Web resources New York State United Teachers' national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, has resources, including fact sheets and info for ordering a black history month kit. Visit www.aft.org/human/resource/blackhist. The AFT site also features copies of Martin Luther King's speeches. For lesson plans and other resources on-line also visit www.blackhistory.com. The site operates year-round and features quotes from famous African-Americans and information on daily events in history.

As teachers across the state craft lessons and activities for Black History Month in February, New York Teacher sought some ideas from teachers who serve on New York State United Teachers subject area committees.

Role play

Shirley Dorsey, a world history teacher at the Rochester School of the Arts, uses role play. She tries to have students recreate the slave's trip from Africa to the United States.

Dorsey, a member of the Rochester Teachers Association, has her high school students read Tom Feelings' The Middle Passage: White Ships, Black Cargo, an adult picture book. "The only writing in book is the first 10 pages. The rest of the book are black-and-white pictures," Dorsey said. "The images are very powerful."

Dorsey assigns students to different roles: captain, crew and slaves. "I really watch so I don't have the students in a traditional role." For example, the captain of the ship would be played by a black student. "They have to put their feelings on a back corner and get around to the issues," Dorsey said.

Dorsey arranges desks in a row to make a compact area. "We darken the room and have the captain and crew try to pack in as many people as possible. They slide people under the desks and on top of desks," Dorsey said. "We even dealt with the issue of the captain or crew members who decided to take one of the women up to his quarters, and what if that were your sister."

Later the students write essays about their experience as a slave or crew member.

Biographies

James McDonnell teaches fifth grade in Akron, a rural district east of Buffalo. McDonnell, a member of the Akron Faculty Association, has done activities on segregation and discrimination, with marginal success in a district where less than 1 percent of students are African-American. "To get someone to empathize with that circumstance is very difficult," McDonnell said.

McDonnell has his students dig into the historical aspects such as the bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala. Biographies also work well. "I have the students research and write biographies on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Sojourner Truth." Students can also choose more recent figures like Colin Powell and Andrew Young. Afterwards, the kids present findings to the class.

With younger students, McDonnell suggests talking about the walk for freedom. "Kids paint the bottoms of their feet and walk across butcher paper or white roll paper," McDonnell said. For a presentation, teachers can add quotes from King amidst the footprints.

Calendar making

Laurie Kingsberry-Ford, an instructional specialist with the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, suggests a research project where students present findings in calendar and book format.

"Kids can do their own calendar on what happened on a particular day in history in February," she explains. After researching, kids can use different types of books, crooked books, theme books, flip books, etc., to present their work. "The books offer varied ways to showcase the students' work in a more creative way," Kingsberry-Ford said.

During February, she also suggests visiting the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Web site, www.nctm.org, for activities and suggestions.

- Clarisse Butler

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