Lesson 4: March: Book One, Prologue

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

Turn-and-Talk:

Say these Directions: Preview the cover, the dedication, and pages 5–11 of March: Book One.

• Ask: What do you already know about this time period that connects to what you are seeing and reading?

  • Student responses may vary based on their background knowledge, but students might discuss aspects of the Civil Rights Movement and Jim Crow laws in the South.

Connection to Today’s Learning:

• Say: Today, you will read the opening pages of March and consider the key events through discussion questions and summary writing.

Introduce New Words Using Morphology

Target Words: segregation, injustice

Say these Directions: We’re learning about the words segregation and injustice today.

Introduce the Word: Display the word segregation to students and pronounce it.

• Ask: Have you seen the word segregation before? Where?

Identify the Root: Underline the root greg in segregation. Explain that greg comes from Latin grex/gregis, meaning “group” or “flock.”

• Ask: Do you know any other words with the root greg?

Language Connection: Connect to gregarious and congregation (both relate to groups). Identify Affixes: Circle se- and -ation in segregation.

• Ask: What do you think the prefix se- might mean based on words you know, like separate or seclude?

  • apart/away

• Say: The suffix -ation means “the act or process of.”

• Language Connection: Spanish has segregar/segregación with a similar meaning (to separate).

Determine Meaning:

• Ask: Using what we know about se-, greg, and -ation, what do you think segregation means?

  • In history, we use segregation specifically when people in power enforce separation—the act of forcing groups to stay separate, often by race, to maintain unequal treatment. That's what we'll see happening in the text we read today.

Verify Meaning:

• Ask: Use a dictionary, thesaurus, or other reference material to review and verify the meaning of the word constructed using morphemes.

Encoding Practice:

• Ask: Now write two of the additional morpheme examples from memory. Use the spelling of the shared morpheme as your anchor — if you know how to spell the affix, that part of the word stays the same across all the examples.

Build Word Relationships: Write separation next to segregation.

• Ask: What is similar about separation and segregation?

  • Both relate to “keeping apart.”

    • Ask: What feels different about when we use the word segregation instead of separation?

      • Segregation often refers to separating people into groups in society.

Now let’s look at the word injustice:

Introduce the Word: Present the word injustice to students and pronounce it.

• Ask: Have you seen the word injustice before? Where?

Identify the Root: Underline the base word just in injustice. Explain that just relates to what is fair or right.

• Ask: What are some words you know that connect to just?

  • justice, justify, justly

  • Language Connection: Connect to cognates in other Latin-based languages (Spanish: justicia; French: justice; Italian: giustizia).

  • Identify Affixes: Circle in- and -ice in injustice. Explain that in- often means “not” and -ice generally denotes a quality, state, or condition.

• Ask: What do you think the prefix in- might mean based on words you know, like incomplete or inaccurate?

  • Not

  • Language Connection: Connect to other words with the prefix in-, showing how the prefix often means “not,” like in inaccurate (not accurate), incomplete (not complete), and invisible (not visible).

Determine Meaning:

• Ask: Using what we know about in-, just, and -ice, what do you think injustice means?

  • something that is not fair or not right; unfair treatment

Verify Meaning:

• Ask: Use a dictionary, thesaurus, or other reference material to review and verify the meaning of the word constructed using morphemes.

Encoding Practice:

• Ask: Now write two of the additional morpheme examples from memory. Use the spelling of the shared morpheme as your anchor — if you know how to spell the affix, that part of the word stays the same across all the examples.

Build Word Relationships: Write justice next to injustice..

• Ask: What is the relationship between justice and injustice?

  • They are opposites—one is fairness, and one is lack of fairness.

Connection to Today’s Learning:

• Say: Understanding vocabulary like segregation and injustice helps us describe what is happening in the events we are reading about. Today, as you read, pay attention to how people respond to segregation and injustice.

Part A: Read and Discuss: March: Prologue (RI.8.1, RI.8.2) (10 minutes)

Say these Directions: Before reading, we will learn about the concept and features of graphic novels. As you explore the text, pay attention to how graphic novels combine images, dialogue, and narration to tell a story and communicate meaning.

Genre Study: Graphic Novels

• Graphic Novel: A narrative text that uses sequential art to tell a complete story, often with the same complexity of ideas and themes as traditional novels.

• Panel: One drawing in a graphic novel that represents a specific moment in time, using visuals, dialogue, and captions to convey meaning.

• Border: The line or frame around a panel that defines its edges and helps organize the story visually. Not all panels have borders.

• Caption: A text box in a graphic novel that provides narration, background information, or context to a scene. Captions typically do not provide dialogue or character thoughts.

• Speech Balloon: A speech balloon is a text shape that contains a character’s spoken dialogue and has an indicator, or tail, that points toward the character who is speaking.

• Thought Balloon: A thought balloon is a text shape that contains a character’s internal thoughts or feelings. Usually depicted as a cloud with bubbles that point toward the related character.

• Sound Effects: Sound effects are text outside of speech or thought balloons that represent sound.

• The Gutter: The blank space between panels in a graphic novel. It often represents gaps in time, action, or ideas. Readers use clues from the surrounding panels to infer what happens in those gaps.

As needed, review the terms in the context of the opening pages of March. Continue to review these elements as students read, and encourage them to use the terms precisely and accurately as they speak and write about the novel.

Think-Pair-Share

Say these Directions: Read pages 5–9 in March and discuss the following guiding questions with a partner.

