Lesson 14: March: Book One, Getting Involved in the Civil Rights Movement

Turn and Talk

Have students take out March: Book One with their annotations and their homework from the previous lesson.

• Lesson 13 Homework: Students were instructed to read pp. 56–62 of March: Book One, annotating for connections among events, ideas, and individuals; panels or moments that seem structurally important; and key details that develop the section’s central idea.

Say these Directions: Turn and talk with a partner about the following question to prepare for today’s lesson.

• Ask: What reading skills have we been using to understand how March builds meaning across sections?

  • We’ve been practicing tracing connections among events and ideas; tracking shifts in time, place, or focus; identifying panels or moments that feel structurally important; and using key details to determine and explain a central idea.

Connection to Today’s Learning:

• Say: Today, you’ll use those same skills when close reading and analyzing pp. 56–62 of March. We will reread the text and answer text-dependent questions about the events in this section and how the events and ideas further develop a central idea. Secondly, we will identify a central idea that is developed in this text excerpt.

Review Vocabulary: Generating Situations, Context, and Examples

Target Words: advocacy, credibility, justice, disappointed, frantic

Introduce the Words: Present the words advocacy, credibility, justice, disappointed, and frantic to students and pronounce them.

• Say: You’ve seen these words in previous lessons. Today, we’re going to review them through a Generating Situations activity.

Model Generating Situations: Present students with a prompt for the word inauguration.

• Ask: What might an inauguration look like for a newly elected president?

Then model generating a situation based on the prompt for the word inauguration.

• Say: After the election, the president stands in front of a crowd at the Capitol, takes the oath of office, and gives a speech about the goals for the next four years. This fits the term inauguration because it is an official, public ceremony that marks the formal beginning of a leader’s term.

Provide each student with a three-column graphic organizer and have them label the organizer with the following headings.

Say these Directions: Write the target words in the left column of the graphic organizer and draw lines between each word to separate them into rows. Then, write “prompt” in the center column and “situation” in the right column. Copy the prompts into your organizer and then work with a partner to create a situation in response to each prompt and record it in the “situation” column.

Display a model organizer. For each word, write a question as a prompt in the center column.

Connection to Today’s Learning:

• Say: Knowing these words will help you analyze pp. 56–62 of March with precision. As you connect events and ideas, use this vocabulary to describe what Lewis experiences, which moments feel structurally important, and what central idea the section develops.

Transition the students into partnerships to engage with pp. 56–62 of March.

Part A: Close Reading for Text Structure (RI.8.3, RI.8.5) (15 minutes)

Teach: Text Structure

Direct students to turn to page 56 in March. Remind students that in previous lessons, they read pages 47-56 in March. Today, they will think about how the author has chosen to structure a new portion of text to convey their ideas.

Display and explain the concept of textual structure to students.

• Text Structure: The way authors organize sections of text with a purpose. The choices they make while ordering events, grouping moments, and including points of reflection significantly impact the tone and meaning of their work.

Say these Directions: Reread pp. 56–62 of March with a partner, annotating for connections among individuals, events, and ideas and for panels or moments that seem structurally important. Then, discuss the following questions:

• Ask: How do the events of Emmett Till’s murder and the acquittal of his murderers further develop a central idea about segregation and its impact?

  • Emmett Till’s murder and the subsequent acquittal of his murders develops the central idea that the institution of segregation, with its inherent racism, violates individual rights, safety, and humanity. A young man was murdered because he simply spoke to a “white woman” (p. 57), demonstrating the harm and violence of segregation and Jim Crow laws. The acquittal of Till’s murderers also shows the extent of segregation’s injustice and how the Black community is treated unfairly and unequally, even in the context of a judicial court.

• Ask: How does Lewis's sermon reflect how he is developing as an individual?

  • Earlier in the text, Lewis experiences segregation as a daily reality that shapes his school and community life. In this text excerpt, those personal experiences of segregation connect to larger national events like Emmett Till’s murder and Rosa Parks’s arrest by showing how the institution of segregation not only creates inequalities in daily lives but is also harmful and deadly for Black Americans in the South. Lewis’s sermon shows that he is no longer just accepting the system but is “inspired” to “do more” and begins taking action by voicing a public sermon (pp. 59-61).

• Ask: How does Lewis draw connections between the events and ideas in this text excerpt?

  • Lewis uses cause and effect to show how Emmett Till’s murder leads to Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat, starting the Montgomery bus boycott. The Montgomery bus boycott shows Lewis how organized activism, like the boycott, can enable people like him to “do more,” which in turn inspires Lewis to act, leading to his first public sermon and resulting public recognition (pp. 60–61).

• Ask: Where does the text shift pacing, and why might Lewis structure the text section this way?

  • The pacing speeds up when the narration summarizes major historical events, including Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, and the boycott (pp. 57–59). It slows down when the focus narrows to Lewis’s personal response, like preaching his first sermon and seeing his name in print (pp. 60–61). These structural choices of shifting the pacing in key moments show how national events shape Lewis’s personal growth.

Part B: Synthesize Analysis and Determine a Central Idea (RI.8.2, RI.8.3, RI.8.5) (15 minutes)

Say these Directions: With your partner, write an analysis of pages 56–62 of March. Your analysis should include:

• One clear central idea statement for pp. 56–62 of March

  • A central idea in pp. 56–62 is Lewis’s growing understanding of the harm and violence that segregation can cause, and that through collective action, the Black community can respond and take action. By witnessing a collective response like the bus boycott, Lewis is “inspired” to take his own first public steps of preaching to his community (p. 59).

• A brief explanation of how key events and structural choices develop the central idea

  • Lewis moves quickly through major events (Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, and the bus boycott) to show how racial injustice in the South demands urgent attention (pp. 57–59). Then the text slows down to focus on Lewis preaching his first sermon and seeing his name in print, showing him shifting from observing injustice and the boycott to taking his own action (pp. 60–61).

Reflection

Read these Directions: Reflect on your ability to determine the central idea using the Reflection routine.

• Ask: Based on our work today, how confident were you in determining the central idea for pp. 56–62 of March? What goal would you like to accomplish next?

Provide students with a copy of the newspaper article “Mayor Stops Boycott Talk.” Instruct students to read the article and write a brief summary (two to three sentences) of the article in their Journal.

• Read “Mayor Stops Boycott Talk” and write a brief summary (two to three sentences) of the article. Remember to write the summary in your Journal.