language to a foreigner, thereby connecting social studies class with her life outside of school (minute 3:55 of the first video). Additionally, students continued to respond to the prompt in their notes throughout the discussion, adding to their answers as their peers shared their ideas. Moving onto the lecture, Robert brought in information about the Kushites that he learned in seventh grade, while Patrick and Ben incorporated their learning about the Kushites from our Ancient Egypt unit earlier in the year (minute 10:30 of the first video). Later, when I introduce Empress Theodora’s role in converting the Sudanese to Christianity, students collectively “ooohhh” and “aaahhh” in recognition of our prior learning about this strong female figure. Both Joanna and Matt provide answers painting a full picture of this woman’s historical significance (minute 13:15 of the first video). Moving to modern day, Patrick demonstrated his interest in politics and world affairs by asking a series of questions about the current Sudanese and South Sudanese governments: Is South Sudan capitalist of communist? Do they have a president of South Sudan? Is the South Sudan president really pro-USA? Though I could not answer all of Patrick’s questions, I affirmed that we should both look into them and find out (minute 0:55 of the second video). After watching the video clip from the Lost Boys of Sudan documentary, a number of groups can be heard and seen enthusiastically discussing the guiding questions, which led to many raised hands when we came back together as a class to review students’ answers (minute 1:45 of the third video). Andy and Sydney both revealed their close attention to detail by recalling specific language used in the film. Andy noted, “they all call each other ‘brother.’ I know it was subtle but I noticed it” (minute 5:40 of the third video). Similarly, Sydney noted that at the beginning of the film the narrator says, “All my parents died” (minute 6:55 of the third video). These keen observations surrounding familial language recall our prior lessons about the familial language of the Congolese and Efè people. Finally, at the very end of the third video, Nathan expresses his interest and engagement in the lesson by remarking, “OK, best class of the day!” just after the bell rang.
Remy, a funny and well-liked male student who typically struggles in social studies class, demonstrated his engagement in class through his composition of a creative, poetic piece in response to the free-write at the beginning of class (“Imagine you are coming to America for the first time and have no knowledge of American society - what aspects of American culture would surprise or confuse you most? Why?”). Though he did not share his writing at the time, Remy came to class the following day with a more finished product. He asked if he could recite it for the class, which he did to a thunderous applause. Remy’s piece captures the bewilderment of someone coming to American from a completely foreign land. He touches upon all aspects of society from transportation, to food, crime, social media, and popular culture. The extra effort Remy put forth on this uncollected assignment evinces his engagement in both the content and pedagogical approach:
Read the complete transcript of Remy’s free-write response here:
remys_sudan_do-now_response_transcription.docx | |
File Size: | 49 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Like Remy, Gabriel’s sense of humor and contagious laugh light up the classroom, though he typically struggles in social studies. However, Gabriel’s engagement surrounding our lessons on the Lost Boys of Sudan led him to produce excellent academic work. Gabriel’s questions sheet that accompanied the Lost Boys of Sudan documentary demonstrates his attentiveness throughout the video as well as his thoughtful consideration of the underlying issues behind the Lost Boys’ predicaments:
Read the complete transcript of Gabriel’s Lost Boys of Sudan questions sheet here:
gabriels_lost_boys_of_sudan_part_2_questions_sheet_transcription.docx | |
File Size: | 103 kb |
File Type: | docx |