• Ask: What events are happening in these opening pages?

  • At the Edmund Pettus Bridge, there is a group of people, marchers, crossing the bridge and asking each other if they can “swim” (p. 5). There are people in gas masks with guns and angry-looking dogs who are telling the marchers that they need to leave or “disperse” (p. 6). When the marchers ask to speak to the mayor, they are refused (p. 7). The marchers then kneel to pray, and the “Troopers” attack the marchers with tear gas and bully sticks, and they knock one of the marchers unconscious.

• Ask: Who is involved, and what do we learn about the situation they are in?

  • The two groups are the marchers and the troopers. The marchers move forward across the bridge. The troopers respond with commands to stop the marchers, like saying “This is an unlawful assembly” and “disperse” (p. 6). The troopers refuse to communicate with the marchers (p. 7) and move forward against the marchers, which shows they are willing to use force to get the marchers to leave.

As students orally share their responses with partners, circulate and listen for text-based support or elaboration during their exchanges.

Part B: Co-Construct 3-2-1 Summaries (RI.8.1, RI.8.2) (20 minutes)

Transition students to a whole-class setting to review information about Bloody Sunday.

Say these Directions: Share any background knowledge you have about the event known as Bloody Sunday and how it might connect to the excerpt you are reading. As you listen to additional background information about Bloody Sunday, think about how this historical event helps you better understand the events and experiences described in the text.

Bloody Sunday, Selma, Alabama, 1965:

• In 1965, marchers, led by civil rights leaders including John Lewis and Hosea Williams, tried to march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand voting rights.

• Up until this point in time, Black citizens in many Southern states faced barriers to voting as a result of segregation practices.

• At the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, state law enforcement confronted and attacked the peaceful demonstrators. They beat unarmed marchers with billy clubs and sprayed them with tear gas. As a result of the violence, Lewis suffered a skull fracture and had to be taken to the hospital. The event is remembered as Bloody Sunday because of this violence.

• The march led to the eventual passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, in which segregationist practices like limiting access to voting were banned.

Say these Directions: Reread pages 5–9 independently. Then use the Think-Pair-Share routine to discuss the following questions. First, think about your response on your own. Next, discuss your ideas with a partner. Finally, be prepared to share your thinking with the class.

• Ask: What evidence indicates that the demonstrators were peaceful?

  • The demonstrators are walking together calmly, and they are not carrying weapons (p. 5). The demonstrators are walking in a planned and organized way with their hands in their pockets (p. 5). As the troopers advance, the demonstrators kneel (p. 7).

• Ask: What details in the Bloody Sunday panels show the danger and injustice of the situation?

  • The question “Can you swim?” demonstrates that the marchers think they may need to escape to survive (p. 5). The command “Troopers—advance!” (p. 7) shows the sudden shift from warning to attack on the praying marchers. The panels then show tear gas and physical attacks (p. 8), emphasizing the immediate danger to the peaceful demonstrators.

• Ask: How do the events of Bloody Sunday, as depicted on pages 5-9, demonstrate the government of Alabama’s commitment to uphold segregation?

  • The government, in the form of state troopers, is willing to use intimidation and violence to protect segregation by not allowing the marchers to proceed with their peaceful march. The state troopers use bullhorns to inform the marchers that their march “is not conducive to the public safety” (p. 6) and then immediately dismiss their request to talk with the “mayor” (p. 7). These verbal threats show that Alabama law enforcement is not willing to communicate with the marchers who are seeking voting rights.

  • The turbulent events that ensue on pages 8–9 demonstrate that Alabama law enforcement will protect segregation through violence, no matter the cost to physical human life.

Review with students what they have closely read and discussed about key events from pp. 1–11 of March: Book One. Now they will synthesize their thinking by identifying three important words/phrases, two key details or ideas, and one sentence explaining what the text is mostly about.

3-2-1 Summary

Say these Directions: You will work together to create a 3-2-1 Summary that focuses on the important ideas and events from pages 5–9. As the chart is completed, think about the key words, important details, and the main idea of the excerpt. Share your own words, ideas, and summary sentences to help build the summary together.

Guide students to use the 3-Column Chart graphic organizer to record:

• 3 important words/phrases

• 2 key details or ideas

• 1 sentence explaining what the excerpt is mostly about

Model using specific evidence from the text (speech bubbles, captions, and/or visual details) and to include page numbers in their notes.

Discussion: Share Out

Bring the group back together for a brief discussion. Invite students to share their summaries of the text.

As students share, briefly reinforce cause/effect language (e.g., because, as a result, therefore) and citing language (e.g., the text states, the panel shows, the caption explains).

Reflection

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Say these Directions: Reflect on your ability to summarize the opening events of March to build knowledge of the historical event: Bloody Sunday, using the Reflection routine.

• Ask: Think about the 3-2-1 Summary you wrote. How confident were you in summarizing the opening pages of March? Choose a number between 1 and 5, with 1 being the least confident and 5 being the most confident, to rate your confidence level. Then write a sentence describing a goal you’d like to accomplish next when writing a summary about a text you read.

  • My next step is to practice finding better evidence to support my summaries.

  • Optional Sentence Starter:

    • “My next step is ____.”

Provide students with a copy of the article, “Confrontations for Justice.” Instruct students to respond to the following prompt in their Journal:

Read “Confrontations for Justice.” Annotate the text and take notes for the following:

• What new information is provided about the events of Bloody Sunday?